Configure API Key

DesireCore is a local-first application: core data is stored locally by default. AI capability can be connected either by signing in for DesireCore official cloud compute or by configuring your own API key. A self-managed key remains useful for advanced and enterprise users, but it is no longer the only way to start.

Quick Start: Cloud Compute or Your Own Key

Method	Best for	Description
Official cloud compute	Users who do not want to register with each model provider first	Sign in to bind the desirecore-cloud provider and use a subscription or credits
Your own API key	Existing provider accounts, direct cost control, or enterprise compliance	The key is stored in the permission-protected local secrets.json; provider configuration stores only a reference

Already using cloud compute?

If you've signed in and bound official cloud compute, you can skip this page and go straight to Your First Conversation. Come back anytime to add more providers.

Getting Started with Official Cloud Compute

If you choose official cloud compute, setup is very simple:

1. Open DesireCore and click Settings (bottom-left) > Account
2. Click Sign In and complete registration/login with your email or third-party account
3. After signing in, DesireCore automatically binds the desirecore-cloud provider
4. You can start chatting immediately — no manual API Key configuration needed

When do I need my own key?

Cloud compute is great for getting started quickly. If you need a specific model unique to a provider, want direct control over usage and costs, or have enterprise compliance requirements, you can always come back and add your own key later.

Page Navigation

Jump to	Description
What is an API Key?	Concept explanation
Configuring in DesireCore	Configuration steps
OpenAI · Anthropic · DeepSeek · Google · SiliconFlow	Popular provider guides
More Providers	16+ other providers
Verifying the Connection	Post-configuration verification
Troubleshooting	Issue resolution

What is an API Key?

An API Key is like a "key" to access AI services. Each AI provider (such as OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, etc.) offers API services — you need to register on their website, obtain an API Key, and then enter it in DesireCore so it can call the corresponding AI models.

Cost Information

Calls made with your own API key are billed by the corresponding provider. Official cloud compute consumes the applicable subscription allowance or credits. Pricing and usage multipliers vary by model.

Configuring in DesireCore

1. Click the Settings icon (gear icon) in the bottom-left corner
2. Select the Compute Services tab
3. In the provider list, click the provider you want to configure
4. Enter your API Key
5. Click Verify to confirm the Key is valid

Key Security

Your API Key is stored only in the local file ~/.desirecore/secrets.json (file permission 600, readable only by the current user). It is never uploaded to DesireCore servers or any third party.

Provider API Key Guides

DesireCore supports over 20 AI providers. Below are instructions for the most commonly used ones.

OpenAI (GPT Series)

OpenAI offers models like GPT-5 and GPT-4, and is one of the world's most well-known AI providers.

Item	Info
Website	platform.openai.com
Billing Currency	USD
Key Models	GPT-5, GPT-4.1, GPT-4o
Key Capabilities	Chat, code, reasoning, vision, voice, image generation

Steps to obtain:

1. Visit platform.openai.com and sign up or log in
2. Click API keys in the left navigation
3. Click Create new secret key
4. Name your key (e.g., "DesireCore") and click Create
5. Copy the generated key (starts with sk-) and store it securely

Keep Your Key Safe

The API Key is only shown once — copy and save it immediately. If you lose it, you'll need to create a new one.

Anthropic (Claude Series)

Anthropic offers the Claude series of models, known for safety and long-context processing capabilities.

Item	Info
Website	console.anthropic.com
Billing Currency	USD
Key Models	Claude Opus 4.6, Claude Sonnet 4.5
Key Capabilities	Chat, code, reasoning, vision, long-context

Steps to obtain:

1. Visit console.anthropic.com and sign up or log in
2. Go to Settings > API keys
3. Click Create Key
4. Copy the generated key (starts with sk-ant-)

DeepSeek

DeepSeek is a leading AI company from China, offering high-value conversational and reasoning models.

Item	Info
Website	platform.deepseek.com
Billing Currency	CNY
Key Models	DeepSeek V3.2, DeepSeek R1
Key Capabilities	Chat, code, reasoning, multilingual

Steps to obtain:

1. Visit platform.deepseek.com and sign up or log in
2. Go to the dashboard and click API Keys
3. Create a new API Key and copy it

Google (Gemini Series)

Google offers Gemini series models with ultra-long context windows (up to 1 million tokens).

Item	Info
Website	aistudio.google.com
Billing Currency	USD
Key Models	Gemini 2.5 Pro, Gemini 2.5 Flash
Key Capabilities	Chat, code, reasoning, vision, ultra-long context

Steps to obtain:

1. Visit aistudio.google.com
2. Click Get API Key
3. Select or create a Google Cloud project
4. Copy the generated API Key

SiliconFlow

SiliconFlow is an AI inference service platform from China that aggregates various open-source models (such as Qwen), with some models offering free credits.

Item	Info
Website	siliconflow.cn
Billing Currency	CNY
Key Models	Qwen3 Coder 480B, Qwen3 235B
Key Capabilities	Code, reasoning, multilingual, free embeddings

Steps to obtain:

1. Visit siliconflow.cn and sign up or log in
2. Go to the dashboard and find the API Keys page
3. Create a new key and copy it

More Providers

In addition to the providers listed above, DesireCore also supports:

Provider	Highlights	Billing Currency
Tongyi Qwen (DashScope)	By Alibaba Cloud	CNY
Doubao (Volcengine)	By ByteDance	CNY
Moonshot (Kimi)	Company behind Kimi	CNY
Zhipu AI	GLM model series	CNY
Baichuan	Chinese LLM	CNY
Lingyiwanwu	Yi model series	CNY
MiniMax	Chinese multimodal models	CNY
Baidu (ERNIE Bot)	By Baidu	CNY
Tencent (Hunyuan)	By Tencent	CNY
iFlytek (Spark)	By iFlytek	CNY
Mistral	European AI company	USD
xAI (Grok)	Founded by Elon Musk	USD
Cohere	Enterprise AI services	USD
OpenRouter	AI model aggregation platform	USD
Perplexity	Search-augmented AI	USD
Ollama	Run open-source models locally	Free

The configuration process is similar: go to Settings > Compute Services, select the provider, and enter your API Key.

Verifying the Connection

After configuring your API Key, it's recommended to verify it immediately:

1. On the provider detail page, click the Verify button
2. DesireCore will send a test request to the AI service
3. If it shows "Verified", the configuration is successful

Troubleshooting

API Key reported as invalid

• Check that the key was copied completely (no extra spaces at the beginning or end)
• Confirm the key is still valid and the account has sufficient balance
• Verify your network can reach the corresponding API endpoint

Network connection failed

• Confirm your network can access the provider's API address
• If you have difficulty accessing overseas services, try providers with regional servers (e.g., DeepSeek, SiliconFlow)
• Check if any firewall or proxy settings are blocking HTTPS requests

Not sure which provider to choose

Recommendations

• Best value: DeepSeek — affordable, low latency, strong multilingual capabilities
• Best capabilities: Anthropic Claude or OpenAI GPT — top performance on complex reasoning and code tasks
• Want to try for free: SiliconFlow — some models offer free credits
• Need ultra-long context: Google Gemini — supports up to 1 million token context

After configuring your API Key, you can start your First Conversation!