OpenClawDocs
View as MarkdownView this page as plain textOpen in ChatGPTAsk questions about this pageOpen in ClaudeAsk questions about this page

Gateway

Configuration — tools and custom providers

tools.* config keys and custom provider / base-URL setup. For agents, channels, and other top-level config keys, see Configuration reference.

Tools

Tool profiles

tools.profile sets a base allowlist before tools.allow/tools.deny:

Profile Includes
minimal session_status only
coding group:fs, group:runtime, group:web, group:sessions, group:memory, cron, get_goal, create_goal, update_goal, update_plan, ask_user, skill_workshop, image, image_generate, music_generate, video_generate
messaging group:messaging, sessions, sessions_list, sessions_history, sessions_search, conversations_list, conversations_send, conversations_turn, sessions_send, sessions_spawn, sessions_yield, subagents, session_status, ask_user
full No restriction (same as unset)

coding and messaging also implicitly allow bundle-mcp (configured MCP servers).

Tool groups

Group Tools
group:runtime exec, process, code_execution (bash is accepted as an alias for exec)
group:fs read, write, edit, apply_patch
group:sessions sessions, sessions_list, sessions_history, sessions_search, conversations_list, conversations_send, conversations_turn, sessions_send, sessions_spawn, sessions_yield, subagents, session_status, spawn_task, dismiss_task
group:memory memory_search, memory_get
group:web web_search, x_search, web_fetch
group:ui browser, screen, terminal, canvas, show_widget
group:automation heartbeat_respond, cron, gateway
group:messaging message
group:nodes nodes, computer
group:agents agents_list, get_goal, create_goal, update_goal, update_plan, ask_user, skill_workshop
group:media image, image_generate, music_generate, video_generate, tts
group:openclaw All built-in tools above except read/write/edit/apply_patch/exec/process/canvas (excludes plugin tools)
group:plugins Tools owned by loaded plugins, including configured MCP servers exposed through bundle-mcp

spawn_task lets a coding agent propose confirmed follow-up work without starting it. The Control UI shows the title and summary as an actionable chip; a Gateway-backed TUI shows an equivalent interactive prompt. Accepting either creates a fresh managed-worktree session and sends the full prompt there while the current turn continues. dismiss_task withdraws a still-pending suggestion by the ephemeral task_id returned from spawn_task.

The tools are offered only when the initiating operator surface can receive and action Gateway task-suggestion events. Channel sessions and local/embedded TUI sessions do not receive them; channel transports need a portable typed task action before they can safely expose this flow. Suggestions are process-local and disappear when the Gateway restarts. Both tools remain in the coding profile and group:sessions, so normal tools.allow and tools.deny policy configures them automatically when the surface supports them.

MCP and plugin tools inside sandbox tool policy

Configured MCP servers are exposed as plugin-owned tools under the bundle-mcp plugin id. Normal tool profiles can allow them, but tools.sandbox.tools is an additional gate for sandboxed sessions. If sandbox mode is "all" or "non-main", include one of these entries in the sandbox tool allowlist when MCP/plugin tools should be visible:

  • bundle-mcp for OpenClaw-managed MCP servers from mcp.servers
  • the plugin id for a specific native plugin
  • group:plugins for all loaded plugin-owned tools
  • exact MCP server tool names or server globs such as outlook__send_mail or outlook__* when you only want one server

Server globs use the provider-safe MCP server prefix, not necessarily the raw mcp.servers key. Non-[A-Za-z0-9_-] characters become -, names that do not start with a letter get an mcp- prefix, and long or duplicate prefixes may be truncated or suffixed; for example, mcp.servers["Outlook Graph"] uses a glob like outlook-graph__*.

json5
{  agents: { defaults: { sandbox: { mode: "all" } } },  mcp: {    servers: {      outlook: { command: "node", args: ["./outlook-mcp.js"] },    },  },  tools: {    sandbox: {      tools: {        alsoAllow: ["web_search", "web_fetch", "memory_search", "memory_get", "bundle-mcp"],      },    },  },}

