Get a DeepSeek API key
Who this is for: anyone who wants DeepSeek models through SpiderGate, billed to their own DeepSeek platform account.
What this does: walks you through topping up a DeepSeek platform balance, creating an API key, and adding it to your SpiderGate vault.
Before you begin
A DeepSeek platform account at platform.deepseek.com, registered with your email or a third-party account.
A topped-up balance. DeepSeek's platform terms say you may need to prepay, and that service can be suspended "if your balance is insufficient".
About 5 minutes.
Limits and terms to know first
DeepSeek takes fees from any granted balance first, then from your topped-up balance. It limits concurrency per account, "regardless of which API Key is used".
Warning: DeepSeek's privacy policy lists training its models among the uses of your data, and gives you a right to opt out. Do not send personal data unless you have opted out.
Warning: DeepSeek's platform terms say "do not share or publicly disclose your API key with others", and its terms of use say "Do not transfer, lend, rent, or provide your account to others in any form." Keep this key to your own brand.
Steps
Step 1 — Top up
Open platform.deepseek.com/top_up and add funds.
Step 2 — Create the key
Open platform.deepseek.com/api_keys, create a key and copy it.
Step 3 — Add the key in SpiderGate
Open Gate → Vault (/dashboard/gate/vault) and click Add Provider. Type DeepSeek 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.
DeepSeek appears twice in the picker, under Connect a subscription and under Pay-as-you-go. Pick it from Pay-as-you-go for a key that draws on your topped-up balance.
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 DeepSeek with the key before it stores anything: it lists your models at https://api.deepseek.com/v1/models.
If DeepSeek 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 deepseek key did not pass its check: <reason>. Nothing was saved.The reason is SpiderGate's own wording, never DeepSeek'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. DeepSeek's 402 is "Insufficient Balance". Top up on the platform.
Requests fail with a 429. DeepSeek says you are "sending requests too quickly, or have exceeded a concurrency or QPS limit". The limit is per account, so more DeepSeek keys from the same account do not help.
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.