fix(ui): write playground key settings only through the encoded storage path

Key source, virtual key and custom headers now go through their own write loop, separate from the plain settings, so a key value can never take the plain sessionStorage branch

ui/litellm-dashboard/src/app/(dashboard)/playground/components/chat/PlaygroundChat.integration.test.tsx

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import { makeOpenAIChatCompletionRequest } from "@/components/llm_calls/chat_com
 import { fetchAvailableModels } from "@/components/llm_calls/fetch_models";
 import { makeOpenAIResponsesRequest } from "@/components/llm_calls/responses_api";
 import { callMCPTool, fetchMCPServers, fetchMCPToolsets, listMCPTools } from "@/components/networking";
-import { setSecureItem } from "@/utils/secureStorage";
+import { getSecureItem, setSecureItem } from "@/utils/secureStorage";
 import { PlaygroundChat } from "./PlaygroundChat";
 
 vi.mock("@/app/(dashboard)/hooks/useCan", () => ({ default: () => true }));
@@ -487,4 +487,17 @@ describe("PlaygroundChat", () => {
 
     expect(screen.queryByText("Python Code Executed")).not.toBeInTheDocument();
   });
+
+  it("keeps the virtual key encoded in session storage", async () => {
+    setSecureItem("apiKeySource", JSON.stringify("custom"));
+    setSecureItem("apiKey", "sk-virtual-123");
+    preload({ selectedModel: "gpt-fast" });
+    renderChat();
+
+    await waitFor(() => expect(fetchAvailableModels).toHaveBeenCalledWith("sk-virtual-123"));
+    expect(getSecureItem("apiKey")).toBe("sk-virtual-123");
+    const stored = Object.keys(sessionStorage).map((key) => sessionStorage.getItem(key) ?? "");
+    expect(stored.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    expect(stored.filter((value) => value.includes("sk-virtual-123"))).toEqual([]);
+  });
 });

ui/litellm-dashboard/src/app/(dashboard)/playground/components/chat/playgroundSettings.test.ts

@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@ import {
   allowedTools,
   defaultSettings,
   loadSettings,
-  storedValues,
+  plainValues,
+  secureValues,
   toggleMcpItem,
   toggleToolLimit,
   withEndpoint,
@@ -29,7 +30,7 @@ const TOOLS = ["search", "fetch", "summarize"] as const;
 const SCOPE = { server: "s", tools: TOOLS };
 
 describe("loadSettings", () => {
-  it("restores every persisted field from what storedValues wrote", () => {
+  it("restores every persisted field from what was written", () => {
     const persisted: Partial<PlaygroundSettings> = {
       keySource: "custom",
       virtualKey: "sk-test",
@@ -48,8 +49,8 @@ describe("loadSettings", () => {
     };
     const original = settingsWith(persisted);
     const written = Object.fromEntries(
-      storedValues(original)
-        .filter((entry): entry is { key: string; value: string; secure: boolean } => entry.value !== null)
+      [...secureValues(original), ...plainValues(original)]
+        .filter((entry): entry is { key: string; value: string } => entry.value !== null)
         .map(({ key, value }) => [key, value]),
     );
 

ui/litellm-dashboard/src/app/(dashboard)/playground/components/chat/playgroundSettings.ts

@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ export type PlaygroundSettings = Readonly<{
   maxTokens: number | null;
 }>;
 
-export type StoredValue = Readonly<{ key: string; value: string | null; secure: boolean }>;
+export type StoredValue = Readonly<{ key: string; value: string | null }>;
 
 export type SettingsStorage = Readonly<{
   read: (key: string) => string | null;
@@ -122,21 +122,24 @@ export const loadSettings = (storage: SettingsStorage, keysDisabled: boolean): P
   stream: storage.read("streamingEnabled") !== "false",
 });
 