Without that sandbox-layer entry, the MCP server can still load successfully while its tools are filtered before the provider request. Use openclaw doctor to catch this shape for OpenClaw-managed servers in mcp.servers. MCP servers loaded from bundled plugin manifests or Claude .mcp.json use the same sandbox gate, but this diagnostic does not enumerate those sources yet; use the same allowlist entries if their tools disappear in sandboxed turns.

tools.codeMode

tools.codeMode enables the generic OpenClaw code-mode surface. When enabled for a run with tools, normal OpenClaw tools move behind the in-sandbox tools.* catalog bridge, and MCP tools are available through the generated MCP namespace. The model normally sees exec and wait; tools such as computer whose structured results cannot cross the JSON-only bridge stay direct.

json5
{  tools: {    codeMode: {      enabled: true,    },  },}

The shorthand is also accepted:

json5
{  tools: { codeMode: true },}

MCP declarations are exposed through the read-only virtual API file surface in code mode. Guest code can call API.list("mcp") and API.read("mcp/<server>.d.ts") to inspect TypeScript-style signatures before calling MCP.<server>.<tool>(). See Code Mode for the runtime contract, limits, and debugging steps.

tools.allow / tools.deny

Global tool allow/deny policy (deny wins). Case-insensitive, supports * wildcards. Applied even when Docker sandbox is off.

json5
{  tools: { deny: ["browser", "canvas"] },}

write and apply_patch are separate tool ids. allow: ["write"] also enables apply_patch for compatible models, but deny: ["write"] does not deny apply_patch. To block all file mutation, deny group:fs or list each mutating tool explicitly:

json5
{  tools: { deny: ["write", "edit", "apply_patch"] },}

tools.byProvider

Further restrict tools for specific providers or models. Order: base profile → provider profile → allow/deny.

json5
{  tools: {    profile: "coding",    byProvider: {      "google-antigravity": { profile: "minimal" },      "openai/gpt-5.4": { allow: ["group:fs", "sessions_list"] },    },  },}

tools.toolsBySender

Restricts tools for a specific requester identity. This is defense-in-depth on top of channel access control; sender values must come from the channel adapter, not message text.

json5
{  tools: {    toolsBySender: {      "channel:discord:1234567890123": { alsoAllow: ["group:fs"] },      "id:guest-user-id": { deny: ["group:runtime", "group:fs"] },      "*": { deny: ["exec", "process", "write", "edit", "apply_patch"] },    },  },}

Keys use explicit prefixes: channel:<channelId>:<senderId>, id:<senderId>, e164:<phone>, username:<handle>, name:<displayName>, or "*". Channel ids are canonical OpenClaw ids; aliases such as teams normalize to msteams. Legacy unprefixed keys are accepted as id: only. Matching order is channel+id, id, e164, username, name, then wildcard.

Per-agent agents.entries.*.tools.toolsBySender overrides the global sender match when it matches, even with an empty {} policy.

tools.elevated

Controls elevated exec access outside the sandbox:

json5
{  tools: {    elevated: {      enabled: true,      allowFrom: {        whatsapp: ["+15555550123"],        discord: ["1234567890123", "987654321098765432"],      },    },  },}
  • Per-agent override (agents.entries.*.tools.elevated) can only further restrict.
  • /elevated on|off|ask|full stores state per session; inline directives apply to single message.
  • Elevated exec bypasses sandboxing and uses the configured escape path (gateway by default, or node when the exec target is node).

tools.exec

json5
{  tools: {    exec: {      backgroundMs: 10000,      timeoutSec: 1800,      cleanupMs: 1800000,      approvalRunningNoticeMs: 10000,      notifyOnExit: true,      notifyOnExitEmptySuccess: false,      commandHighlighting: false,      applyPatch: {        enabled: true,        allowModels: ["gpt-5.6-sol"],      },    },  },}

Values shown are defaults except applyPatch.allowModels (empty/unset by default, meaning any compatible model may use apply_patch). approvalRunningNoticeMs emits a running notice when approval-backed exec runs long; 0 disables it.

