Hey, thanks for the report. This is a known issue with the BYOK fields API Key and Base URL in Settings > Models on 3.15.x. The fields don’t focus when you click them. It’s already fixed, and the fix is included in the next update 3.15.20 and newer. You’re on 3.15.19, so you’re seeing it.
Until the update arrives, here’s a workaround: click anywhere inside the settings panel and press Tab until the focus lands on the key field. After that, typing and paste work normally.
Once the new build is available, update Cursor and mouse click will work again. Let me know if the issue still happens after updating.
@RealLucas, let’s split this into two things, since these look like different issues.
If the API Key field looks empty after you switch tabs, that’s expected behavior, not a lost key. The API Key field is a write-only secret. The key is saved to encrypted storage as soon as you enter it. There’s no Save button, and Ctrl+S doesn’t apply here. For security reasons, Cursor never shows a saved key again, so after leaving and returning to the Models tab the field will always look empty. The Base URL isn’t a secret, so it stays visible. That’s why you’re seeing the difference.
When you go back to the Models tab, please check:
The key field shows the placeholder “Secret saved. Enter a new key to replace it”
There’s a toggle next to the section title called “Use OpenAI API key” and it’s enabled
If you see that, the key is saved and everything’s fine.
If the field still says “Enter your OpenAI API Key” and there’s no toggle, or if clicking the field really doesn’t let you type on 3.17, that’s a different issue. Please share a screenshot of that state and your exact version from Cursor Settings > About, and we’ll dig in.
Sorry, this is my previous screenshot. I filled in my API Key and clicked “Secret Saved” in the upper right corner, but when I switched to another page, the filled content became empty, just like when nothing was entered. However, the “Secret Saved” toggle remained on. Even if I filled it in again and stayed on that page, directly using DeepSeek would return an error—I didn’t capture the specific message. I guarantee my API Key is valid. On March 16 and 17, I reinstalled many times, including completely deleting all data, but the issue persisted. Later, I completely uninstalled this version of Cursor and switched to version 3.6, which was the version I had before upgrading, and it worked fine—the content was not cleared.
@RealLucas, thanks for clarifying. Let’s split this up: the empty API key field after switching tabs while the Secret saved toggle is on is expected behavior. The key is stored in encrypted storage and won’t be shown again, so that part is OK. The main issue is the DeepSeek error, and that’s what I want to dig into.
From your screenshot, there are two things worth checking:
Base URL. For DeepSeek via Override OpenAI Base URL, you usually need the /v1 path: https://api.deepseek.com/v1 (right now you have https://api.deepseek.com).
Model. A custom base URL only works for models you add manually under Custom Models using the provider slug. For DeepSeek that’s, for example, deepseek-chat. Built-in models from the list (Cursor Grok, Composer, Kimi) and Tab don’t go through this path, their requests won’t be sent to your endpoint.
So the working setup is:
Override OpenAI Base URL: https://api.deepseek.com/v1
OpenAI API Key: your DeepSeek key
Add model → add deepseek-chat (or the DeepSeek slug you need) under Custom Models
In chat, select that custom model specifically
Try that and let me know if it helped. If the error still happens, please send the exact error text and the Request ID (top right of the chat menu > Copy Request ID), plus the exact version from Cursor Settings > About and which model you have selected when the error happens. With that info we can dig deeper.
I tried versions 3.6 and 3.17 again today,DeepSeek is working normally now. It might be due to my own operational error or a network issue. Thank you for your reply.
