Bring Your Own Key (BYOK)

BYOK lets you send requests through Dedalus using your own provider API key. The request still flows through our unified API (routing, tool calling, streaming, format normalization), but the LLM call is billed to your account with the provider.

When to use BYOK

You have negotiated pricing or credits with a provider.
You want to use a model tier or region not available on our shared keys.
Your compliance policy requires that API keys stay under your control.

Quick start

Pass your provider credentials to the Dedalus constructor alongside your normal API key:

import Dedalus from "dedalus-labs";

const client = new Dedalus({
	apiKey: process.env["DEDALUS_API_KEY"],
	provider: "openai",
	providerKey: process.env["OPENAI_API_KEY"],
	providerModel: "gpt-4o-mini",
});

const response = await client.chat.completions.create({
	model: "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
	messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Hello" }],
});

console.log(response.choices[0]?.message?.content);

You can also set DEDALUS_PROVIDER, DEDALUS_PROVIDER_KEY, and DEDALUS_PROVIDER_MODEL as environment variables. The SDK reads them automatically — constructor params take precedence.

The SDK attaches three headers to every outgoing request:

Header	SDK option	Description
`X-Provider`	`provider`	Provider name (`openai`, `anthropic`, `google`, etc.)
`X-Provider-Key`	`providerKey`	Your API key for that provider
`X-Provider-Model`	`providerModel`	Model identifier at the provider (optional)

Only providerKey is strictly required. If you omit provider, it is inferred from the model name. If you omit providerModel, the model from the request body is used.

Provider examples

const client = new Dedalus({
	apiKey: process.env["DEDALUS_API_KEY"],
	provider: "openai",
	providerKey: process.env["OPENAI_API_KEY"],
	providerModel: "gpt-4o-mini",
});

const response = await client.chat.completions.create({
	model: "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
	messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Hello" }],
});

const client = new Dedalus({
	apiKey: process.env["DEDALUS_API_KEY"],
	provider: "anthropic",
	providerKey: process.env["ANTHROPIC_API_KEY"],
	providerModel: "claude-sonnet-4-20250514",
});

const response = await client.chat.completions.create({
	model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-20250514",
	messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Write a haiku about TypeScript." }],
	max_tokens: 50,
});

const client = new Dedalus({
	apiKey: process.env["DEDALUS_API_KEY"],
	provider: "google",
	providerKey: process.env["GOOGLE_API_KEY"],
	providerModel: "gemini-2.0-flash",
});

const response = await client.chat.completions.create({
	model: "google/gemini-2.0-flash",
	messages: [{ role: "user", content: "What is the capital of France?" }],
});

Streaming

const stream = await client.chat.completions.create({
	model: "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
	stream: true,
	messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Tell me a short story." }],
});

for await (const chunk of stream) {
	const content = chunk.choices[0]?.delta?.content;
	if (content) process.stdout.write(content);
}

Switching providers at runtime

Use withOptions() to create a new client with different BYOK credentials. Both clients are independent — the original is not mutated.

const openaiClient = new Dedalus({
	apiKey: process.env["DEDALUS_API_KEY"],
	provider: "openai",
	providerKey: process.env["OPENAI_API_KEY"],
	providerModel: "gpt-4o-mini",
});

const anthropicClient = openaiClient.withOptions({
	provider: "anthropic",
	providerKey: process.env["ANTHROPIC_API_KEY"],
	providerModel: "claude-sonnet-4-20250514",
});

const [a, b] = await Promise.all([
	openaiClient.chat.completions.create({
		model: "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
		messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Hello from OpenAI" }],
	}),
	anthropicClient.chat.completions.create({
		model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-20250514",
		messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Hello from Anthropic" }],
		max_tokens: 50,
	}),
]);

Per-request overrides

Override BYOK headers for a single request without changing the client:

const response = await client.chat.completions.create(
	{
		model: "google/gemini-2.5-pro",
		messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Hello" }],
	},
	{
		headers: {
			"X-Provider": "google",
			"X-Provider-Key": "your-google-key",
		},
	},
);

DedalusRunner with BYOK

DedalusRunner inherits BYOK from the client you pass in — no extra configuration needed. Its core job is to run multi-step loops that can mix and chain tool calls across local tooling plus remote and local MCP servers in one run.

Basic runner

import Dedalus, { DedalusRunner } from "dedalus-labs";

const client = new Dedalus({
	apiKey: process.env["DEDALUS_API_KEY"],
	provider: "openai",
	providerKey: process.env["OPENAI_API_KEY"],
	providerModel: "gpt-4o-mini",
});

const runner = new DedalusRunner(client);

const result = await runner.run({
	model: "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
	instructions: "You are a helpful assistant.",
	input: "What are the three laws of thermodynamics?",
	maxSteps: 5,
});

console.log(result.output);
console.log(result.stepsUsed);

Runner with local tools (Zod)

The Dedalus API currently strips tool_calls[].function.arguments from provider responses, so local tool execution does not work yet with BYOK. This affects both SDKs.