tools.loopDetection

Tool-loop safety checks are disabled by default. Set enabled: true to activate detection. Settings can be defined globally in tools.loopDetection and overridden per-agent at agents.entries.*.tools.loopDetection.

json5
{  tools: {    loopDetection: {      enabled: true,    },  },}

tools.web

json5
{  tools: {    web: {      search: {        enabled: true,        apiKey: "brave_api_key", // or BRAVE_API_KEY env (Brave provider)        maxResults: 5,        timeoutSeconds: 30,        cacheTtlMinutes: 15,      },      fetch: {        enabled: true,        provider: "firecrawl", // optional; omit for auto-detect        maxChars: 20000,        maxCharsCap: 20000,        maxResponseBytes: 750000,        timeoutSeconds: 30,        cacheTtlMinutes: 15,        maxRedirects: 3,        readability: true,        userAgent: "custom-ua",      },    },  },}

Values shown are defaults except provider and userAgent. maxResponseBytes clamps to 32000–10000000; maxChars clamps to maxCharsCap (raise maxCharsCap to allow larger responses).

tools.media

Configures inbound media understanding (image/audio/video):

json5
{  tools: {    media: {      concurrency: 2,      models: [        { provider: "openai", model: "gpt-4o-mini-transcribe", capabilities: ["audio"] },        {          type: "cli",          command: "whisper",          args: ["--model", "base", "{{MediaPath}}"],          capabilities: ["audio"],        },        { provider: "ollama", model: "gemma4:26b", capabilities: ["image"] },        { provider: "google", model: "gemini-3-flash-preview", capabilities: ["video"] },      ],      audio: { enabled: true, preferredModel: "openai/gpt-4o-mini-transcribe" },      image: { enabled: true, preferredModel: "ollama/gemma4:26b" },      video: { enabled: true },    },  },}

tools.media.models is the only configured model list. Every entry declares the capabilities it handles. The optional preferredModel selector accepts provider/model, a model id, provider:<id> for provider-default entries, or cli:command; matching entries move to the front of that capability's fallback order. Per-capability prompts, limits, request settings, scope, attachment policy, and audio transcript echo remain defaults for configured and auto-detected models; a model entry can override model-specific fields.

Media model entry fields

Provider entry (type: "provider" or omitted):

  • provider: API provider id (openai, anthropic, google/gemini, groq, etc.)
  • model: model id override
  • profile / preferredProfile: auth-profiles.json profile selection

CLI entry (type: "cli"):

  • command: executable to run
  • args: templated args (supports {{MediaPath}}, {{Prompt}}, {{MaxChars}}, etc.; openclaw doctor --fix migrates deprecated {input} placeholders to {{MediaPath}})

Common fields:

  • capabilities: list containing one or more of image, audio, and video.
  • prompt, maxChars, maxBytes, timeoutSeconds, language: per-entry overrides.
  • Matching image model timeoutSeconds entries also apply when the agent calls the explicit image tool. For image understanding, this timeout applies to the request itself and is not reduced by earlier preparation work.
  • Failures fall back to the next entry.

Provider auth follows standard order: auth-profiles.json → env vars → models.providers.*.apiKey.

tools.agentToAgent

json5
{  tools: {    agentToAgent: {      enabled: false,      allow: ["home", "work"],    },  },}

tools.sessions

Controls which sessions can be targeted by the session tools (sessions_list, sessions_history, sessions_send).

Default: tree (current session + sessions spawned by it, such as subagents, plus ambient watched group sessions for the same agent).

json5
{  tools: {    sessions: {      // "self" | "tree" | "agent" | "all"      visibility: "tree",    },  },}
Visibility scopes
  • self: only the current session key.
  • tree: current session + sessions spawned by the current session (subagents). For read operations, it also includes same-agent group sessions that the current session watches through ambient group awareness.
  • agent: any session belonging to the current agent id (can include other users if you run per-sender sessions under the same agent id).
  • all: any session. Cross-agent targeting still requires tools.agentToAgent.
  • Sandbox clamp: when the current session is sandboxed and agents.defaults.sandbox.sessionToolsVisibility="spawned" (the default), visibility is forced to tree even if tools.sessions.visibility="all".
  • When not all, sessions_list includes a compact visibility field describing the effective mode and a warning that some sessions may be omitted outside the current scope.

