Get a Moonshot key from one of two consoles

Two consoles issue two kinds of Moonshot key, and Big-AGI has one field for both. It works out which kind you pasted from the string itself. That detection decides the endpoint dialled, the models returned, and whether a browser path is offered. No setting overrides it.

The two consoles

1. Platform keys: platform.kimi.ai/console/api-keys. The app's older platform.moonshot.ai link redirects there.
2. Subscription keys: kimi.com/code/console, which issues strings prefixed sk-kimi-.
3. Copy whichever you created before closing the page.

What each key costs

A platform account is balance-funded and billed per token, so top up the balance before the first answer. A subscription plan issues a key that exposes that plan's own models. Rates are published in the platform documentation. The enforceable limit is the balance and limits inside whichever console issued the key.

Pasting it, and reading the label back

Open Models with Ctrl + Shift + M, press More Services if the Setup AI Models wizard opens, then Add -> Moonshot AI. There is a single key field; press Models afterwards to fetch the list (add and manage your keys).

key	field	hint
sk-kimi-...	Kimi Code API Key	Kimi Code subscription
anything else	Moonshot API Key	Kimi Platform

The label tells you what landed. On a subscription key the panel states it outright: "Using your Kimi Code subscription: listing your plan's models on the coding endpoint."

Direct Connection, and when the row vanishes

A platform key lets you turn Direct Connection on. A subscription key removes the row entirely: those keys route to a coding endpoint that permits no browser calls, so the request goes through the Big-AGI fast edge servers.

Related

• Connect an AI service
• Direct Connection
• What your provider does with your text