Authentication and models

Step Code supports subscription login, API keys, cloud platforms, and OpenAI / Anthropic / Google-compatible endpoints through models.json, including Ollama, vLLM, and LM Studio.

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Connection methods

Method	Setup
Step account login	Select a Step account option in /login and authorize it
API key	Configure Step keys in /login; use environment variables or custom provider settings for other providers
Cloud platform	Azure OpenAI, Amazon Bedrock, Google Vertex AI, Cloudflare
Custom model	~/.stepcode/models.json

When troubleshooting credentials, check CLI --api-key, saved auth.json, provider settings in models.json, and the process environment. If a provider has several credential sources, verify the selected account and endpoint.

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Subscription login

/login

Choose Step Plan for an account on platform.stepfun.com, or Step Plan Oversea for an account on platform.stepfun.ai. OAuth credentials refresh through the login flow. Use /logout to clear the corresponding credentials.

Platform	Website	Billing channel
Step Plan	platform.stepfun.com	Subscription
Step Plan Oversea	platform.stepfun.ai	Subscription
Open Platform API key	platform.stepfun.com/interface-key	Pay-as-you-go
Open Platform API key	platform.stepfun.ai/interface-key	Pay-as-you-go

Choosing another channel does not automatically use your subscription quota. Available models and allowances depend on the account. See Step Plan.

For sign-in from SSH, server, or container terminals, see Sign in remotely.

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Step API endpoints

When configuring a Step API key through the environment, set STEP_BASE_URL for the account and billing channel:

Account and channel	Base URL
Step Plan on stepfun.ai	https://api.stepfun.ai/step_plan/v1
Step Plan on stepfun.com	https://api.stepfun.com/step_plan/v1
Pay-as-you-go API on stepfun.ai	https://api.stepfun.ai/v1
Pay-as-you-go API on stepfun.com	https://api.stepfun.com/v1

Bash example for a Step Plan key on stepfun.ai:

export STEP_API_KEY="YOUR_STEP_API_KEY"
export STEP_BASE_URL="https://api.stepfun.ai/step_plan/v1"
step --provider step

Keep the key out of repositories and shared material. Anyone who obtains it can make model requests against your account and incur usage.

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API key providers

Provider	Environment variable
Step	STEP_API_KEY
Anthropic	ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
OpenAI	OPENAI_API_KEY
Google Gemini	GEMINI_API_KEY
DeepSeek	DEEPSEEK_API_KEY
OpenRouter	OPENROUTER_API_KEY
Kimi For Coding	KIMI_API_KEY
MiniMax	MINIMAX_API_KEY
xAI	XAI_API_KEY
Groq	GROQ_API_KEY
Mistral	MISTRAL_API_KEY

For example, configure Anthropic in Bash or Zsh:

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="YOUR_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY"
step --provider anthropic

Replace the placeholder with that provider’s key. A Step key cannot be used for another provider. Keys saved through Step sign-in live in ~/.stepcode/auth.json; do not commit this file.

See Environment variables for runtime environment variables.

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Cloud platforms

Platform	Configuration
Amazon Bedrock	AWS_PROFILE, or AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID + AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY; AWS_REGION defaults to us-east-1; supports ECS task roles and IRSA
Google Vertex AI	Run gcloud auth application-default login; set GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT and GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION, such as us-central1
Azure OpenAI	AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY + AZURE_OPENAI_BASE_URL; the root endpoint normalizes to /openai/v1; AZURE_OPENAI_DEPLOYMENT_NAME_MAP maps deployment names

Deployment names, available regions, and IAM permissions are managed by the cloud platform. Confirm access to the target model before selecting it in Step Code.

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Custom models (models.json)

Edit ~/.stepcode/models.json, then reopen /model to load changes. This example connects to local Ollama:

{
  "providers": {
    "ollama": {
      "baseUrl": "http://localhost:11434/v1",
      "api": "openai-completions",
      "apiKey": "ollama",
      "models": [
        {"id": "llama3.1:8b"},
        {"id": "qwen2.5-coder:7b"}
      ]
    }
  }
}

Prepare these models in Ollama first. ollama is a nonempty apiKey placeholder. Local services without authentication still require this field to appear in /model; authenticated remote services require real credentials.

Provider field	Description
baseUrl	Include /v1 for OpenAI-compatible endpoints; use the /v1beta root for google-generative-ai
api	Such as openai-completions, openai-responses, azure-openai-responses, anthropic-messages, google-generative-ai
apiKey, headers	Credentials and additional request headers
models	Custom model list
modelOverrides	Override existing model properties
compat	Adjust request compatibility to match the server

Model fields include id, name, reasoning, contextWindow, maxTokens, cost, thinkingLevelMap, and samplingParams. id is required. contextWindow defaults to 128,000 and maxTokens to 16,384; override them to match model specifications.

samplingParams merges sampling parameters into OpenAI-compatible requests and may override named request fields. Do not add unsupported fields. Setting only baseUrl overrides a built-in provider’s endpoint; models updates matching IDs and adds new ones.

Ollama / vLLM / SGLang often need supportsDeveloperRole = false and supportsReasoningEffort = false in compat.

See FAQ for model loading and login troubleshooting.

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Switching models

• /model opens the picker; Enter saves the startup default. The Recent section at the top lists recently used models, up to 10, with repeats moved to the top; the list is saved globally and shared across sessions.
• Ctrl+P cycles enabledModels; see Keyboard shortcuts for reverse cycling.
• Use step --provider <provider> --model <model-ID> on the command line.
• /effort changes thinking level; available levels and effective behavior depend on the model.

See Configuration files for default model settings.

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Sign in remotely

In an SSH, server, or container terminal, run step login --no-browser to get an authorization link, then complete sign-in in a browser on this or another device. The command still requires an interactive terminal and does not depend on a local callback port.