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Google (Gemini)

The Google plugin provides access to Gemini models through Google AI Studio, plus image generation, media understanding (image/audio/video), and web search via Gemini Grounding.
  • Provider: google
  • Auth: GEMINI_API_KEY or GOOGLE_API_KEY
  • API: Google Gemini API
  • Alternative provider: google-gemini-cli (OAuth)

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Getting started

Choose your preferred auth method and follow the setup steps.
Best for: standard Gemini API access through Google AI Studio.
1

Run onboarding

openclaw onboard --auth-choice gemini-api-key
Or pass the key directly:
openclaw onboard --non-interactive \
  --mode local \
  --auth-choice gemini-api-key \
  --gemini-api-key "$GEMINI_API_KEY"
2

Set a default model

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "google/gemini-3.1-pro-preview" },
    },
  },
}
3

Verify the model is available

openclaw models list --provider google
The environment variables GEMINI_API_KEY and GOOGLE_API_KEY are both accepted. Use whichever you already have configured.

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Capabilities

CapabilitySupported
Chat completionsYes
Image generationYes
Music generationYes
Image understandingYes
Audio transcriptionYes
Video understandingYes
Web search (Grounding)Yes
Thinking/reasoningYes (Gemini 3.1+)
Gemma 4 modelsYes
Gemma 4 models (for example gemma-4-26b-a4b-it) support thinking mode. OpenClaw rewrites thinkingBudget to a supported Google thinkingLevel for Gemma 4. Setting thinking to off preserves thinking disabled instead of mapping to MINIMAL.

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Image generation

The bundled google image-generation provider defaults to google/gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview.
  • Also supports google/gemini-3-pro-image-preview
  • Generate: up to 4 images per request
  • Edit mode: enabled, up to 5 input images
  • Geometry controls: size, aspectRatio, and resolution
To use Google as the default image provider: 
{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      imageGenerationModel: {
        primary: "google/gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview",
      },
    },
  },
}
See Image Generation for shared tool parameters, provider selection, and failover behavior.

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Video generation

The bundled google plugin also registers video generation through the shared video_generate tool.
  • Default video model: google/veo-3.1-fast-generate-preview
  • Modes: text-to-video, image-to-video, and single-video reference flows
  • Supports aspectRatio, resolution, and audio
  • Current duration clamp: 4 to 8 seconds
To use Google as the default video provider: 
{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      videoGenerationModel: {
        primary: "google/veo-3.1-fast-generate-preview",
      },
    },
  },
}
See Video Generation for shared tool parameters, provider selection, and failover behavior.

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Music generation

The bundled google plugin also registers music generation through the shared music_generate tool.
  • Default music model: google/lyria-3-clip-preview
  • Also supports google/lyria-3-pro-preview
  • Prompt controls: lyrics and instrumental
  • Output format: mp3 by default, plus wav on google/lyria-3-pro-preview
  • Reference inputs: up to 10 images
  • Session-backed runs detach through the shared task/status flow, including action: "status"
To use Google as the default music provider: 
{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      musicGenerationModel: {
        primary: "google/lyria-3-clip-preview",
      },
    },
  },
}
See Music Generation for shared tool parameters, provider selection, and failover behavior.

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Advanced configuration

For direct Gemini API runs (api: "google-generative-ai"), OpenClaw passes a configured cachedContent handle through to Gemini requests.
  • Configure per-model or global params with either cachedContent or legacy cached_content
  • If both are present, cachedContent wins
  • Example value: cachedContents/prebuilt-context
  • Gemini cache-hit usage is normalized into OpenClaw cacheRead from upstream cachedContentTokenCount
{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      models: {
        "google/gemini-2.5-pro": {
          params: {
            cachedContent: "cachedContents/prebuilt-context",
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}
When using the google-gemini-cli OAuth provider, OpenClaw normalizes the CLI JSON output as follows:
  • Reply text comes from the CLI JSON response field.
  • Usage falls back to stats when the CLI leaves usage empty.
  • stats.cached is normalized into OpenClaw cacheRead.
  • If stats.input is missing, OpenClaw derives input tokens from stats.input_tokens - stats.cached.
If the Gateway runs as a daemon (launchd/systemd), make sure GEMINI_API_KEY is available to that process (for example, in ~/.openclaw/.env or via env.shellEnv).

Model selection

Choosing providers, model refs, and failover behavior.

Image generation

Shared image tool parameters and provider selection.

Video generation

Shared video tool parameters and provider selection.

Music generation

Shared music tool parameters and provider selection.