Finding and launching your games
Installed games are read from Steam's own records on your disk. Covers and banners come from Steam's public images. Playtime, Proton settings, launching — none of it touches an API.
API keys, and when you need one.
Most of what the launcher does needs no key at all. Two things do, and only one of them is missing from a fresh install.
No key
No key
Searching for a game to add
Steam's store search finds anything sold there, without a key. That is most of what anyone is looking for.
Built in
Importing your whole library
Including games you own but have not installed. A Steam key ships with the app so this works immediately — but it is shared by everyone, and Steam counts requests per key.
Yours to add
Community artwork
SteamGridDB has hundreds of covers per game where Steam has one, and knows about games Steam does not sell. No key ships for it.
Getting one takes a minute.
-
1
Sign in at steamgriddb.com
With your Steam account — there is nothing else to fill in.
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3
Paste it into Settings → API
It is stored in your own config folder and never leaves your machine except to talk to SteamGridDB.
Using your own instead of the shared one.
Worth doing if you import often. The shared key is one allowance divided among everybody; your own is yours alone.
Get one at steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey and paste it into Settings → API. A key you enter is always read before the built-in one.