diff --git a/backend/main.py b/backend/main.py
index 8037032c..9c900f8b 100644
--- a/backend/main.py
+++ b/backend/main.py
@@ -81,13 +81,17 @@ if settings.OFFICIAL_WEB_API_KEY:
     @app.on_event("startup")
     def create_official_web_api_client():
         with Session(engine) as session:
-            create_api_client(
-                session=session,
-                api_key=settings.OFFICIAL_WEB_API_KEY,
-                description="The official web client for the OASST backend.",
-                frontend_type="web",
-                trusted=True,
-            )
+            try:
+                api_auth(settings.OFFICIAL_WEB_API_KEY, db=session)
+            except OasstError:
+                logger.info("Creating official web API client")
+                create_api_client(
+                    session=session,
+                    api_key=settings.OFFICIAL_WEB_API_KEY,
+                    description="The official web client for the OASST backend.",
+                    frontend_type="web",
+                    trusted=True,
+                )
 
 
 if settings.RATE_LIMIT:
diff --git a/text-frontend/__main__.py b/text-frontend/__main__.py
index 3e662e5f..18c1f124 100644
--- a/text-frontend/__main__.py
+++ b/text-frontend/__main__.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ def _render_message(message: dict) -> str:
 
 
 @app.command()
-def main(backend_url: str = "http://127.0.0.1:8080", api_key: str = "DUMMY_KEY"):
+def main(backend_url: str = "http://127.0.0.1:8080", api_key: str = "1234"):
     """Simple REPL frontend."""
 
     def _post(path: str, json: dict) -> dict: