Ethical Stack.

LongCat API Platform

The API platform provides LongCat model endpoints in OpenAI- and Anthropic-compatible formats, with API keys and usage-based account flows.

Score calculation

(1 + 5 + 2 + 1 + 7) ÷ 5 = 3.2

5 of six dimensions rated. Unrated dimensions are excluded from the average.

Full scoring method ↗
Setup details

LongCat API model proxy and developer tools; consumer LongCat chat is excluded.

What fits your needs

LongCat API model proxy and developer tools; consumer LongCat chat is excluded.

Fit

Use existing OpenAI- or Anthropic-format clients against LongCat’s documented API endpoints.

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Tradeoffs to expect

Tradeoff

Paid access uses pre-purchased balance and service pricing is shown on the live platform; the agreement permits pricing and service changes.

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How to switch

Getting started

Register an API account, create a key, then update the base URL and chosen LongCat model in an existing client.

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Practical questions

Key and account security

The platform advises keeping API keys out of browser/client code and allows key revocation if exposed.

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Billing and eligibility

Mainland China users must complete identity checks before recharging; free quota remains available without paid-service verification.

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Energy practices

1/10↑

This grades published energy practices, not the service’s actual footprint.

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The reviewed materials define the LongCat hosted model API and its functions but provide no service-specific reporting on electricity, emissions, water, sourcing, or resource-reduction controls. Missing measurements don’t show high consumption.

1 + 0 reporting + 0 electricity + 0 controls = 1/10. This grades documented practices and transparency.

No comparable service-level electricity, emissions, water, location mix, or independently reviewed footprint is established in these sources.

Reporting0/3
No service-specific operating boundary or footprint disclosure appears in the reviewed product material.
Electricity sourcing0/3
No route-specific clean-electricity sourcing or hourly power evidence is established.
Resource controls0/3
No route-specific measured efficiency or documented resource-reduction control is established.

Water disclosure

Water reporting has not been assessed for this choice.

Training data

—Depends on the model↑

The hosted route does not identify one fixed model and training data.

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This LongCat hosted model API can expose multiple models or change its model selection over time. The product page is not a source-specific training-data and permissions record for every model served through the route.

Select the exact model and version, then review its training sources, permissions, creator controls, and any API-specific data terms.

Your data & privacy

5/10↑

The API privacy policy covers account, payment, device, usage and support data and gives retention and data-rights terms, but not a fixed prompt period.

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The API policy distinguishes account and payment information from service-use information, describes account and device logs, and ties retention to the stated purpose and applicable legal requirements. It also describes access, correction, deletion, and account cancellation rights. It does not publish a fixed duration for prompts sent through the model proxy.

Specific API-platform privacy practices and user rights are documented, while prompt-specific retention and reuse remain unresolved.

Prompt-specific training use, human review, exact deletion timing, and API data-retention settings are not specified by the reviewed pages.

Openness

2/10↑

This is a hosted product route; its interface documentation does not disclose the hosted model implementation or grant access to its weights.

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The reviewed LongCat hosted model API materials describe a hosted service, without publishing the service implementation or checkpoint weights for this route. Its openness rating concerns access to this product surface, not any separately released model family.

A hosted interface is documented, but source code, training artifacts, and route-specific downloadable weights are not established in these sources.

The exact model checkpoint and any route-specific release artifacts may change; this rating covers the named service route.

Worker protections

1/10↑

No model-specific worker safeguards are established for Meituan LongCat in the reviewed model sources.

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The model release pages describe weights and technical properties, not conditions for employees, data annotators, evaluators, moderators, or infrastructure contractors. This is a source-bounded disclosure gap, not evidence of mistreatment. These findings concern the developer or operator. This product’s use in a particular deployment needs separate evidence.

1 base + 0 conditions + 0 worker voice/remedy + 0 evidence/follow-through = 1/10; this is a disclosure finding, not proof of abuse.

Worker locations, pay and conditions, supplier coverage, voice mechanisms, labor audits, and remediation outcomes are not established by these model-release sources.

Pay & conditions0/3
No worker-level conditions or supply-chain safeguards are established in this model-family source set. This is a disclosure gap, not proof of mistreatment.
Worker voice & remedy0/3
The model sources do not document a worker voice or remedy mechanism for data, evaluation, or infrastructure labor.
Evidence & follow-through0/3
No independent worker-level audit or remediation outcome is established in the reviewed model sources.
Workers rubric ↗

Military ties

7/10Not established↑

No route-specific military relationship or end-use oversight was established for this LongCat API model proxy and developer tools; consumer LongCat chat is excluded..

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The reviewed LongCat API Platform materials describe user access, features, or account rules but don’t show a military customer, military deployment, or a model-specific restriction on military use. This route finding does not resolve the wider company’s government work.

7 base + 0 safeguard adjustment = 7/10 (0 of 9 safeguard points; every 3 adds 1). No military relationship was established in the cited sources. This ranks above known defense ties without claiming a verified clean record.

A separate, current company-level review is needed for defense contracts; downstream deployments and any customer-specific safeguards are not established here.

Use restrictions0/4
The cited route terms don’t spell out a specific restriction on military or surveillance use.
Enforcement & oversight0/3
The cited route terms don’t show route-level enforcement of military end-use restrictions.
Relationship disclosure0/2
The cited route material does not disclose a military customer or deployment for this route.

The cited LongCat API Platform documentation covers product/API terms, but does not identify a military customer, deployment, or end-use restriction.

Military rubric ↗

BDS targets

Not listed↑

Meituan LongCat is not named in the two official BNC campaign lists checked. This is a limited list check, not BDS approval.

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The official BNC consumer boycott/pressure guide and No Tech campaign page do not name Meituan LongCat among their current targets. BDS uses selective campaigns, so absence from these lists is neutral and should not be read as a clean record or approval. These findings concern the developer or operator. This product’s use in a particular deployment needs separate evidence.

This check covers only named targets in the two cited BNC campaigns; it does not cover all BDS campaigns, local groups, investments, suppliers, or downstream hosts. Lists and ownership may change.

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