OpenClaw

OpenClaw is an open-source personal agent that runs on your machine and answers from chat apps, a terminal or a schedule. LowRouter has a provider plugin for it on ClawHub, OpenClaw’s plugin registry. Without the plugin, OpenClaw also takes LowRouter as a custom provider in its config file.

Install the plugin

The plugin needs OpenClaw 2026.10.2 or later, which needs Node.js 24.16 or later.

npm install -g openclaw@latest
openclaw plugins install clawhub:@lowrouter/openclaw-provider

OpenClaw asks you to approve the plugin’s capabilities during the install. Then add your key through onboarding, which also makes auto/mistralai/mistral-large-2512 the default model:

openclaw onboard --auth-choice lowrouter-api-key

Or export the key instead and pick a model yourself:

export LOWROUTER_API_KEY=sk-lr-...
openclaw models list --refresh --provider lowrouter
openclaw models set lowrouter/auto/mistralai/mistral-large-2512

Then run an agent turn:

openclaw agent --local --message "What is in my workspace?"

What the plugin does:

• It reads the model list from LowRouter and refreshes it every five minutes. A new model shows up without a plugin update.
• It lists auto/ chat models with function calling, plus your account’s alias/ models. Context windows and output limits come from the same list, so you don’t set them in the config.
• Jurisdiction-scoped IDs such as auto/mistralai/mistral-large-2512/eu are not in the list, but openclaw models set accepts them.
• OpenClaw shows costs in US dollars. The plugin uses the price of each model’s most expensive route, so OpenClaw’s estimate is an upper bound. You are billed in euros, for the route that served the request.

Use openclaw models set to change the default model. openclaw config set agents.defaults.model.primary can reject a model the plugin found.

The plugin’s source and release notes are on GitHub.

Without the plugin

Verified against OpenClaw 2026.9.6. The config below is re-run against that release every week, including a tool call round trip.

npm install -g openclaw@2026.9.6

Configure

Add LowRouter as a provider in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json and make one of its models the default:

{
  "models": {
    "mode": "merge",
    "providers": {
      "lowrouter": {
        "baseUrl": "https://api.lowrouter.ai/v1",
        "apiKey": "${LOWROUTER_API_KEY}",
        "api": "openai-completions",
        "models": [
          {
            "id": "auto/mistralai/mistral-large-2512",
            "name": "Mistral Large (LowRouter)",
            "contextWindow": 256000,
            "maxTokens": 8192
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": { "primary": "lowrouter/auto/mistralai/mistral-large-2512" }
    }
  }
}

${LOWROUTER_API_KEY} is read from the environment when OpenClaw starts, so the key stays out of the file:

export LOWROUTER_API_KEY=sk-lr-...
openclaw config validate
openclaw agent --local --message "What is in my workspace?"

--local runs one agent turn in the terminal without the OpenClaw gateway service; the same config serves the gateway and chat apps.

Details of this config:

• OpenClaw checks the file against a strict schema and refuses to start on a key it does not know. Run openclaw config validate after editing; it names the offending key.
• The default model is lowrouter/ followed by the LowRouter model ID. OpenClaw splits on the first slash only, so the slashes inside the ID are fine.
• baseUrl ends in /v1. OpenClaw appends only /chat/completions.
• maxTokens caps the answer length OpenClaw asks for (sent as max_completion_tokens). Without it OpenClaw asks for 8,192. contextWindow is what it plans compaction around; set it to the model’s real context window from the model browser.
• mode: "merge" keeps OpenClaw’s built-in providers next to LowRouter. Each additional LowRouter model is another entry in models.
• The agent’s file tools work inside its workspace, ~/.openclaw/workspace, not the directory you run it from.

Picking a model

OpenClaw’s agent acts through function calling, so pick a model with the function-calling tag. The model browser filtered to them lists every one.

The example uses auto/mistralai/mistral-large-2512, served from the EU (256k context). Models we have run through OpenClaw’s tool loop:

• auto/qwen/qwen3-coder-30b-a3b-instruct, a coding model served from the EU (128k context).
• auto/anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5, a cheaper Anthropic model (200k context).

Recommended setup

• Use a dedicated key. OpenClaw can wake itself on a schedule and act on incoming messages, so it can spend while you are away; a key of its own shows that spend separately and can be revoked on its own.
• Without the plugin, give each LowRouter model its real contextWindow and a maxTokens within the model’s output limit. The plugin reads both from LowRouter.

Troubleshooting

• “requires capability consent” during openclaw plugins install: the install ran without a prompt to answer, as in a script. Re-run it with --accept-capabilities.
• “Unknown model” from openclaw config set for a LowRouter model the plugin lists: set it with openclaw models set instead.
• “The selected model was not found by the provider” with a 404: baseUrl is missing /v1. The request went to a path LowRouter does not serve, and OpenClaw reports that as an unknown model.
• OpenClaw will not start after an edit: run openclaw config validate. A misspelled key is rejected outright.
• A 400 about output tokens: the model’s output limit is lower than maxTokens (or the 8,192 default). Lower maxTokens for that model entry.
• The agent cannot find a file you mention: put it in ~/.openclaw/workspace.