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Set up your API key

Module 2. Your goal: Connect ComfyUI to BytePlus ModelArk and save your first generated image. An API key lets the node pack send requests using your BytePlus account.

  • Complete Module 1.
  • Have a BytePlus account with available balance and access to ModelArk.
  • Prepare a reference image you have permission to use, or download the practice logo below.

This course uses only the ModelArk API key. You do not need Seed Speech, MediaKit, LAS or IAM keys.

Download the practice logo (PNG). Save it in your course folder, even if the same filename already appears in a template. It comes from Comfy Org’s workflow templates, with its MIT license notice.

  1. Sign in to BytePlus and open ModelArk. Use the region your account administrator has enabled for this project. If you are setting up your own account, start with Singapore and check model access there.
  2. Open API keys in the ModelArk console. The Singapore API-key page is a direct starting point if you use that region.
  3. Create an API key and copy it privately. Do not put it in your course notes or workflow.
  4. In ModelArk’s model catalog, search for Seedream 5.0 Pro and Seedance 2.5. Open their details and follow any activation or access instructions shown for your account. Seeing a model in ComfyUI’s dropdown does not confirm account access.

Keep the region unchanged while creating the key. A saved key is one checkpoint; a successful image run below confirms image access. Seedance access is checked when you run the draft in Module 5.

  1. Open Settings > BytePlus > Default credentials.
  2. Find ModelArk API key and paste your key.
  3. Select the matching region: ap-southeast-1 for Singapore or eu-west-1 for Europe, according to where you created the key.
  4. Press Save. Confirm that Settings shows the key as set. It takes effect without restarting ComfyUI.
BytePlus credential settings with the ModelArk key field, Singapore region selector and Save button identified
Paste the key, match the console region, then use Save on this row.
ModelArk Settings showing a saved key with only the sample suffix abcd visible
Settings shows whether the key is set, not the full key.

Leave optional model endpoints empty unless your account administrator has supplied a matching endpoint. The API-key reference explains those account-specific settings.

The Seedream template is included with the node pack and provides the connected graph.

Template
Seedream, in the ComfyUI template browser under BytePlus
BytePlus nodes
Seedream 4.5 & 5.0
Keys needed
ModelArk API key
Also uses
Load Image, Save Image (built into ComfyUI)
  1. Open Templates in the left sidebar, look under ComfyUI-BytePlus-ModelArk, and open Seedream.
  2. In Load Image, press choose file to upload and select the practice logo or your reference image. Confirm a preview appears.
  3. Keep seedream 5.0 pro selected. For the logo, use the template’s prompt. For your own image, describe the result you want. Set Save Image’s filename_prefix to Course/first-image.
  4. Press Run and wait for the result to appear in Save Image.
  5. In ComfyUI’s file location, open output, then Course. Find the file beginning first-image. Copy that image into your course folder.
Load Image showing the practice logo preview with a callout pointing to choose file to upload
A filename alone is not enough; check that your reference preview appears.
A glossy purple ComfyUI badge on white, generated from the practice logo reference
Example output from the template's logo prompt.

For Desktop, use the ComfyUI file location you chose during installation. For a manual installation, output is in the ComfyUI directory. If ComfyUI runs on another computer, the output folder is on that computer.

The key is stored separately from your workflow. Keep it out of screenshots, recordings and shared files. Generation sends your reference and prompt to the cloud and uses your BytePlus account balance.

Write one sentence naming the product, audience and desired look. For example: “Create a clean studio image of my reusable bottle for an online shop, with soft shadows and space for advertising copy.” Keep it with a photo you own or have permission to use. Use this same brief and original reference throughout Modules 3-5.

Without a product photo, keep using the practice logo and this brief: “Create a glossy ComfyUI logo badge for a creator profile, on white with soft shadows and space for a headline.” In later product prompts, replace “product” with “logo badge”.

  • Settings shows your ModelArk key as set with its matching region.
  • A generated image appears in Save Image and in output.
  • You have a product brief and reference ready for the next lesson.
  • Your saved course files contain no API key.

Module 3: Understand and build a workflow.

Previous: Module 1: Install ComfyUI.