Feature request for product/service
API Keys
Describe the request
Is there a reason why BYOK is not available on Automations etc.? What is the reasoning / logic behind it?
Hey, thanks for the question. This is by design, not a random limitation.
BYOK works so that your key is never stored on our servers. The IDE client attaches it to every request, and it isn’t saved after the request. This works for the in-IDE agent because the client is always there to provide the key.
Cloud Agents and Automations are headless processes running on our infrastructure, and they keep calling the model after the client disconnects, sometimes for hours. There’s no client there to attach the key, and persisting your provider key in server state is something we intentionally don’t do. Also, cloud runs include not just inference but also VM compute, which still goes through Cursor usage anyway. That’s why the limitation exists. Same for the CLI.
If you want BYOK for Cloud Agents, please upvote the main thread here: Support for BYOK in Cloud Agents
Let me know if you still have questions.