With the default session.dmScope: "main", human activity in a group makes that same-agent group session ambiently visible to the agent's main session. In a multi-user setup, "main" also shares one DM session across users, so each user routed there can read from ambiently watched groups, including through session-memory memory_search. Use a per-peer dmScope for DM isolation, or set tools.sessions.visibility: "self" to opt out of ambient watched-session reads.

tools.sessions_spawn

Controls inline attachment support for sessions_spawn.

json5
{  tools: {    sessions_spawn: {      attachments: {        enabled: false, // opt-in: set true to allow inline file attachments        maxTotalBytes: 5242880, // 5 MB total across all files        maxFiles: 50,        maxFileBytes: 1048576, // 1 MB per file        retainOnSessionKeep: false, // keep attachments when cleanup="keep"      },    },  },}
Attachment notes
  • Attachments require enabled: true.
  • Subagent attachments are materialized into the child workspace at .openclaw/attachments/<uuid>/ with a .manifest.json.
  • ACP attachments are image-only and forwarded inline to the ACP runtime after the same file count, per-file byte, and total byte limits pass.
  • Attachment content is automatically redacted from transcript persistence.
  • Base64 inputs are validated with strict alphabet/padding checks and a pre-decode size guard.
  • Subagent attachment file permissions are 0700 for directories and 0600 for files.
  • Subagent cleanup follows the cleanup policy: delete always removes attachments; keep retains them only when retainOnSessionKeep: true.

tools.experimental

Experimental built-in tool flags. Default off unless a strict-agentic GPT-5 auto-enable rule applies.

json5
{  tools: {    experimental: {      planTool: true, // enable experimental update_plan    },  },}
  • planTool: enables the structured update_plan tool for non-trivial multi-step work tracking.
  • Default: false unless agents.defaults.embeddedAgent.executionContract (or a per-agent override) is set to "strict-agentic" for an openai provider run against a GPT-5-family model id (this covers OpenAI Codex CLI runs too, since Codex auth/model routing lives under the openai provider). Set true to force the tool on outside that scope, or false to keep it off even for strict-agentic GPT-5 runs.
  • When enabled, the system prompt also adds usage guidance so the model only uses it for substantial work and keeps at most one step in_progress.

agents.defaults.subagents

json5
{  agents: {    defaults: {      subagents: {        allowAgents: ["research"],        model: "minimax/MiniMax-M2.7",        maxConcurrent: 8,        runTimeoutSeconds: 900,        announceTimeoutMs: 120000,        archiveAfterMinutes: 60,      },    },  },}
  • model: default model for spawned sub-agents. If omitted, sub-agents inherit the caller's model.
  • allowAgents: default allowlist of configured target agent ids for sessions_spawn when the requester agent does not set its own subagents.allowAgents (["*"] = any configured target; default: same agent only). Stale entries whose agent config was deleted are rejected by sessions_spawn and omitted from agents_list; run openclaw doctor --fix to clean them up.
  • maxConcurrent: max concurrent sub-agent runs. Default: 8.
  • runTimeoutSeconds: timeout (seconds) for sessions_spawn when the caller does not pass its own override. Default: 0 (no timeout); the 900 shown above is a common opt-in value, not the built-in default.
  • announceTimeoutMs: per-call timeout (milliseconds) for gateway agent announce delivery attempts. Default: 120000. Transient retries can make the total announce wait longer than one configured timeout.
  • archiveAfterMinutes: minutes after a sub-agent session completes before it is auto-archived. Default: 60; 0 disables auto-archive.
  • Per-subagent tool policy: tools.subagents.tools.allow / tools.subagents.tools.deny.

