diff --git a/internal/access/reconcile.go b/internal/access/reconcile.go
index 7a69dd95..a1f153aa 100644
--- a/internal/access/reconcile.go
+++ b/internal/access/reconcile.go
@@ -79,51 +79,35 @@ func ReconcileProviders(oldCfg, newCfg *config.Config, existing []sdkaccess.Prov
 		finalIDs[key] = struct{}{}
 	}
 
-	if len(result) == 0 && len(newCfg.APIKeys) > 0 {
-		sdkConfig.SyncInlineAPIKeys(&newCfg.SDKConfig, newCfg.APIKeys)
-		if providerCfg := newCfg.ConfigAPIKeyProvider(); providerCfg != nil {
-			key := providerIdentifier(providerCfg)
+	if len(result) == 0 {
+		if inline := sdkConfig.MakeInlineAPIKeyProvider(newCfg.APIKeys); inline != nil {
+			key := providerIdentifier(inline)
 			if key != "" {
 				if oldCfgProvider, ok := oldCfgMap[key]; ok {
-					isAliased := oldCfgProvider == providerCfg
-					if !isAliased && providerConfigEqual(oldCfgProvider, providerCfg) {
+					if providerConfigEqual(oldCfgProvider, inline) {
 						if existingProvider, okExisting := existingMap[key]; okExisting {
 							result = append(result, existingProvider)
-						} else {
-							provider, buildErr := sdkaccess.BuildProvider(providerCfg, &newCfg.SDKConfig)
-							if buildErr != nil {
-								return nil, nil, nil, nil, buildErr
-							}
-							if _, existed := existingMap[key]; existed {
-								appendChange(&updated, key)
-							} else {
-								appendChange(&added, key)
-							}
-							result = append(result, provider)
+							finalIDs[key] = struct{}{}
+							goto inlineDone
 						}
-					} else {
-						provider, buildErr := sdkaccess.BuildProvider(providerCfg, &newCfg.SDKConfig)
-						if buildErr != nil {
-							return nil, nil, nil, nil, buildErr
-						}
-						if _, existed := existingMap[key]; existed {
-							appendChange(&updated, key)
-						} else {
-							appendChange(&added, key)
-						}
-						result = append(result, provider)
 					}
-				} else {
-					provider, buildErr := sdkaccess.BuildProvider(providerCfg, &newCfg.SDKConfig)
-					if buildErr != nil {
-						return nil, nil, nil, nil, buildErr
-					}
-					appendChange(&added, key)
-					result = append(result, provider)
 				}
+				provider, buildErr := sdkaccess.BuildProvider(inline, &newCfg.SDKConfig)
+				if buildErr != nil {
+					return nil, nil, nil, nil, buildErr
+				}
+				if _, existed := existingMap[key]; existed {
+					appendChange(&updated, key)
+				} else if _, hadOld := oldCfgMap[key]; hadOld {
+					appendChange(&updated, key)
+				} else {
+					appendChange(&added, key)
+				}
+				result = append(result, provider)
 				finalIDs[key] = struct{}{}
 			}
 		}
+	inlineDone:
 	}
 
 	removedSet := make(map[string]struct{})
@@ -192,7 +176,7 @@ func accessProviderMap(cfg *config.Config) map[string]*sdkConfig.AccessProvider
 		result[key] = providerCfg
 	}
 	if len(result) == 0 && len(cfg.APIKeys) > 0 {
-		if provider := cfg.ConfigAPIKeyProvider(); provider != nil {
+		if provider := sdkConfig.MakeInlineAPIKeyProvider(cfg.APIKeys); provider != nil {
 			if key := providerIdentifier(provider); key != "" {
 				result[key] = provider
 			}
@@ -212,6 +196,11 @@ func collectProviderEntries(cfg *config.Config) []*sdkConfig.AccessProvider {
 			entries = append(entries, providerCfg)
 		}
 	}
+	if len(entries) == 0 && len(cfg.APIKeys) > 0 {
+		if inline := sdkConfig.MakeInlineAPIKeyProvider(cfg.APIKeys); inline != nil {
+			entries = append(entries, inline)
+		}
+	}
 	return entries
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/api/handlers/management/config_lists.go b/internal/api/handlers/management/config_lists.go
index 12fdf349..22bff1b3 100644
--- a/internal/api/handlers/management/config_lists.go
+++ b/internal/api/handlers/management/config_lists.go
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/gin-gonic/gin"
 	"github.com/router-for-me/CLIProxyAPI/v6/internal/config"
-	sdkConfig "github.com/router-for-me/CLIProxyAPI/v6/sdk/config"
 )
 