-export const storedValues = (settings: PlaygroundSettings): readonly StoredValue[] => [
-  { key: "apiKeySource", value: JSON.stringify(settings.keySource), secure: true },
-  { key: "apiKey", value: settings.virtualKey, secure: true },
-  { key: "customHeaders", value: JSON.stringify(settings.headerPairs), secure: true },
-  { key: "customProxyBaseUrl", value: settings.proxyBaseUrl || null, secure: false },
-  { key: "endpointType", value: settings.endpoint, secure: false },
-  { key: "selectedModel", value: settings.model, secure: false },
-  { key: "selectedVoice", value: settings.voice, secure: false },
-  { key: "selectedTags", value: JSON.stringify(settings.tags), secure: false },
-  { key: "selectedVectorStores", value: JSON.stringify(settings.vectorStores), secure: false },
-  { key: "selectedGuardrails", value: JSON.stringify(settings.guardrails), secure: false },
-  { key: "selectedPolicies", value: JSON.stringify(settings.policies), secure: false },
-  { key: "selectedMCPServers", value: JSON.stringify(settings.mcpSelection), secure: false },
-  { key: "mcpServerToolRestrictions", value: JSON.stringify(settings.toolLimits), secure: false },
-  { key: "streamingEnabled", value: String(settings.stream), secure: false },
+export const secureValues = (settings: PlaygroundSettings): readonly StoredValue[] => [
+  { key: "apiKeySource", value: JSON.stringify(settings.keySource) },
+  { key: "apiKey", value: settings.virtualKey },
+  { key: "customHeaders", value: JSON.stringify(settings.headerPairs) },
+];
+
+export const plainValues = (settings: PlaygroundSettings): readonly StoredValue[] => [
+  { key: "customProxyBaseUrl", value: settings.proxyBaseUrl || null },
+  { key: "endpointType", value: settings.endpoint },
+  { key: "selectedModel", value: settings.model },
+  { key: "selectedVoice", value: settings.voice },
+  { key: "selectedTags", value: JSON.stringify(settings.tags) },
+  { key: "selectedVectorStores", value: JSON.stringify(settings.vectorStores) },
+  { key: "selectedGuardrails", value: JSON.stringify(settings.guardrails) },
+  { key: "selectedPolicies", value: JSON.stringify(settings.policies) },
+  { key: "selectedMCPServers", value: JSON.stringify(settings.mcpSelection) },
+  { key: "mcpServerToolRestrictions", value: JSON.stringify(settings.toolLimits) },
+  { key: "streamingEnabled", value: String(settings.stream) },
 ];
 
 const singleServer = (selection: readonly string[]): readonly string[] =>

ui/litellm-dashboard/src/app/(dashboard)/playground/components/chat/usePlaygroundSettings.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
 import { useCallback, useEffect, useState } from "react";
 import { getSecureItem, setSecureItem } from "@/utils/secureStorage";
-import { defaultSettings, loadSettings, storedValues, type PlaygroundSettings } from "./playgroundSettings";
+import {
+  defaultSettings,
+  loadSettings,
+  plainValues,
+  secureValues,
+  type PlaygroundSettings,
+} from "./playgroundSettings";
 
 export type SettingsUpdate = Partial<PlaygroundSettings> | ((current: PlaygroundSettings) => PlaygroundSettings);
 
@@ -10,10 +16,17 @@ const browserStorage = {
 };
 
 const persist = (settings: PlaygroundSettings): void => {
-  storedValues(settings).forEach(({ key, value, secure }) => {
+  secureValues(settings).forEach(({ key, value }) => {
+    try {
+      if (value === null) window.sessionStorage.removeItem(key);
+      else setSecureItem(key, value);
+    } catch {
+      return;
+    }
+  });
+  plainValues(settings).forEach(({ key, value }) => {
     try {
       if (value === null) window.sessionStorage.removeItem(key);
-      else if (secure) setSecureItem(key, value);
       else window.sessionStorage.setItem(key, value);
     } catch {
       return;