Custom providers and base URLs

Provider plugins publish their own model catalog rows. Add custom providers via models.providers in config or ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/agent/models.json.

Configuring a custom/local provider baseUrl is also the narrow network trust decision for model HTTP requests: OpenClaw allows that exact scheme://host:port origin through the guarded fetch path, without adding a separate config option or trusting other private origins.

json5
{  models: {    mode: "merge", // merge (default) | replace    providers: {      "custom-proxy": {        baseUrl: "http://localhost:4000/v1",        apiKey: "LITELLM_KEY",        api: "openai-completions", // openai-completions | openai-responses | anthropic-messages | google-generative-ai | etc.        models: [          {            id: "llama-3.1-8b",            name: "Llama 3.1 8B",            reasoning: false,            input: ["text"],            cost: { input: 0, output: 0, cacheRead: 0, cacheWrite: 0 },            contextWindow: 128000,            contextTokens: 96000,            maxTokens: 32000,          },        ],      },    },  },}
Auth and merge precedence
  • Use authHeader: true + headers for custom auth needs.
  • Override agent config root with OPENCLAW_AGENT_DIR.
  • Merge precedence for matching provider IDs:
    • Non-empty agent models.json baseUrl values win.
    • Non-empty agent apiKey values win only when that provider is not SecretRef-managed in current config/auth-profile context.
    • SecretRef-managed provider apiKey values are refreshed from source markers (ENV_VAR_NAME for env refs, secretref-managed for file/exec refs) instead of persisting resolved secrets.
    • SecretRef-managed provider header values are refreshed from source markers (secretref-env:ENV_VAR_NAME for env refs, secretref-managed for file/exec refs).
    • Empty or missing agent apiKey/baseUrl fall back to models.providers in config.
    • Matching model contextWindow/maxTokens: the explicit config value wins when present and valid (a positive finite number); otherwise the implicit/generated catalog value is used.
    • Matching model contextTokens follows the same explicit-wins-else-implicit rule; use it to limit effective context without changing native model metadata.
    • Provider-plugin catalogs are stored as generated plugin-owned catalog shards under the agent's plugin state.
    • Use models.mode: "replace" when you want config to fully rewrite models.json and skip merging in plugin-owned catalog shards.
    • Marker persistence is source-authoritative: markers are written from the active source config snapshot (pre-resolution), not from resolved runtime secret values.

Provider field details

Top-level catalog
  • models.mode: provider catalog behavior (merge or replace).
  • models.providers: custom provider map keyed by provider id.
    • Safe edits: use openclaw config set models.providers.<id> '<json>' --strict-json --merge or openclaw config set models.providers.<id>.models '<json-array>' --strict-json --merge for additive updates. config set refuses destructive replacements unless you pass --replace.
Provider connection and auth
  • models.providers.*.api: request adapter (openai-completions, openai-responses, openai-chatgpt-responses, anthropic-messages, google-generative-ai, google-vertex, github-copilot, bedrock-converse-stream, ollama, azure-openai-responses). For self-hosted /v1/chat/completions backends such as MLX, vLLM, SGLang, and most OpenAI-compatible local servers, use openai-completions. A custom provider with baseUrl but no api defaults to openai-completions; set openai-responses only when the backend supports /v1/responses.
  • models.providers.*.apiKey: provider credential (prefer SecretRef/env substitution).
  • models.providers.*.auth: auth strategy (api-key, token, oauth, aws-sdk).
  • models.providers.*.contextWindow: default native context window for models under this provider when the model entry does not set contextWindow.
  • models.providers.*.contextTokens: default effective runtime context cap for models under this provider when the model entry does not set contextTokens.
  • models.providers.*.maxTokens: default output-token cap for models under this provider when the model entry does not set maxTokens.
  • models.providers.*.timeoutSeconds: optional per-provider model HTTP request timeout in seconds, including connect, headers, body, and total request abort handling.
  • models.providers.*.injectNumCtxForOpenAICompat: for Ollama + openai-completions, inject options.num_ctx into requests (default: true).
  • models.providers.*.authHeader: force credential transport in the Authorization header when required.
  • models.providers.*.baseUrl: upstream API base URL.
  • models.providers.*.headers: extra static headers for proxy/tenant routing.
Request transport overrides

models.providers.*.request: transport overrides for model-provider HTTP requests.

