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Vercel AI gateway

docs/providers/vercel-ai-gateway.md

2026.5.53.9 KB
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The Vercel AI Gateway provides a unified API to access hundreds of models through a single endpoint.

PropertyValue
Providervercel-ai-gateway
AuthAI_GATEWAY_API_KEY
APIAnthropic Messages compatible
Model catalogAuto-discovered via /v1/models
<Tip> 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`. </Tip>

Getting started

<Steps> <Step title="Set the API key"> Run onboarding and choose the AI Gateway auth option: 
```bash
openclaw onboard --auth-choice ai-gateway-api-key
```
</Step> <Step title="Set a default model"> Add the model to your OpenClaw config: 
```json5
{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "vercel-ai-gateway/anthropic/claude-opus-4.6" },
    },
  },
}
```
</Step> <Step title="Verify the model is available"> ```bash openclaw models list --provider vercel-ai-gateway ``` </Step> </Steps>

Non-interactive example

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

bash
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 inputNormalized model ref
vercel-ai-gateway/claude-opus-4.6vercel-ai-gateway/anthropic/claude-opus-4.6
vercel-ai-gateway/opus-4.6vercel-ai-gateway/anthropic/claude-opus-4-6
<Tip> You can use either the shorthand or the fully qualified model ref in your configuration. OpenClaw resolves the canonical form automatically. </Tip>

Advanced configuration

<AccordionGroup> <Accordion title="Environment variable for daemon processes"> If the OpenClaw Gateway runs as a daemon (launchd/systemd), make sure `AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY` is available to that process. 
<Warning>
A key set only in `~/.profile` 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>
</Accordion> <Accordion title="Provider routing"> 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. </Accordion> <Accordion title="Thinking levels"> `/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. </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="Troubleshooting" href="/help/troubleshooting" icon="wrench"> General troubleshooting and FAQ. </Card> </CardGroup>