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openclaw/docs/gateway/authentication.md

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summary read_when title
Model authentication: OAuth, API keys, and legacy Anthropic setup-token
Debugging model auth or OAuth expiry
Documenting authentication or credential storage
Authentication

Authentication (Model Providers)

This page covers **model provider** authentication (API keys, OAuth, and legacy Anthropic setup-token). 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. Anthropic subscription-style auth inside OpenClaw is the legacy setup-token path and should be treated as an Extra Usage path, not a plan-limits 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

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. If you must keep a subscription-style Anthropic path in OpenClaw, use the legacy setup-token path with the expectation that Anthropic treats it as Extra Usage.

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

Anthropic note

The Anthropic claude-cli backend was removed.

  • Use Anthropic API keys for Anthropic traffic in OpenClaw.
  • Anthropic setup-token remains a legacy/manual path and should be used with the Extra Usage billing expectation Anthropic communicated to OpenClaw users.
  • openclaw doctor now detects stale removed Anthropic Claude CLI state. If stored credential bytes still exist, doctor converts them back into Anthropic token/OAuth profiles. If not, doctor removes the stale Claude CLI config and points you to API key or setup-token recovery.

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, 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.

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. 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.

Troubleshooting

"No credentials found"

If the Anthropic profile is missing, configure an Anthropic API key on the gateway host or set up the legacy Anthropic setup-token path, 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, refresh that setup via setup-token or migrate to an Anthropic API key.

If the machine still has stale removed Anthropic Claude CLI state from older builds, run:

openclaw doctor --yes

Doctor converts anthropic:claude-cli back to Anthropic token/OAuth when the stored credential bytes still exist. Otherwise it removes stale Claude CLI profile/config/model refs and leaves the next-step guidance.