  • request.headers: extra headers (merged with provider defaults). Values accept SecretRef.
  • request.auth: auth strategy override. Modes: "provider-default" (use provider's built-in auth), "authorization-bearer" (with token), "header" (with headerName, value, optional prefix).
  • request.proxy: HTTP proxy override. Modes: "env-proxy" (use HTTP_PROXY/HTTPS_PROXY env vars), "explicit-proxy" (with url). Both modes accept an optional tls sub-object.
  • request.tls: TLS override for direct connections. Fields: ca, cert, key, passphrase (all accept SecretRef), serverName, insecureSkipVerify.
  • request.allowPrivateNetwork: when true, allow model-provider HTTP requests to private, CGNAT, or similar ranges through the provider HTTP fetch guard. Custom/local provider base URLs already trust the exact configured origin, except metadata/link-local origins, which remain blocked without explicit opt-in. Set this to false to opt out of exact-origin trust. WebSocket uses the same request for headers/TLS but not that fetch SSRF gate. Default false.
Model catalog entries
  • models.providers.*.models: explicit provider model catalog entries.
  • models.providers.*.models.*.input: model input modalities. Use ["text"] for text-only models and ["text", "image"] for native image/vision models. Image attachments are only injected into agent turns when the selected model is marked image-capable.
  • models.providers.*.models.*.contextWindow: native model context window metadata. This overrides provider-level contextWindow for that model.
  • models.providers.*.models.*.contextTokens: optional runtime context cap. This overrides provider-level contextTokens; use it when you want a smaller effective context budget than the model's native contextWindow; openclaw models list shows both values when they differ.

Custom provider capability declarations

Provider catalogs own compat for bundled and catalog-known model routes. Do not copy those flags into config: OpenClaw uses the catalog row when the configured api and baseUrl still identify that route. openclaw doctor --fix removes matching legacy overrides and reports divergent values for review.

A compat block remains supported for a genuinely custom provider, custom model, or catalog model routed to a different endpoint. Set only capabilities verified against that endpoint:

Custom-route key Runtime contract
supportsStore Accepts the OpenAI store request field.
supportsPromptCacheKey Accepts OpenAI prompt-cache/session-affinity keys.
supportsDeveloperRole Accepts developer messages instead of requiring system.
supportsReasoningEffort Accepts a reasoning-effort control.
supportsTemperature Accepts temperature for this model and adapter.
supportsUsageInStreaming Emits usage metadata in streaming responses.
supportsTools Supports structured tool/function calling. Set false to disable tools.
supportsStrictMode Accepts strict tool schemas.
requiresStringContent Requires plain-string Chat Completions message content.
strictMessageKeys Requires outgoing messages to contain only accepted keys.
visibleReasoningDetailTypes Names reasoning detail block types safe to show in transcripts.
supportedReasoningEfforts Lists the endpoint's accepted reasoning labels.
reasoningEffortMap Maps OpenClaw thinking labels to endpoint-specific labels.
maxTokensField Selects max_tokens or max_completion_tokens.
thinkingFormat Selects the endpoint's reasoning payload dialect.
requiresToolResultName Requires a tool name on tool-result messages.
requiresAssistantAfterToolResult Requires an assistant message after tool results.
requiresThinkingAsText Replays reasoning as text rather than structured content.
requiresReasoningContentOnAssistantMessages Preserves DeepSeek-style reasoning_content during replay.
toolSchemaProfile Selects a provider-defined tool-schema normalization profile.
unsupportedToolSchemaKeywords Removes named JSON Schema keywords rejected by the endpoint.
toolCallArgumentsEncoding Selects the endpoint's tool-call argument encoding.
requiresOpenAiAnthropicToolPayload Converts OpenAI-shaped tool calls to Anthropic-family payloads.
Amazon Bedrock discovery
  • plugins.entries.amazon-bedrock.config.discovery: Bedrock auto-discovery settings root.
  • plugins.entries.amazon-bedrock.config.discovery.enabled: turn implicit discovery on/off.
  • plugins.entries.amazon-bedrock.config.discovery.region: AWS region for discovery.
  • plugins.entries.amazon-bedrock.config.discovery.providerFilter: optional provider-id filter for targeted discovery.
  • plugins.entries.amazon-bedrock.config.discovery.refreshInterval: polling interval for discovery refresh.
  • plugins.entries.amazon-bedrock.config.discovery.defaultContextWindow: fallback context window for discovered models.
  • plugins.entries.amazon-bedrock.config.discovery.defaultMaxTokens: fallback max output tokens for discovered models.

