moltbot/docs/providers/vercel-ai-gateway.md

summary, title, read_when

summary	title	read_when
Vercel AI Gateway setup (auth + model selection)	Vercel AI gateway	You want to use Vercel AI Gateway with OpenClaw You need the API key env var or CLI auth choice

The Vercel AI Gateway provides a unified API to access hundreds of models through a single endpoint.

Property	Value
Provider	vercel-ai-gateway
Auth	AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY
API	Anthropic Messages compatible
Model catalog	Auto-discovered via /v1/models

OpenClaw auto-discovers the Gateway `/v1/models` catalog, so `/models vercel-ai-gateway` includes current model refs such as `vercel-ai-gateway/openai/gpt-5.5` and `vercel-ai-gateway/moonshotai/kimi-k2.6`.

Getting started

Run onboarding and choose the AI Gateway auth option:

```bash
openclaw onboard --auth-choice ai-gateway-api-key
```

Add the model to your OpenClaw config:

```json5
{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "vercel-ai-gateway/anthropic/claude-opus-4.6" },
    },
  },
}
```

```bash openclaw models list --provider vercel-ai-gateway ```

Non-interactive example

For scripted or CI setups, pass all values on the command line:

openclaw onboard --non-interactive \
  --mode local \
  --auth-choice ai-gateway-api-key \
  --ai-gateway-api-key "$AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY"

Model ID shorthand

OpenClaw accepts Vercel Claude shorthand model refs and normalizes them at runtime:

Shorthand input	Normalized model ref
vercel-ai-gateway/claude-opus-4.6	vercel-ai-gateway/anthropic/claude-opus-4.6
vercel-ai-gateway/opus-4.6	vercel-ai-gateway/anthropic/claude-opus-4-6

You can use either the shorthand or the fully qualified model ref in your configuration. OpenClaw resolves the canonical form automatically.

Advanced configuration

If the OpenClaw Gateway runs as a daemon (launchd/systemd), make sure `AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY` is available to that process.

<Warning>
A key exported only in an interactive shell will not be visible to a
launchd/systemd daemon unless that environment is explicitly imported. Set
the key in `~/.openclaw/.env` or via `env.shellEnv` to ensure the gateway
process can read it.
</Warning>

Vercel AI Gateway routes requests to the upstream provider based on the model ref prefix. For example, `vercel-ai-gateway/anthropic/claude-opus-4.6` routes through Anthropic, while `vercel-ai-gateway/openai/gpt-5.5` routes through OpenAI and `vercel-ai-gateway/moonshotai/kimi-k2.6` routes through MoonshotAI. Your single `AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY` handles authentication for all upstream providers. `/think` options follow trusted upstream model prefixes when OpenClaw knows the upstream provider contract. `vercel-ai-gateway/anthropic/...` uses the Claude thinking profile, including adaptive defaults for Claude 4.6 models. `vercel-ai-gateway/openai/gpt-5.4`, `gpt-5.5`, and Codex-style refs expose `/think xhigh` just like the direct OpenAI/OpenAI Codex providers. Other namespaced refs keep the normal reasoning levels unless their catalog metadata declares more.

Related

Choosing providers, model refs, and failover behavior. General troubleshooting and FAQ.