Providers
ClawRouter
ClawRouter gives OpenClaw one policy-scoped key for multiple upstream model providers. The bundled plugin discovers only the models allowed for that key, routes each model through its declared protocol, and reports the key's budget and aggregate usage on OpenClaw usage surfaces.
You do not install or authenticate each upstream provider plugin on the
OpenClaw host. Upstream credentials and provider-specific forwarding stay in
ClawRouter. OpenClaw needs only the bundled @openclaw/clawrouter plugin and an
issued ClawRouter credential.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Provider | clawrouter |
| Package | @openclaw/clawrouter |
| Auth | CLAWROUTER_API_KEY |
| Default URL | https://clawrouter.openclaw.ai |
| Model catalog | Credential-scoped via /v1/catalog |
| Quotas | Monthly budget and usage via /v1/usage |
Getting started
Get a scoped credential
Ask your ClawRouter administrator for a credential whose policy includes the providers, models, and monthly budget you should use. Credentials are revealed once when issued.
Configure OpenClaw
export CLAWROUTER_API_KEY="..."openclaw onboard --auth-choice clawrouter-api-keyopenclaw plugins enable clawrouterThe plugin is bundled with OpenClaw. If your configuration sets
plugins.allow, add clawrouter to that list before enabling it. For a
custom deployment, set models.providers.clawrouter.baseUrl to the
ClawRouter origin; the default is https://clawrouter.openclaw.ai.
List granted models
openclaw models list --all --provider clawrouterUse the returned model refs exactly as shown. They retain the upstream
namespace, such as clawrouter/openai/..., clawrouter/anthropic/..., or
clawrouter/google/.... If agents.defaults.models is an allowlist in your
configuration, add each selected ClawRouter ref to it.
Select a model
openclaw models set clawrouter/<provider>/<model>You can also select a returned model for one run with
openclaw agent --model clawrouter/<provider>/<model> --message "...".
Model discovery
GET /v1/catalog is the source of truth. OpenClaw does not ship a second,
fixed list of ClawRouter models. A model configured in ClawRouter appears when:
- the credential's policy grants its provider;
- the provider connection is enabled and ready;
- the catalog model advertises a supported LLM capability; and
- the catalog exposes a transport contract supported by the plugin.
Adding another model to a supported ClawRouter provider therefore does not require an OpenClaw release or another provider plugin. The next catalog refresh discovers it. A model that needs a new wire protocol requires support in the ClawRouter plugin before OpenClaw advertises it.
Protocol and provider plugins
You do not need to install every upstream company's auth plugin. ClawRouter owns upstream credentials; its catalog tells OpenClaw which transport to use. The plugin supports:
| Catalog route | OpenClaw transport |
|---|---|
| OpenAI-compatible chat | openai-completions |
| OpenAI-compatible Responses | openai-responses |
| Native Anthropic Messages | anthropic-messages |
| Native Google Gemini streaming | google-generative-ai |
The plugin also applies the matching replay and tool-schema policies for those families. Catalog rows using another request/stream format are intentionally not advertised as OpenClaw text models. Normalize those providers to one of the supported contracts in ClawRouter rather than sending an incompatible payload.
Quotas and usage
ClawRouter's /v1/usage response feeds the normal OpenClaw provider-usage
surfaces. /status and related dashboard status show the monthly budget window
when the key has a limit, plus request, token, and spend totals. Unmetered keys
still show aggregate usage without a percentage window.
Quota lookup uses the same scoped key as model discovery. A failed quota lookup does not block model execution.
Check the live snapshot with:
openclaw status --usageopenclaw models statusThe same provider snapshot is available to /status in chat and OpenClaw's
usage UI. The budget is policy-wide, so requests made by another client using
the same ClawRouter policy can change the remaining percentage.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Check |
|---|---|
| No ClawRouter models | Confirm the plugin is enabled and allowed by plugins.allow, then check that the credential is active and grants at least one ready provider. |
| A configured ClawRouter model is missing | Inspect its /v1/catalog capability and route format. Unsupported transport contracts are intentionally filtered. |
Unknown model: clawrouter/... |
Add the exact catalog ref to agents.defaults.models when that configuration map is being used as an allowlist. |
401 or 403 from catalog or usage |
Reissue or re-scope the ClawRouter credential; OpenClaw does not fall back to upstream provider keys. |
| Model call fails after discovery | Check the provider connection and upstream health in ClawRouter, then retry after its readiness state recovers. |
| Usage has totals but no percentage | The policy is unmetered; add a monthly budget in ClawRouter to expose a percentage window. |
Security behavior
- Catalog discovery is scoped to the configured proxy key and cached per key.
- The proxy key is attached only at request dispatch; it is not stored in model metadata.
- Native Anthropic and Gemini model ids are rewritten to their upstream ids only at dispatch.
- Unsupported or ungranted catalog rows fail closed and are not selectable.