Interactive custom-provider onboarding infers image input for known vision-model-id patterns, including GPT-4o/GPT-4.1/GPT-5+, the o1/o3/o4 reasoning families, Claude, Gemini, any -vl-suffixed id (Qwen-VL and similar), and named families such as LLaVA, Pixtral, InternVL, Mllama, MiniCPM-V, and GLM-4V; it skips the extra question for known text-only families (Llama, DeepSeek, Mistral/Mixtral, Kimi/Moonshot, Codestral, Devstral, Phi, QwQ, CodeLlama, and bare Qwen ids without a vl/vision suffix). Unknown model IDs still prompt for image support. Non-interactive onboarding uses the same inference; pass --custom-image-input to force image-capable metadata or --custom-text-input to force text-only metadata.

Provider examples

Cerebras (GLM 4.7 / GPT OSS)

The official external cerebras provider plugin can configure this via openclaw onboard --auth-choice cerebras-api-key. Use explicit provider config only when overriding defaults.

json5
{  env: { CEREBRAS_API_KEY: "sk-..." },  agents: {    defaults: {      model: {        primary: "cerebras/zai-glm-4.7",        fallbacks: ["cerebras/gpt-oss-120b"],      },      models: {        "cerebras/zai-glm-4.7": { alias: "GLM 4.7 (Cerebras)" },        "cerebras/gpt-oss-120b": { alias: "GPT OSS 120B (Cerebras)" },      },    },  },  models: {    mode: "merge",    providers: {      cerebras: {        baseUrl: "https://api.cerebras.ai/v1",        apiKey: "${CEREBRAS_API_KEY}",        api: "openai-completions",        models: [          { id: "zai-glm-4.7", name: "GLM 4.7 (Cerebras)" },          { id: "gpt-oss-120b", name: "GPT OSS 120B (Cerebras)" },        ],      },    },  },}

Use cerebras/zai-glm-4.7 for Cerebras; zai/glm-4.7 for Z.AI direct.

Kimi Coding
json5
{  env: { KIMI_API_KEY: "sk-..." },  agents: {    defaults: {      model: { primary: "kimi/kimi-for-coding" },      models: { "kimi/kimi-for-coding": { alias: "Kimi Code" } },    },  },}

Anthropic-compatible, built-in provider. Shortcut: openclaw onboard --auth-choice kimi-code-api-key.

Local models (LM Studio)

See Local Models. TL;DR: run a large local model via LM Studio Responses API on serious hardware; keep hosted models merged for fallback.

MiniMax M3 (direct)
json5
{  agents: {    defaults: {      model: { primary: "minimax/MiniMax-M3" },      models: {        "minimax/MiniMax-M3": { alias: "Minimax" },      },    },  },  models: {    mode: "merge",    providers: {      minimax: {        baseUrl: "https://api.minimax.io/anthropic",        apiKey: "${MINIMAX_API_KEY}",        api: "anthropic-messages",        models: [          {            id: "MiniMax-M3",            name: "MiniMax M3",            reasoning: true,            input: ["text", "image"],            cost: { input: 0.6, output: 2.4, cacheRead: 0.12, cacheWrite: 0 },            contextWindow: 1000000,            maxTokens: 131072,          },        ],      },    },  },}

