OAuth

OpenClaw supports “subscription auth” via OAuth for providers that offer it (notably OpenAI Codex (ChatGPT OAuth)). For Anthropic, the practical split is now:

• Anthropic API key: normal Anthropic API billing
• Anthropic Claude CLI / subscription auth inside OpenClaw: Anthropic staff told us this usage is allowed again

OpenAI Codex OAuth is explicitly supported for use in external tools like OpenClaw. This page explains:

For Anthropic in production, API key auth is the safer recommended path.

• how the OAuth token exchange works (PKCE)
• where tokens are stored (and why)
• how to handle multiple accounts (profiles + per-session overrides)

OpenClaw also supports provider plugins that ship their own OAuth or API‑key flows. Run them via:

openclaw models auth login --provider <id>

The token sink (why it exists)

OAuth providers commonly mint a new refresh token during login/refresh flows. Some providers (or OAuth clients) can invalidate older refresh tokens when a new one is issued for the same user/app.

Practical symptom:

• you log in via OpenClaw and via Claude Code / Codex CLI → one of them randomly gets “logged out” later

To reduce that, OpenClaw treats auth-profiles.json as a token sink:

• the runtime reads credentials from one place
• we can keep multiple profiles and route them deterministically
• external CLI reuse is provider-specific: Codex CLI can bootstrap an empty openai-codex:default profile, but once OpenClaw has a local OAuth profile, the local refresh token is canonical; other integrations can remain externally managed and re-read their CLI auth store
• status and startup paths that already know the configured provider set scope external CLI discovery to that set, so an unrelated CLI login store is not probed for a single-provider setup

Storage (where tokens live)

Secrets are stored in agent auth stores:

• Auth profiles (OAuth + API keys + optional value-level refs): ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/agent/auth-profiles.json
• Legacy compatibility file: ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/agent/auth.json (static api_key entries are scrubbed when discovered)

Legacy import-only file (still supported, but not the main store):

• ~/.openclaw/credentials/oauth.json (imported into auth-profiles.json on first use)

All of the above also respect $OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR (state dir override). Full reference: /gateway/configuration

For static secret refs and runtime snapshot activation behavior, see Secrets Management.

When a secondary agent has no local auth profile, OpenClaw uses read-through inheritance from the default/main agent store. It does not clone the main agent's auth-profiles.json on read. OAuth refresh tokens are especially sensitive: normal copy flows skip them by default because some providers rotate or invalidate refresh tokens after use. Configure a separate OAuth login for an agent when it needs an independent account.

Anthropic legacy token compatibility

For Anthropic's current direct-Claude-Code plan docs, see Using Claude Code with your Pro or Max plan and Using Claude Code with your Team or Enterprise plan.

If you want other subscription-style options in OpenClaw, see OpenAI Codex, Qwen Cloud Coding Plan, MiniMax Coding Plan, and Z.AI / GLM Coding Plan. </Warning>

OpenClaw also exposes Anthropic setup-token as a supported token-auth path, but it now prefers Claude CLI reuse and claude -p when available.

Anthropic Claude CLI migration

OpenClaw supports Anthropic Claude CLI reuse again. If you already have a local Claude login on the host, onboarding/configure can reuse it directly.

OAuth exchange (how login works)

OpenClaw’s interactive login flows are implemented in @mariozechner/pi-ai and wired into the wizards/commands.

Anthropic setup-token

Flow shape:

1. start Anthropic setup-token or paste-token from OpenClaw
2. OpenClaw stores the resulting Anthropic credential in an auth profile
3. model selection stays on anthropic/...
4. existing Anthropic auth profiles remain available for rollback/order control

OpenAI Codex (ChatGPT OAuth)

OpenAI Codex OAuth is explicitly supported for use outside the Codex CLI, including OpenClaw workflows.

Flow shape (PKCE):

1. generate PKCE verifier/challenge + random state
2. open https://auth.openai.com/oauth/authorize?...
3. try to capture callback on http://127.0.0.1:1455/auth/callback
4. if callback can’t bind (or you’re remote/headless), paste the redirect URL/code
5. exchange at https://auth.openai.com/oauth/token
6. extract accountId from the access token and store { access, refresh, expires, accountId }

Wizard path is openclaw onboard → auth choice openai-codex.

Refresh + expiry

Profiles store an expires timestamp.

At runtime:

• if expires is in the future → use the stored access token
• if expired → refresh (under a file lock) and overwrite the stored credentials
• if a secondary agent reads an inherited main-agent OAuth profile, refresh writes back to the main agent store instead of copying the refresh token into the secondary agent store
• exception: some external CLI credentials stay externally managed; OpenClaw re-reads those CLI auth stores instead of spending copied refresh tokens. Codex CLI bootstrap is intentionally narrower: it seeds an empty openai-codex:default profile, then OpenClaw-owned refreshes keep the local profile canonical.

The refresh flow is automatic; you generally don't need to manage tokens manually.

Multiple accounts (profiles) + routing

Two patterns:

1) Preferred: separate agents

If you want “personal” and “work” to never interact, use isolated agents (separate sessions + credentials + workspace):

openclaw agents add work
openclaw agents add personal

Then configure auth per-agent (wizard) and route chats to the right agent.

2) Advanced: multiple profiles in one agent

auth-profiles.json supports multiple profile IDs for the same provider.

Pick which profile is used:

• globally via config ordering (auth.order)
• per-session via /model ...@<profileId>

Example (session override):

• /model Opus@anthropic:work

How to see what profile IDs exist:

• openclaw channels list --json (shows auth[])

Related docs:

• Model failover (rotation + cooldown rules)
• Slash commands (command surface)

Related

• Authentication — model provider auth overview
• Secrets — credential storage and SecretRef
• Configuration Reference — auth config keys