Where does Continue read ST_API_KEY from?

${{ secrets.ST_API_KEY }} is read from the .env file in your workspace, the one init writes. The key never goes into config.yaml.

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Guide · Continue

Use ScaledThought with Continue

Continue can be pointed at ScaledThought as an openai provider with apiBase: https://api.us.scaledthought.com/v1 in ~/.continue/config.yaml, reading the key as ${{ secrets.ST_API_KEY }} from your workspace's .env, where init already wrote it.

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Or run it yourself:

Before you start

npx -y scaledthought@0.3 connect continue prints this block with the models live in your region. It holds no secret, and the CLI doesn't edit your YAML.

Create the account

Paste the prompt above into your coding agent, or run the command yourself in your project's directory. It creates the account, writes ST_API_KEY and ST_BASE_URL to ./.env (mode 0600) and adds .env to .gitignore. Only the US region is open; Canada is coming soon.

shell

npx -y scaledthought@0.3 init --region us --source org-continue

Buy credits

Usage is prepaid, so a new account answers 402 insufficient_credits until its first top-up. This prints a payment link and opens it in your browser; nothing is charged until you pay on it. How prepaid credits work

shell

npx -y scaledthought@0.3 billing topup --amount-usd 20
npx -y scaledthought@0.3 billing wait

Add the model

Open ~/.continue/config.yaml (Continue: Open configuration) and add this entry under models:.

config.yaml

models:
  - name: ScaledThought deepseek-v4-1-flash
    provider: openai
    model: deepseek-v4-1-flash
    apiBase: https://api.us.scaledthought.com/v1
    apiKey: ${{ secrets.ST_API_KEY }}
    defaultCompletionOptions:
      maxTokens: 32768
    roles: [chat, edit, apply]

Reload

Reload Continue and pick the ScaledThought model.

Sources

Continue on GitHub, read 2026-10-10.
ScaledThought: /llms.txt (the setup protocol) and the docs.

Questions

Where does Continue read ST_API_KEY from?: ${{ secrets.ST_API_KEY }} is read from the .env file in your workspace, the one init writes. The key never goes into config.yaml.