Venice AI

Venice AI provides privacy-focused inference: open models run with no logging, plus anonymized proxy access to Claude, GPT, Gemini, and Grok. All endpoints are OpenAI-compatible (/v1).

Privacy modes

Mode	Behavior	Models
Private	Prompts/responses are never stored or logged. Ephemeral.	GLM, Gemma, Grok, Qwen, DeepSeek, Kimi, Venice Uncensored, etc.
Anonymized	Proxied through Venice with metadata stripped before forwarding.	Claude, GPT, and selected Qwen models

Anonymized models are not fully private. Venice strips metadata before forwarding, but the underlying provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI) still processes the request. Use Private models when full privacy is required.

Getting started

1. Install the plugin

   openclaw plugins install @openclaw/venice-provider
   
2. Get your API key

   1. Sign up at venice.ai
   2. Go to Settings > API Keys > Create new key
   3. Copy your API key (format: vapi_xxxxxxxxxxxx)
3. Configure OpenClaw

   Interactive (recommended)

   openclaw onboard --auth-choice venice-api-key
   

   Prompts for the API key (or reuses an existing VENICE_API_KEY), lists available Venice models, and sets your default model.

   Environment variable

   export VENICE_API_KEY="vapi_xxxxxxxxxxxx"
   

   Non-interactive

   openclaw onboard --non-interactive --accept-risk --skip-health \
     --auth-choice venice-api-key \
     --venice-api-key "vapi_xxxxxxxxxxxx"
   
4. Verify setup

   openclaw agent --model venice/zai-org-glm-4.7 --message "Hello, are you working?"
   

Model selection

• Default: venice/zai-org-glm-4.7 (private reasoning).
• Strongest anonymized option: venice/claude-opus-5.

openclaw models set venice/zai-org-glm-4.7
openclaw models list --all --provider venice

You can also run openclaw configure and pick Model/auth provider > Venice AI.

Use case	Model	Why
General chat (default)	zai-org-glm-4.7	Venice live default trait
Best overall quality	claude-opus-5	Current promoted anonymized Opus model
Privacy + coding	qwen3-coder-480b-a35b-instruct-turbo	Private coding model with large context
Fast + cheap	google-gemma-4-31b-it	Low-cost promoted private vision model
Complex private tasks	deepseek-v3.2	Promoted private reasoning model
Uncensored	venice-uncensored-1-2	Current uncensored Venice model

Built-in catalog (16 visible models)

Private models (10) — fully private, no logging

Model ID	Name	Context	Notes
zai-org-glm-5-2	GLM 5.2	1M	Recommended, coding
zai-org-glm-4.7	GLM 4.7	198k	Private reasoning
venice-uncensored-1-2	Venice Uncensored 1.2	128k	Most uncensored, vision
google-gemma-4-31b-it	Google Gemma 4 31B Instruct	256k	Recommended, vision
kimi-k2-6	Kimi K2.6	256k	Recommended, coding, vision
deepseek-v3.2	DeepSeek V3.2	160k	Recommended, reasoning
qwen3-235b-a22b-thinking-2507	Qwen3 235B Thinking	128k	Default reasoning
qwen3-coder-480b-a35b-instruct-turbo	Qwen3 Coder 480B Turbo	256k	Default coding
qwen3-vl-235b-a22b	Qwen3 VL 235B	128k	Default vision
grok-4-5	Grok 4.5	500k	Recommended, coding, vision

Anonymized models (6) — via Venice proxy

Model ID	Name	Context	Notes
qwen-3-7-max	Qwen 3.7 Max (via Venice)	1M	Recommended, coding, vision
qwen-3-7-plus	Qwen 3.7 Plus (via Venice)	1M	Recommended, coding, vision
claude-fable-5	Claude Fable 5 (via Venice)	1M	Recommended, coding, vision
claude-opus-5	Claude Opus 5 (via Venice)	1M	Recommended, coding, vision
claude-sonnet-4-6	Claude Sonnet 4.6 (via Venice)	1M	Recommended, coding, vision
openai-gpt-56-sol	GPT-5.6 Sol (via Venice)	1M	Recommended, vision

Deprecated compatibility rows (3) — hidden from pickers

Model ID	Replacement
zai-org-glm-4.6	zai-org-glm-4.7
google-gemma-3-27b-it	google-gemma-4-31b-it
kimi-k2-5	kimi-k2-6

Grok-backed Venice models (grok-4-3 and similar) get the same tool-schema compat patch as the native xAI provider, since they share the same upstream tool-call format.

Model discovery

The bundled catalog above is a manifest-backed seed list. At runtime OpenClaw refreshes it from the Venice /models API and falls back to the seed list if the API is unreachable. The /models endpoint is public (no auth needed for listing), but inference requires a valid API key.

