Z.AI

Z.AI is the API platform for GLM models. It provides REST APIs for GLM and uses API keys for authentication. Create your API key in the Z.AI console. OpenClaw uses the zai provider with a Z.AI API key.

Property	Value
Provider	zai
Auth	ZAI_API_KEY (legacy alias: Z_AI_API_KEY)
API	Z.AI Chat Completions (Bearer auth)

GLM models

GLM is a model family, not a separate provider. In OpenClaw, GLM models use refs such as zai/glm-5.1: provider zai, model id glm-5.1.

Getting started

Auto-detect endpoint

Best for: most users. OpenClaw probes supported Z.AI endpoints with your API key and applies the correct base URL automatically.

1. Run onboarding

   openclaw onboard --auth-choice zai-api-key
   
2. Verify the model is listed

   openclaw models list --all --provider zai
   

Explicit regional endpoint

Best for: users who want to force a specific Coding Plan or general API surface.

1. Pick the right onboarding choice

   # Coding Plan Global (recommended for Coding Plan users)
   openclaw onboard --auth-choice zai-coding-global
   
   # Coding Plan CN (China region)
   openclaw onboard --auth-choice zai-coding-cn
   
   # General API
   openclaw onboard --auth-choice zai-global
   
   # General API CN (China region)
   openclaw onboard --auth-choice zai-cn
   
2. Verify the model is listed

   openclaw models list --all --provider zai
   

Config example

zai-api-key lets OpenClaw detect the matching Z.AI endpoint from the key and apply the correct base URL automatically. Use the explicit regional choices when you want to force a specific Coding Plan or general API surface.

{
  env: { ZAI_API_KEY: "sk-..." },
  models: {
    providers: {
      zai: {
        // Example value. Onboarding writes the matching baseUrl for your endpoint.
        baseUrl: "https://api.z.ai/api/paas/v4",
      },
    },
  },
  agents: { defaults: { model: { primary: "zai/glm-5.1" } } },
}

Built-in catalog

OpenClaw ships the bundled zai provider catalog in the plugin manifest, so read-only listing can show known GLM rows without loading provider runtime:

openclaw models list --all --provider zai

The manifest-backed catalog currently includes:

Model ref	Notes
zai/glm-5.1	Default model
zai/glm-5
zai/glm-5-turbo
zai/glm-5v-turbo
zai/glm-4.7
zai/glm-4.7-flash
zai/glm-4.7-flashx
zai/glm-4.6
zai/glm-4.6v
zai/glm-4.5
zai/glm-4.5-air
zai/glm-4.5-flash
zai/glm-4.5v

GLM models are available as zai/<model> (example: zai/glm-5).

The default bundled model ref is zai/glm-5.1. GLM versions and availability can change; run openclaw models list --all --provider zai to see the catalog known to your installed version.

Advanced configuration

Forward-resolving unknown GLM-5 models

Unknown glm-5* ids still forward-resolve on the bundled provider path by synthesizing provider-owned metadata from the glm-4.7 template when the id matches the current GLM-5 family shape.

Tool-call streaming

tool_stream is enabled by default for Z.AI tool-call streaming. To disable it:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      models: {
        "zai/<model>": {
          params: { tool_stream: false },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Thinking and preserved thinking

Z.AI thinking follows OpenClaw’s /think controls. With thinking off, OpenClaw sends thinking: { type: "disabled" } to avoid responses that spend the output budget on reasoning_content before visible text.

Preserved thinking is opt-in because Z.AI requires the full historical reasoning_content to be replayed, which increases prompt tokens. Enable it per model:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      models: {
        "zai/glm-5.1": {
          params: { preserveThinking: true },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

When enabled and thinking is on, OpenClaw sends thinking: { type: "enabled", clear_thinking: false } and replays prior reasoning_content for the same OpenAI-compatible transcript.

Advanced users can still override the exact provider payload with params.extra_body.thinking.

Image understanding

The bundled Z.AI plugin registers image understanding.

Property	Value
Model	glm-4.6v

Image understanding is auto-resolved from the configured Z.AI auth — no additional config is needed.

Auth details

• Z.AI uses Bearer auth with your API key.
• The zai-api-key onboarding choice auto-detects the matching Z.AI endpoint by probing supported endpoints with your key.
• Use the explicit regional choices (zai-coding-global, zai-coding-cn, zai-global, zai-cn) when you want to force a specific API surface.
• The legacy env var Z_AI_API_KEY is still accepted; OpenClaw copies it to ZAI_API_KEY at startup if ZAI_API_KEY is unset.

Related

Model selection

Choosing providers, model refs, and failover behavior.

Configuration reference

Full OpenClaw config schema, including provider and model settings.