Set MINIMAX_API_KEY. Shortcuts: openclaw onboard --auth-choice minimax-global-api or openclaw onboard --auth-choice minimax-cn-api. The model catalog defaults to M3 and also includes the M2.7 variants. On the Anthropic-compatible streaming path, OpenClaw disables MiniMax M2.x thinking by default unless you explicitly set thinking yourself; MiniMax-M3 (and M3.x) stays on the provider's omitted/adaptive thinking path by default. /fast on or params.fastMode: true rewrites MiniMax-M2.7 to MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed.

Moonshot AI (Kimi)
json5
{  env: { MOONSHOT_API_KEY: "sk-..." },  agents: {    defaults: {      model: { primary: "moonshot/kimi-k2.6" },      models: { "moonshot/kimi-k2.6": { alias: "Kimi K2.6" } },    },  },  models: {    mode: "merge",    providers: {      moonshot: {        baseUrl: "https://api.moonshot.ai/v1",        apiKey: "${MOONSHOT_API_KEY}",        api: "openai-completions",        models: [          {            id: "kimi-k2.6",            name: "Kimi K2.6",            reasoning: false,            input: ["text", "image"],            cost: { input: 0.95, output: 4, cacheRead: 0.16, cacheWrite: 0 },            contextWindow: 262144,            maxTokens: 262144,          },        ],      },    },  },}

For the China endpoint: baseUrl: "https://api.moonshot.cn/v1" or openclaw onboard --auth-choice moonshot-api-key-cn.

Native Moonshot endpoints advertise streaming usage compatibility on the shared openai-completions transport, and OpenClaw keys that off endpoint capabilities rather than the built-in provider id alone.

OpenCode
json5
{  agents: {    defaults: {      model: { primary: "opencode/claude-opus-4-6" },      models: { "opencode/claude-opus-4-6": { alias: "Opus" } },    },  },}

Set OPENCODE_API_KEY (or OPENCODE_ZEN_API_KEY). Use opencode/... refs for the Zen catalog or opencode-go/... refs for the Go catalog. Shortcut: openclaw onboard --auth-choice opencode-zen or openclaw onboard --auth-choice opencode-go.

Synthetic (Anthropic-compatible)
json5
{  env: { SYNTHETIC_API_KEY: "sk-..." },  agents: {    defaults: {      model: { primary: "synthetic/hf:MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-M3" },      models: { "synthetic/hf:MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-M3": { alias: "MiniMax M3" } },    },  },  models: {    mode: "merge",    providers: {      synthetic: {        baseUrl: "https://api.synthetic.new/anthropic",        apiKey: "${SYNTHETIC_API_KEY}",        api: "anthropic-messages",        models: [          {            id: "hf:MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-M3",            name: "MiniMax M3",            reasoning: true,            input: ["text", "image"],            cost: { input: 0, output: 0, cacheRead: 0, cacheWrite: 0 },            contextWindow: 262144,            maxTokens: 65536,          },        ],      },    },  },}

Base URL should omit /v1 (Anthropic client appends it). Shortcut: openclaw onboard --auth-choice synthetic-api-key.

Z.AI (GLM-4.7)
json5
{  agents: {    defaults: {      model: { primary: "zai/glm-4.7" },      models: { "zai/glm-4.7": {} },    },  },}

Set ZAI_API_KEY. Model refs use the canonical zai/* provider ID. Shortcut: openclaw onboard --auth-choice zai-api-key.

  • General endpoint: https://api.z.ai/api/paas/v4
  • Coding endpoint: https://api.z.ai/api/coding/paas/v4
  • The default zai-api-key auth choice probes your key and auto-detects which endpoint it belongs to (falling back to a prompt, defaulting to Global, if detection is inconclusive). Dedicated CN and Coding-Plan auth choices are also available for explicit selection.
  • For the general endpoint, define a custom provider with the base URL override.
Was this useful?
On this page

On this page