 // Generic helpers for list[string]
@@ -108,13 +107,16 @@ func (h *Handler) deleteFromStringList(c *gin.Context, target *[]string, after f
 // api-keys
 func (h *Handler) GetAPIKeys(c *gin.Context) { c.JSON(200, gin.H{"api-keys": h.cfg.APIKeys}) }
 func (h *Handler) PutAPIKeys(c *gin.Context) {
-	h.putStringList(c, func(v []string) { sdkConfig.SyncInlineAPIKeys(&h.cfg.SDKConfig, v) }, nil)
+	h.putStringList(c, func(v []string) {
+		h.cfg.APIKeys = append([]string(nil), v...)
+		h.cfg.Access.Providers = nil
+	}, nil)
 }
 func (h *Handler) PatchAPIKeys(c *gin.Context) {
-	h.patchStringList(c, &h.cfg.APIKeys, func() { sdkConfig.SyncInlineAPIKeys(&h.cfg.SDKConfig, h.cfg.APIKeys) })
+	h.patchStringList(c, &h.cfg.APIKeys, func() { h.cfg.Access.Providers = nil })
 }
 func (h *Handler) DeleteAPIKeys(c *gin.Context) {
-	h.deleteFromStringList(c, &h.cfg.APIKeys, func() { sdkConfig.SyncInlineAPIKeys(&h.cfg.SDKConfig, h.cfg.APIKeys) })
+	h.deleteFromStringList(c, &h.cfg.APIKeys, func() { h.cfg.Access.Providers = nil })
 }
 
 // generative-language-api-key
@@ -203,7 +205,7 @@ func (h *Handler) DeleteClaudeKey(c *gin.Context) {
 
