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

<Tabs> <Tab title="Auto-detect endpoint"> **Best for:** most users. OpenClaw probes supported Z.AI endpoints with your API key and applies the correct base URL automatically.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Run onboarding">
    ```bash
    openclaw onboard --auth-choice zai-api-key
    ```
  </Step>
  <Step title="Verify the model is listed">
    ```bash
    openclaw models list --all --provider zai
    ```
  </Step>
</Steps>

</Tab> <Tab title="Explicit regional endpoint"> **Best for:** users who want to force a specific Coding Plan or general API surface.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Pick the right onboarding choice">
    ```bash
    # 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
    ```
  </Step>
  <Step title="Verify the model is listed">
    ```bash
    openclaw models list --all --provider zai
    ```
  </Step>
</Steps>

</Tab> </Tabs>

Config example

<Tip> `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. </Tip>

json5

{
  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:

bash

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`

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

Advanced configuration

<AccordionGroup> <Accordion title="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. </Accordion> <Accordion title="Tool-call streaming"> `tool_stream` is enabled by default for Z.AI tool-call streaming. To disable it:

```json5
{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      models: {
        "zai/<model>": {
          params: { tool_stream: false },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}
```

</Accordion> <Accordion title="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:

```json5
{
  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`.

</Accordion> <Accordion title="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.

</Accordion> <Accordion title="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. </Accordion> </AccordionGroup> <CardGroup cols={2}> <Card title="Model selection" href="/concepts/model-providers" icon="layers"> Choosing providers, model refs, and failover behavior. </Card> <Card title="Configuration reference" href="/gateway/configuration-reference" icon="gear"> Full OpenClaw config schema, including provider and model settings. </Card> </CardGroup>

GLM models

Getting started

Config example

Built-in catalog

Advanced configuration

Related