Doubao (Volcengine): get an API key and write fiction with it on your phone

ByteDance's whole stack on one key: beyond Doubao Seed text and vision, Seedream (image) and Seedance (video) sit in the top tier of Chinese generative models, with a mainland modality spread second only to Alibaba's (missing just TTS) — character portraits and chapter videos can live on this single key. This page is the BYOK quick answer for Doubao (Volcengine): key steps, direct console and pricing links, and the app-side notes that matter. Verified 2026-07-18.

Two links up front: get your key at the official console and check rates on the official pricing page. Prices and free quotas move; the official pages are authoritative.

What does it power inside Foreverse?

The factory preset declares 5 modality flags for Doubao (Volcengine). The models actually available come from the live catalog fetched in-app — catalogs move fast, and the flag only means the protocol wiring is ready.

Modality	Used for
Text	Continuation · roleplay chat · agent
Vision	Image understanding in chat
Image	Scene illustration · moment cards · comics
Video	Scene-to-video
Embedding	Lorebook vector retrieval

How do I get a Doubao (Volcengine) API key?

Register at volcengine.com and complete identity verification (personal ID or business license) — Ark won't work without it.
Search for 'Ark' (火山方舟) in the console's top search bar, open the Ark console, and check or activate the models you need under activation management — every model carries a free inference quota, and paid service is enabled on the same page when it runs out.
Open API Key management in the sidebar → create an API key and copy the sk- string — it is shown in full exactly once, so save it on the spot.
That's enough for ordinary metered calls (put the model ID straight into the model field); only create an inference endpoint (ep- ID) under online inference when you need dedicated rate limits, prepaid capacity, or a fine-tuned model.

Key in hand: three steps to connect

Open the app's Settings → AI models & services and find Doubao (Volcengine) in the list (one of 62 presets, with logo and search).
Paste the key and tap the connectivity test — it fires one real request to verify key and network, and pulls back the model list while it's at it.
Enable the models you want, then set per-modality defaults (text, image, speech, and video each get their own); continuation, chat, and listening route through them from then on.

The one universal host pitfall: the API host must include its full version prefix (this provider's exact form is in the notes below) — the app never appends /v1 for you.

Doubao (Volcengine)-specific notes

The preset host is https://ark.cn-beijing.volces.com/api/v3 — the version prefix is /api/v3, not /v1, so paste the full path for a custom host (Beijing region; swap the region segment in the domain for other regions). The Ark-specific trap: older guides insist the model field must be an ep- inference-endpoint ID — with API-key auth you can now pass the model ID directly (like doubao-seed-2-0-pro-260215; the version-date suffix is part of the ID) as long as the model is activated, and ep- endpoint IDs still work. Seedream image and Seedance video use Volcengine's native endpoints, already wired in the app on the same key.

FAQ

Does Doubao (Volcengine) have a free tier?

Yes: every Doubao-family model carries a free inference quota (the long-standing rate is 500K tokens per model), and new users without paid service sit in a worry-free trial mode — it burns only the granted quota and auto-pauses near the limit, so no surprise charges. The quota offsets inference tokens only (plugins and knowledge bases excluded); the console's activation page shows what's left.

Where does the key live once I paste it into the app?

It's stored on your device only, under system-level encryption — never uploaded or synced to any Foreverse server. Requests go straight from your phone to the provider's official endpoint with zero markup. To revoke access, delete the key in the provider's console.