 // openai-compatibility: []OpenAICompatibility
 func (h *Handler) GetOpenAICompat(c *gin.Context) {
-	c.JSON(200, gin.H{"openai-compatibility": h.cfg.OpenAICompatibility})
+	c.JSON(200, gin.H{"openai-compatibility": normalizedOpenAICompatibilityEntries(h.cfg.OpenAICompatibility)})
 }
 func (h *Handler) PutOpenAICompat(c *gin.Context) {
 	data, err := c.GetRawData()
@@ -381,3 +383,22 @@ func normalizeOpenAICompatibilityEntry(entry *config.OpenAICompatibility) {
 	}
 	entry.APIKeys = nil
 }
+
+func normalizedOpenAICompatibilityEntries(entries []config.OpenAICompatibility) []config.OpenAICompatibility {
+	if len(entries) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	out := make([]config.OpenAICompatibility, len(entries))
+	for i := range entries {
+		copyEntry := entries[i]
+		if len(copyEntry.APIKeyEntries) > 0 {
+			copyEntry.APIKeyEntries = append([]config.OpenAICompatibilityAPIKey(nil), copyEntry.APIKeyEntries...)
+		}
+		if len(copyEntry.APIKeys) > 0 {
+			copyEntry.APIKeys = append([]string(nil), copyEntry.APIKeys...)
+		}
+		normalizeOpenAICompatibilityEntry(&copyEntry)
+		out[i] = copyEntry
+	}
+	return out
+}
diff --git a/internal/config/config.go b/internal/config/config.go
index de1d49eb..b9a34754 100644
--- a/internal/config/config.go
+++ b/internal/config/config.go
@@ -217,33 +217,12 @@ func syncInlineAccessProvider(cfg *Config) {
 	if cfg == nil {
 		return
 	}
-	if len(cfg.Access.Providers) == 0 {
-		if len(cfg.APIKeys) == 0 {
-			return
+	if len(cfg.APIKeys) == 0 {
+		if provider := cfg.ConfigAPIKeyProvider(); provider != nil && len(provider.APIKeys) > 0 {
+			cfg.APIKeys = append([]string(nil), provider.APIKeys...)
 		}
-		cfg.Access.Providers = append(cfg.Access.Providers, config.AccessProvider{
-			Name:    config.DefaultAccessProviderName,
-			Type:    config.AccessProviderTypeConfigAPIKey,
-			APIKeys: append([]string(nil), cfg.APIKeys...),
-		})
-		return
 	}
-	provider := cfg.ConfigAPIKeyProvider()
-	if provider == nil {
-		if len(cfg.APIKeys) == 0 {
-			return
-		}
-		cfg.Access.Providers = append(cfg.Access.Providers, config.AccessProvider{
-			Name:    config.DefaultAccessProviderName,
-			Type:    config.AccessProviderTypeConfigAPIKey,
-			APIKeys: append([]string(nil), cfg.APIKeys...),
-		})
-		return
-	}
-	if len(provider.APIKeys) == 0 && len(cfg.APIKeys) > 0 {
-		provider.APIKeys = append([]string(nil), cfg.APIKeys...)
-	}
-	cfg.APIKeys = append([]string(nil), provider.APIKeys...)
+	cfg.Access.Providers = nil
 }
 
 // looksLikeBcrypt returns true if the provided string appears to be a bcrypt hash.
@@ -264,6 +243,7 @@ func hashSecret(secret string) (string, error) {
 // SaveConfigPreserveComments writes the config back to YAML while preserving existing comments
 // and key ordering by loading the original file into a yaml.Node tree and updating values in-place.
 func SaveConfigPreserveComments(configFile string, cfg *Config) error {
+	persistCfg := sanitizeConfigForPersist(cfg)
 	// Load original YAML as a node tree to preserve comments and ordering.
 	data, err := os.ReadFile(configFile)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -282,7 +262,7 @@ func SaveConfigPreserveComments(configFile string, cfg *Config) error {
 	}
 
 	// Marshal the current cfg to YAML, then unmarshal to a yaml.Node we can merge from.
-	rendered, err := yaml.Marshal(cfg)
+	rendered, err := yaml.Marshal(persistCfg)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -297,6 +277,9 @@ func SaveConfigPreserveComments(configFile string, cfg *Config) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("expected generated root mapping node")
 	}
 
+	// Remove deprecated auth block before merging to avoid persisting it again.
+	removeMapKey(original.Content[0], "auth")
+
 	// Merge generated into original in-place, preserving comments/order of existing nodes.
 	mergeMappingPreserve(original.Content[0], generated.Content[0])
 
@@ -315,6 +298,16 @@ func SaveConfigPreserveComments(configFile string, cfg *Config) error {
 	return enc.Close()
 }
 
