Chitchat Buddy

Third-party cloud setup

Bring your own DeepSeek API key.

Set up direct DeepSeek billing in about ten minutes, keep the key in your operating system's secure storage, and understand what is — and is not — private before you send dialog text.

Open DeepSeek Platform Back to Buddy

Official DeepSeek policies reviewed 12 August 2026. Screens and payment methods may vary by region.

1

Create or sign in to your account

  1. Open the official DeepSeek Platform.
  2. Choose the registration or sign-in option shown for your region.
  3. Complete any email, phone, age, or identity verification the platform requests.

The DeepSeek Open Platform and chat service use the same account. Do not create an account through a third-party “key seller.”

Register or sign in
2

Create and copy the API key

  1. Open API keys in the DeepSeek Platform.
  2. Create a new key and give it a recognisable name such as Chitchat Buddy.
  3. Copy the full key immediately and keep it somewhere private until it is saved in Buddy. DeepSeek keys normally begin with sk-.
Never share the key. DeepSeek's Open Platform terms make you responsible for usage and charges caused by a leaked key. Do not paste it into screenshots, feedback, source code, or a browser-side web app.
Open API keys
3

Check balance and billing

Creating a key does not guarantee that the API account has usable credit. Open Top up, add only the amount you are comfortable spending, and review usage periodically.

  • 401 Authentication Fails usually means the key is wrong or incomplete.
  • 402 Insufficient Balance means the API account needs credit.
  • DeepSeek's current FAQ lists PayPal, bank card, Alipay, and WeChat Pay, but availability can vary.
Open Top up Review usage
4

Connect the key to Chitchat Buddy

During first setup: choose DeepSeek · my API key under Chatbot platform, paste the key, then press Download and set up.

After setup: open Buddy settings, find Cloud provider keys, paste the key into DeepSeek API key, and press Save provided keys. Then choose the DeepSeek option under AI language provider and press Use selected.

How Buddy protects it: the key is stored through your operating system's secure user credential storage. Buddy clears the visible field after saving and never displays an existing key again.
5

Is DeepSeek zero data retention?

No published guarantee says that the direct DeepSeek API is zero data retention. Treat both your own DeepSeek key and Buddy's capped DeepSeek access as cloud processing without ZDR.

  • The Open Platform terms do not promise ZDR. They describe API inputs being processed into outputs and require app developers to disclose their downstream personal-data handling.
  • DeepSeek's current general privacy policy explicitly says it does not cover the processing rules for end users inside downstream applications. For services it does cover, DeepSeek says it may collect prompts and inputs, use information to improve or train its technology, and retain personal data as necessary.
  • The policy offers an opt-out from model training. That can limit one use of the data, but it is not the same as zero retention.
  • DeepSeek says the personal data it collects is processed and stored in the People's Republic of China.
  • Its API documentation also describes automatic context caching on disk. A stateless API request therefore must not be interpreted as “nothing is stored.”

Buddy's capped gateway stores key hashes and numerical usage rather than dialog text. The requested text still reaches DeepSeek, so that gateway design does not turn the upstream API into ZDR.

Practical rule: do not send passwords, private keys, health records, confidential meeting details, or text you are not authorised to share. Select local Qwen in Buddy when the requested text must remain on your computer.

Official sources

Chitchat Buddy is an independent application and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by DeepSeek. DeepSeek is a third-party cloud provider whose screens, prices, availability, and policies may change.