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Authentication (Model Providers)

This page covers model provider authentication (API keys, OAuth, Claude CLI reuse). For gateway connection authentication (token, password, trusted-proxy), see Configuration and Trusted Proxy Auth.
OpenClaw supports OAuth and API keys for model providers. For always-on gateway hosts, API keys are usually the most predictable option. Subscription/OAuth flows are also supported when they match your provider account model. See /concepts/oauth for the full OAuth flow and storage layout. For SecretRef-based auth (env/file/exec providers), see Secrets Management. For credential eligibility/reason-code rules used by models status --probe, see Auth Credential Semantics. If you’re running a long-lived gateway, start with an API key for your chosen provider. For Anthropic specifically, API key auth is the safe path. Claude CLI reuse is the other supported subscription-style setup path.
  1. Create an API key in your provider console.
  2. Put it on the gateway host (the machine running openclaw gateway).
export <PROVIDER>_API_KEY="..."
openclaw models status
  1. If the Gateway runs under systemd/launchd, prefer putting the key in ~/.openclaw/.env so the daemon can read it:
cat >> ~/.openclaw/.env <<'EOF'
<PROVIDER>_API_KEY=...
EOF
Then restart the daemon (or restart your Gateway process) and re-check: 
openclaw models status
openclaw doctor
If you’d rather not manage env vars yourself, onboarding can store API keys for daemon use: openclaw onboard. See Help for details on env inheritance (env.shellEnv, ~/.openclaw/.env, systemd/launchd).

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Anthropic: legacy token compatibility

Anthropic setup-token auth is still available in OpenClaw as a legacy/manual path. Anthropic’s public Claude Code docs still cover direct Claude Code terminal use under Claude plans, but Anthropic separately told OpenClaw users that the OpenClaw Claude-login path counts as third-party harness usage and requires Extra Usage billed separately from the subscription. For the clearest setup path, use an Anthropic API key or migrate to Claude CLI on the gateway host. Manual token entry (any provider; writes auth-profiles.json + updates config): 
openclaw models auth paste-token --provider openrouter
Auth profile refs are also supported for static credentials:
  • api_key credentials can use keyRef: { source, provider, id }
  • token credentials can use tokenRef: { source, provider, id }
  • OAuth-mode profiles do not support SecretRef credentials; if auth.profiles.<id>.mode is set to "oauth", SecretRef-backed keyRef/tokenRef input for that profile is rejected.
Automation-friendly check (exit 1 when expired/missing, 2 when expiring): 
openclaw models status --check
Live auth probes: 
openclaw models status --probe
Notes:
  • Probe rows can come from auth profiles, env credentials, or models.json.
  • If explicit auth.order.<provider> omits a stored profile, probe reports excluded_by_auth_order for that profile instead of trying it.
  • If auth exists but OpenClaw cannot resolve a probeable model candidate for that provider, probe reports status: no_model.
  • Rate-limit cooldowns can be model-scoped. A profile cooling down for one model can still be usable for a sibling model on the same provider.
Optional ops scripts (systemd/Termux) are documented here: Auth monitoring scripts

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Anthropic: Claude CLI migration

If Claude CLI is already installed and signed in on the gateway host, you can switch an existing Anthropic setup over to the CLI backend. This is a supported OpenClaw migration path for reusing a local Claude CLI login on that host. Prerequisites:
  • claude installed on the gateway host
  • Claude CLI already signed in there with claude auth login
openclaw models auth login --provider anthropic --method cli --set-default
This keeps your existing Anthropic auth profiles for rollback, but changes the default model selection to claude-cli/... and adds matching Claude CLI allowlist entries under agents.defaults.models. Verify: 
openclaw models status
Onboarding shortcut: 
openclaw onboard --auth-choice anthropic-cli
Interactive openclaw onboard and openclaw configure still prefer Claude CLI for Anthropic, but Anthropic setup-token is available again as a legacy/manual path and should be used with the Extra Usage billing expectation.

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Checking model auth status

openclaw models status
openclaw doctor

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API key rotation behavior (gateway)

Some providers support retrying a request with alternative keys when an API call hits a provider rate limit.
  • Priority order:
    • OPENCLAW_LIVE_<PROVIDER>_KEY (single override)
    • <PROVIDER>_API_KEYS
    • <PROVIDER>_API_KEY
    • <PROVIDER>_API_KEY_*
  • Google providers also include GOOGLE_API_KEY as an additional fallback.
  • The same key list is deduplicated before use.
  • OpenClaw retries with the next key only for rate-limit errors (for example 429, rate_limit, quota, resource exhausted, Too many concurrent requests, ThrottlingException, concurrency limit reached, or workers_ai ... quota limit exceeded).
  • Non-rate-limit errors are not retried with alternate keys.
  • If all keys fail, the final error from the last attempt is returned.

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Controlling which credential is used

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Per-session (chat command)

Use /model <alias-or-id>@<profileId> to pin a specific provider credential for the current session (example profile ids: anthropic:default, anthropic:work). Use /model (or /model list) for a compact picker; use /model status for the full view (candidates + next auth profile, plus provider endpoint details when configured).

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Per-agent (CLI override)

Set an explicit auth profile order override for an agent (stored in that agent’s auth-profiles.json): 
openclaw models auth order get --provider anthropic
openclaw models auth order set --provider anthropic anthropic:default
openclaw models auth order clear --provider anthropic
Use --agent <id> to target a specific agent; omit it to use the configured default agent. When you debug order issues, openclaw models status --probe shows omitted stored profiles as excluded_by_auth_order instead of silently skipping them. When you debug cooldown issues, remember that rate-limit cooldowns can be tied to one model id rather than the whole provider profile.

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Troubleshooting

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”No credentials found”

If the Anthropic profile is missing, migrate that setup to Claude CLI or an API key on the gateway host, then re-check: 
openclaw models status

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Token expiring/expired

Run openclaw models status to confirm which profile is expiring. If a legacy Anthropic token profile is missing or expired, migrate that setup to Claude CLI or an API key.

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Claude CLI requirements

Only needed for the Anthropic Claude CLI reuse path:
  • Claude Code CLI installed (claude command available)