Venice may continue accepting retired model IDs as provider-owned aliases. The OpenClaw catalog advertises only the canonical model IDs returned by /models.

DeepSeek V4 replay behavior

If Venice exposes DeepSeek V4 models such as deepseek-v4-pro or deepseek-v4-flash, OpenClaw fills the required reasoning_content replay field on assistant messages when Venice omits it, and strips thinking/ reasoning/reasoning_effort from the request payload (Venice rejects DeepSeek’s native thinking control on these models). This replay fix is separate from the native DeepSeek provider’s own thinking controls.

Streaming and tool support

Feature	Support
Streaming	All models
Function calling	All visible seed models; live rows follow API metadata
Vision/Images	Models marked “Vision” above
JSON mode	Via response_format

Pricing

Venice uses a credit-based system. Anonymized models cost roughly the same as direct API pricing plus a small Venice fee. See venice.ai/pricing for current rates.

OpenClaw reads live prices from Venice’s public GET /api/v1/models response during model discovery. The same plugin parser supplies the hosted catalog publisher. Known and newly discovered models use the API’s complete schedule in USD per million tokens; the manifest prices are an offline seed. Missing or invalid live prices retain the complete seed schedule for known models. Unknown models without valid pricing keep zero estimates; that does not mean the model is free. Explicit API zero rates are valid.

When the API supplies extended pricing, its rates apply to the entire request only when total prompt input exceeds context_token_threshold. Prompt input includes uncached input, cache reads, and cache writes; output tokens do not select the tier. A request exactly at the threshold still uses base rates. Base and extended rates always come from one schedule. An invalid extended schedule is not combined with seed or other-source prices.

Explicit models.providers.venice.models[].cost entries override catalog estimates, including zero. Omitted cost or {} inherits the catalog schedule. Partial flat overrides inherit missing base rates and remove inherited tiers; explicit tieredPricing wins, and tieredPricing: [] selects flat pricing. Agent-local root models.json prices retain highest priority.

New onboarding in models.mode: "merge" leaves generated catalog rows out of the configuration so they cannot become price pins. Re-onboarding preserves existing model entries, aliases, and model selection. In models.mode: "replace", onboarding retains explicit seed rows because that mode disables discovery. Existing serialized costs are never automatically removed or migrated, even if they match an old seed. With merge mode enabled, back up your configuration and remove only unwanted cost fields to resume catalog pricing; keep intentional overrides.

Discovery reuses its existing fetched rows and cache. Usage display makes no price requests, and a running Gateway does not immediately adopt every upstream price change. Hosted catalog updates activate at the existing restart boundary; see Hosted model catalog. Make sizing-only edits in your source configuration without copying generated model rows back into it: replacing an entire model array from a runtime snapshot can persist inherited costs as explicit overrides. Historical estimated costs remain subject to the existing repricing policy; provider-billed amounts are unchanged. See Token use and costs.

Usage examples

# Default private model
openclaw agent --model venice/zai-org-glm-4.7 --message "Quick health check"

# Claude Opus via Venice (anonymized)
openclaw agent --model venice/claude-opus-5 --message "Summarize this task"

# Uncensored model
openclaw agent --model venice/venice-uncensored-1-2 --message "Draft options"

# Vision model with image
openclaw agent --model venice/qwen3-vl-235b-a22b --message "Review attached image"

# Coding model
openclaw agent --model venice/qwen3-coder-480b-a35b-instruct-turbo --message "Refactor this function"

Troubleshooting

API key not recognized

openclaw models list --provider venice

Confirm the API key is configured and starts with vapi_; do not print or share its value.

Model not available

Run openclaw models list --all --provider venice to see currently available models; the catalog changes as Venice adds or retires models.

Connection issues

Venice API is at https://api.venice.ai/api/v1. Confirm your network allows HTTPS to that host.

More help: Troubleshooting and FAQ.

Advanced configuration

Config file example

{
  env: { vars: { VENICE_API_KEY: "vapi_..." } },
  agents: { defaults: { model: { primary: "venice/zai-org-glm-4.7" } } },
  models: {
    mode: "merge",
    providers: {
      venice: {
        baseUrl: "https://api.venice.ai/api/v1",
        apiKey: "${VENICE_API_KEY}",
        api: "openai-completions",
        models: [
          {
            id: "zai-org-glm-4.7",
            name: "GLM 4.7",
            reasoning: true,
            input: ["text"],
            contextWindow: 198000,
            maxTokens: 16384,
          },
        ],
      },
    },
  },
}

Related

Model selection

Choosing providers, model refs, and failover behavior.

Venice AI

Venice AI homepage and account signup.

API documentation

Venice API reference and developer docs.

Pricing

Current Venice credit rates and plans.