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Preparation

Get an API key

First step to using models

Create an API key

1

Create an API key

Go to API Keys and click Add API Key.
2

Add a description

Enter a description to help identify your key, then click Generate Key.
3

Copy your API key

Copy and save your API key immediately. For security reasons, the full key is only shown once. The key list displays a masked version after creation.

Use an API key

If you are a Coding Plan user, use your exclusive API key (sk-sp-xxxxx format) from the API Keys page. Do not use the general API key (sk-xxxxx format) described here.
  • Method 1: In third-party tools such as Chatbox When calling models in third-party tools, provide:
    • API key (from this page)
    • Base URL: https://dashscope-intl.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1
    • Model name (such as qwen3.6-plus)
  • Method 2: Through code Set the API key as an environment variable to avoid hardcoding it in source code.
Never share your API key—unauthorized use causes security risks and financial loss.

Manage API keys

From the API Keys page, you can:
  • Search: Find keys by API Key ID.
  • Edit: Update the description of an existing key.
  • Delete: Permanently remove a key. Deleted keys cannot be recovered and any applications using them will stop working.

Validity

API keys remain valid permanently unless you manually delete them.

FAQ

Pay-as-you-go API key vs Coding Plan API key

General API keys (sk-xxxxx) use pay-as-you-go billing for API calls. Coding Plan API keys (sk-sp-xxxxx) are tied to your subscription and provide higher rate limits and premium features.