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Get a Baseten key

Who this is for: anyone who wants Baseten-hosted Model APIs through SpiderGate on their own Baseten workspace.

What this does: walks you through creating a Baseten API key and adding it to your SpiderGate vault.

Before you begin

Limits and terms to know first

Baseten says "New workspaces receive credits for testing and deployment", and that it does not offer "a separate free tier or perpetual free plan". If the credits run out and there is no payment method, "Baseten deactivates its models until you add one".

Note: SpiderGate's picker says "$30 starter credit". Baseten's own pages do not state an amount.

Default limits for Model APIs depend on whether the workspace is verified: 15 requests per minute unverified, 120 verified.

Baseten's terms say it will not use your content, outputs or logs to train models.

Warning: Baseten's terms say you may not make the Services "available to anyone other than Authorized Users", or "sublicense, resell, time share" them. Keep this key to your own brand.

Steps

Step 1 — Create the key

Open app.baseten.co/settings/api_keys (API keys under Organization settings). Choose Create API key, enter a name (lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens only), select Personal, and choose Create API key. Copy it now: Baseten says "You won't be able to view it again."

Keys made since 1 October 2026 start with b10_. Older keys have no prefix and still work.

Step 2 — Add the key in SpiderGate

Open Gate → Vault (/dashboard/gate/vault) and click Add Provider. Type Baseten in Search providers... and pick it from the Pay-as-you-go group.

Fill in the dialog:

  • API Key — paste the key

  • Label — a name you will recognise later, for example the account it came from.

Under Routing, the Share with SpiderIQ key pool toggle does not apply to a metered key: SpiderGate never pools a key that bills per call, whatever the toggle shows. Switch it off anyway so the dialog matches what happens.

Click Add key. The button reads Saving... while SpiderGate checks the key.

Verify it worked

When you click Add key, SpiderGate sends one request to Baseten with the key before it stores anything: it lists your models at https://api.baseten.co/v1/models.

If Baseten accepts the key, the dialog closes and the key appears in your vault list.

If it does not, the dialog stays open and shows:

The baseten key did not pass its check: <reason>. Nothing was saved.

The reason is SpiderGate's own wording, never Baseten's error text. The usual ones are Invalid API key (401 Unauthorized), Access denied (403 Forbidden) and The account behind this key has no credit left (402).

To see the key serve a request, give it a slot in one of your own routing aliases and send a request to that alias. The trace shows which provider answered.

SpiderGate's check proves the key is valid. It does not prove the account has credit: a key on an empty balance can pass the check and then fail on its first real request.

Troubleshoot

Requests fail with a 402. Baseten's 402 means "Payment required". The workspace credits ran out; add a payment method.

Requests fail with a 429. You hit the per-minute limit. An unverified workspace gets 15 requests a minute.

Too many keys checked for this workspace; try again in …s. SpiderGate runs at most 20 key checks per brand in any 10 minutes. Wait the number of seconds it gives, then click Add key again.

Request timed out (15s) or Could not reach … to check the key. Try again later. The provider did not answer in time. Nothing was saved. Try again in a minute.

The provider is rate-limiting us (429). Try again in a minute. The provider throttled the check itself. Wait a minute and retry.

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