import Dedalus, { DedalusRunner } from "dedalus-labs";
import { zodFunction } from "dedalus-labs/helpers/zod";
import { z } from "zod";

const client = new Dedalus({
	apiKey: process.env["DEDALUS_API_KEY"],
	provider: "openai",
	providerKey: process.env["OPENAI_API_KEY"],
	providerModel: "gpt-4o-mini",
});

const calculator = zodFunction({
	name: "calculator",
	description: "Perform basic math operations",
	parameters: z.object({
		a: z.number(),
		b: z.number(),
		operation: z.enum(["add", "subtract", "multiply", "divide"]),
	}),
	function: (args) => {
		switch (args.operation) {
			case "add":
				return args.a + args.b;
			case "subtract":
				return args.a - args.b;
			case "multiply":
				return args.a * args.b;
			case "divide":
				return args.a / args.b;
		}
	},
});

const runner = new DedalusRunner(client);

const result = await runner.run({
	model: "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
	input: "What is 42 * 17?",
	tools: [calculator],
	maxSteps: 5,
});

Runner with MCP servers

import Dedalus, { DedalusRunner } from "dedalus-labs";

const client = new Dedalus({
	apiKey: process.env["DEDALUS_API_KEY"],
});

const runner = new DedalusRunner(client);

const result = await runner.run({
	model: "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
	input: "What's the weather forecast for San Francisco this week?",
	mcpServers: ["windsor/open-meteo-mcp"],
	maxSteps: 10,
});

console.log(result.output);

Runner with streaming

import Dedalus, { DedalusRunner } from "dedalus-labs";

const client = new Dedalus({
	apiKey: process.env["DEDALUS_API_KEY"],
	provider: "openai",
	providerKey: process.env["OPENAI_API_KEY"],
	providerModel: "gpt-4o-mini",
});

const runner = new DedalusRunner(client);

const result = await runner.run({
	model: "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
	input: "Write a short story about a robot learning to cook.",
	stream: true,
	maxSteps: 5,
});

if (Symbol.asyncIterator in result) {
	for await (const chunk of result) {
		if (chunk.choices?.[0]?.delta?.content) {
			process.stdout.write(chunk.choices[0].delta.content);
		}
	}
}

Switching providers between runner calls

import Dedalus, { DedalusRunner } from "dedalus-labs";

const openaiClient = new Dedalus({
	apiKey: process.env["DEDALUS_API_KEY"],
	provider: "openai",
	providerKey: process.env["OPENAI_API_KEY"],
	providerModel: "gpt-4o-mini",
});

const anthropicClient = openaiClient.withOptions({
	provider: "anthropic",
	providerKey: process.env["ANTHROPIC_API_KEY"],
	providerModel: "claude-sonnet-4-20250514",
});

const openaiRunner = new DedalusRunner(openaiClient);
const anthropicRunner = new DedalusRunner(anthropicClient);

const codeResult = await openaiRunner.run({
	model: "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
	input: "Write a fizzbuzz function in TypeScript",
	maxSteps: 3,
});

const reviewResult = await anthropicRunner.run({
	model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-20250514",
	input: `Review this code:\n${codeResult.output}`,
	maxSteps: 3,
});

Partial BYOK

You don’t need to set all three parameters. If you only provide providerKey, the provider is inferred from the model name and the model from the request body.

const client = new Dedalus({
	apiKey: process.env["DEDALUS_API_KEY"],
	providerKey: process.env["OPENAI_API_KEY"],
});

Supported providers

Any provider in our model list works with BYOK:

OpenAI

openai

Anthropic

anthropic

Google

google

xAI

xai

Mistral

mistral

DeepSeek

deepseek

Groq

groq

Cohere

cohere

Perplexity

perplexity

Cerebras

cerebras

Together AI

together_ai

Fireworks AI

fireworks_ai

Moonshot

moonshot

How it works

Your request still goes through Dedalus. We handle routing, format normalization, streaming, and tool calling. The only difference is which API key is used for the upstream LLM call.

You → Dedalus API (your Dedalus key) → Provider (your provider key) → Response → You

BYOK keys are sent over HTTPS and are never stored. They are used for the duration of the request and discarded. If you need Dedalus to manage keys on your behalf, contact us at support@dedaluslabs.ai.

Error handling

Scenario	What happens
Invalid provider name	HTTP 400 with supported provider list
Missing or invalid provider key	Provider returns its own auth error (usually 401)
Model not available on provider	Provider returns its own model error (usually 404)

The error response always includes the upstream provider’s error message so you can debug directly.

Agents SDK

Features

Guides

Use Cases

Client Libraries

Bring Your Own Key (BYOK)

When to use BYOK

Quick start

Provider examples

Streaming

Switching providers at runtime

Per-request overrides

DedalusRunner with BYOK

Basic runner

Runner with local tools (Zod)

Runner with MCP servers

Runner with streaming

Switching providers between runner calls

Partial BYOK

Supported providers

OpenAI

Anthropic

Google

xAI

Mistral

DeepSeek

Groq

Cohere

Perplexity

Cerebras

Together AI

Fireworks AI

Moonshot

How it works

Error handling

​When to use BYOK

​Quick start

​Provider examples

​Streaming

​Switching providers at runtime

​Per-request overrides

​DedalusRunner with BYOK

​Basic runner

​Runner with local tools (Zod)

​Runner with MCP servers

​Runner with streaming

​Switching providers between runner calls

​Partial BYOK

​Supported providers

OpenAI

Anthropic

Google

xAI

Mistral

DeepSeek

Groq

Cohere

Perplexity

Cerebras

Together AI

Fireworks AI

Moonshot

​How it works

​Error handling

When to use BYOK

Quick start

Provider examples

Streaming

Switching providers at runtime

Per-request overrides

DedalusRunner with BYOK

Basic runner

Runner with local tools (Zod)

Runner with MCP servers

Runner with streaming

Switching providers between runner calls

Partial BYOK

Supported providers

How it works

Error handling