First DeepSeek Call on the Aggregator: A Zero-Balance Sandbox Walkthrough

Getting Started Without Spending

You can test the aggregator's DeepSeek integration before adding any USDC. This guide walks you from an empty account to a single chat completion using a sandbox key.

Create Your Account

Sign up on the aggregator platform. No KYC is required. Once registered, you'll have access to the dashboard where you can generate API keys.

Generate a Sandbox Key

In the dashboard, navigate to the API keys section and create a sandbox key. Sandbox keys are designed for testing and have limited usage, but they let you make real API calls to supported models, including DeepSeek, without spending your balance.

Note: Sandbox keys may have restrictions on models or rate limits. For production use, you'll need to top up with USDC and create a live key.

Understand the API Shape

The aggregator provides an OpenAI-compatible API. You'll send requests to a base URL (provided in your dashboard) with your sandbox key in the Authorization header. The request body follows the familiar chat completions format.

Make Your First DeepSeek Call

Use curl or any HTTP client to send a POST request to the /v1/chat/completions endpoint. Here's an example:

curl https://api.aggregator.com/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_SANDBOX_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "model": "deepseek-chat",
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello, how are you?"}]
  }'

Replace YOURSANDBOXKEY with your actual sandbox key. The model name deepseek-chat refers to DeepSeek's chat model; check the aggregator's model list for exact identifiers.

If successful, you'll receive a JSON response containing the model's reply.

Handle the Response

The response will include a choices array with the generated message. You can parse it in your application. If you encounter errors, check the status code and message for clues (e.g., invalid key, model not available in sandbox).

Next Steps

Once you've verified the request shape, you can top up your account with USDC on Base and create a live key to use DeepSeek and other models in production. Remember that live usage is billed at the official price multiplied by 1.3, and if you contribute keys, you earn credits at official price multiplied by 1.1 (or 1.2 for premium models) in USDC.