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.

Provider: zai
Auth: ZAI_API_KEY
API: Z.AI Chat Completions (Bearer auth)

Getting started

<Tabs> <Tab title="Auto-detect endpoint"> **Best for:** most users. OpenClaw detects the matching Z.AI endpoint from the key and applies the correct base URL automatically.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Run onboarding">
    ```bash
    openclaw onboard --auth-choice zai-api-key
    ```
  </Step>
  <Step title="Set a default model">
    ```json5
    {
      env: { ZAI_API_KEY: "sk-..." },
      agents: { defaults: { model: { primary: "zai/glm-5.1" } } },
    }
    ```
  </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="Set a default model">
    ```json5
    {
      env: { ZAI_API_KEY: "sk-..." },
      agents: { defaults: { model: { primary: "zai/glm-5.1" } } },
    }
    ```
  </Step>
  <Step title="Verify the model is listed">
    ```bash
    openclaw models list --all --provider zai
    ```
  </Step>
</Steps>

</Tab> </Tabs>

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`). The default bundled model ref is `zai/glm-5.1`. </Tip>

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 from the key prefix. - Use the explicit regional choices (`zai-coding-global`, `zai-coding-cn`, `zai-global`, `zai-cn`) when you want to force a specific API surface. </Accordion> </AccordionGroup> <CardGroup cols={2}> <Card title="GLM model family" href="/providers/glm" icon="microchip"> Model family overview for GLM. </Card> <Card title="Model selection" href="/concepts/model-providers" icon="layers"> Choosing providers, model refs, and failover behavior. </Card> </CardGroup>

Getting started

Built-in catalog

Advanced configuration

Related