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openclaw/docs/gateway/authentication.md

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summary read_when title
Model authentication: OAuth, API keys, and Claude CLI reuse
Debugging model auth or OAuth expiry
Documenting authentication or credential storage
Authentication

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](/gateway/configuration) and [Trusted Proxy Auth](/gateway/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.

Recommended setup (API key, any provider)

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).

Anthropic: legacy token compatibility

Existing Anthropic token profiles are still honored at runtime if they are already configured, but OpenClaw no longer offers Anthropic setup-token auth for new setup via onboarding or models auth commands.

For new setup, 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

Optional ops scripts (systemd/Termux) are documented here: Auth monitoring scripts

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 prefer Claude CLI for Anthropic and no longer offer setup-token as a new setup path.

Checking model auth status

openclaw models status
openclaw doctor

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).
  • Non-rate-limit errors are not retried with alternate keys.
  • If all keys fail, the final error from the last attempt is returned.

Controlling which credential is used

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).

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.

Troubleshooting

"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

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.

Claude CLI requirements

Only needed for the Anthropic Claude CLI reuse path:

  • Claude Code CLI installed (claude command available)