+func sanitizeConfigForPersist(cfg *Config) *Config {
+	if cfg == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	clone := *cfg
+	clone.SDKConfig = cfg.SDKConfig
+	clone.SDKConfig.Access = config.AccessConfig{}
+	return &clone
+}
+
 // SaveConfigPreserveCommentsUpdateNestedScalar updates a nested scalar key path like ["a","b"]
 // while preserving comments and positions.
 func SaveConfigPreserveCommentsUpdateNestedScalar(configFile string, path []string, value string) error {
@@ -517,3 +510,15 @@ func copyNodeShallow(dst, src *yaml.Node) {
 		dst.Content = nil
 	}
 }
+
+func removeMapKey(mapNode *yaml.Node, key string) {
+	if mapNode == nil || mapNode.Kind != yaml.MappingNode || key == "" {
+		return
+	}
+	for i := 0; i+1 < len(mapNode.Content); i += 2 {
+		if mapNode.Content[i] != nil && mapNode.Content[i].Value == key {
+			mapNode.Content = append(mapNode.Content[:i], mapNode.Content[i+2:]...)
+			return
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/sdk/access/registry.go b/sdk/access/registry.go
index f2eb4d1c..a29cdd96 100644
--- a/sdk/access/registry.go
+++ b/sdk/access/registry.go
@@ -74,10 +74,9 @@ func BuildProviders(root *config.SDKConfig) ([]Provider, error) {
 		}
 		providers = append(providers, provider)
 	}
-	if len(providers) == 0 && len(root.APIKeys) > 0 {
-		config.SyncInlineAPIKeys(root, root.APIKeys)
-		if providerCfg := root.ConfigAPIKeyProvider(); providerCfg != nil {
-			provider, err := BuildProvider(providerCfg, root)
+	if len(providers) == 0 {
+		if inline := config.MakeInlineAPIKeyProvider(root.APIKeys); inline != nil {
+			provider, err := BuildProvider(inline, root)
 			if err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
diff --git a/sdk/config/config.go b/sdk/config/config.go
index 6170afb3..acb340ef 100644
--- a/sdk/config/config.go
+++ b/sdk/config/config.go
@@ -16,13 +16,13 @@ type SDKConfig struct {
 	APIKeys []string `yaml:"api-keys" json:"api-keys"`
 
 	// Access holds request authentication provider configuration.
-	Access AccessConfig `yaml:"auth" json:"auth"`
+	Access AccessConfig `yaml:"auth,omitempty" json:"auth,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // AccessConfig groups request authentication providers.
 type AccessConfig struct {
 	// Providers lists configured authentication providers.
-	Providers []AccessProvider `yaml:"providers" json:"providers"`
+	Providers []AccessProvider `yaml:"providers,omitempty" json:"providers,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // AccessProvider describes a request authentication provider entry.
@@ -51,27 +51,6 @@ const (
 	DefaultAccessProviderName = "config-inline"
 )
 
-// SyncInlineAPIKeys updates the inline API key provider and top-level APIKeys field.
-func SyncInlineAPIKeys(cfg *SDKConfig, keys []string) {
-	if cfg == nil {
-		return
-	}
-	cloned := append([]string(nil), keys...)
-	cfg.APIKeys = cloned
-	if provider := cfg.ConfigAPIKeyProvider(); provider != nil {
-		if provider.Name == "" {
-			provider.Name = DefaultAccessProviderName
-		}
-		provider.APIKeys = cloned
-		return
-	}
-	cfg.Access.Providers = append(cfg.Access.Providers, AccessProvider{
-		Name:    DefaultAccessProviderName,
-		Type:    AccessProviderTypeConfigAPIKey,
-		APIKeys: cloned,
-	})
-}
-
 // ConfigAPIKeyProvider returns the first inline API key provider if present.
 func (c *SDKConfig) ConfigAPIKeyProvider() *AccessProvider {
 	if c == nil {
@@ -87,3 +66,17 @@ func (c *SDKConfig) ConfigAPIKeyProvider() *AccessProvider {
 	}
 	return nil
 }
+
+// MakeInlineAPIKeyProvider constructs an inline API key provider configuration.
+// It returns nil when no keys are supplied.
+func MakeInlineAPIKeyProvider(keys []string) *AccessProvider {
+	if len(keys) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	provider := &AccessProvider{
+		Name:    DefaultAccessProviderName,
+		Type:    AccessProviderTypeConfigAPIKey,
+		APIKeys: append([]string(nil), keys...),
+	}
+	return provider
+}