MiniMax API key setup

Published 2026-10-10 · Updated 2026-10-20

MiniMax issues two different kinds of credentials, and mixing them up is the number-one source of “invalid API key” errors:

• Pay-as-you-go API keys are JWTs, they start with eyJ and contain two dots separating the base64url header, payload and signature.
• M-Plan subscription keys start with sk-cp- and are shorter opaque tokens.

Both work the same way in a request; the difference is where they’re created and what quota they draw from.

Setup

export MINIMAX_API_KEY="eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIs..."

Base URL for the OpenAI-compatible API: https://api.minimax.io/v1. There’s also an Anthropic-compatible surface at https://api.minimax.io/anthropic.

Call it

curl https://api.minimax.io/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MINIMAX_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "MiniMax-M3",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Say hello"}]
  }'

from openai import OpenAI
import os

client = OpenAI(
    api_key=os.environ["MINIMAX_API_KEY"],
    base_url="https://api.minimax.io/v1",
)

Gotchas

• JWT keys are long. They can run several hundred characters. If a terminal or .env parser truncates it, you get a 401. Count the dots: a complete JWT has exactly two.
• Two domains. api.minimax.io is international; api.minimaxi.com is the domestic China endpoint. Match the key to the console that issued it.
• Model names are capitalized, MiniMax-M3, not minimax-m3. The API is forgiving in some versions, but don’t count on it.
• Tools that default to x-api-key. MiniMax wants Authorization: Bearer. In tools like Xcode’s model provider settings you may need to override the header name.

Error code 2049 in MiniMax responses means invalid API key, usually a truncated JWT or a key from the wrong console.