diff --git a/docs/providers/nvidia.md b/docs/providers/nvidia.md
index ad67420ea2d..da33dc34f40 100644
--- a/docs/providers/nvidia.md
+++ b/docs/providers/nvidia.md
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ summary: "Use NVIDIA's OpenAI-compatible API in OpenClaw"
 read_when:
   - You want to use NVIDIA models in OpenClaw
   - You need NVIDIA_API_KEY setup
-title: "NVIDIA"
+title: 'NVIDIA'
 ---
 
 # NVIDIA
@@ -12,28 +12,31 @@ NVIDIA provides an OpenAI-compatible API at `https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1
 
 ## CLI setup
 
+Export the key once, then run onboarding without an inline secret:
+
 ```bash
-openclaw onboard --auth-choice apiKey --token-provider nvidia --token "$NVIDIA_API_KEY"
+export NVIDIA_API_KEY="nvapi-..."
+openclaw onboard --auth-choice apiKey --token-provider nvidia
 ```
 
-If `NVIDIA_API_KEY` is already exported, you can omit `--token`.
+If you still pass `--token`, remember it lands in shell history and `ps` output; prefer the env var when possible.
 
 ## Config snippet
 
 ```json5
 {
-  env: { NVIDIA_API_KEY: "nvapi-..." },
+  env: { NVIDIA_API_KEY: 'nvapi-...' },
   models: {
     providers: {
       nvidia: {
-        baseUrl: "https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1",
-        api: "openai-completions",
+        baseUrl: 'https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1',
+        api: 'openai-completions',
       },
     },
   },
   agents: {
     defaults: {
-      model: { primary: "nvidia/llama-3.1-nemotron-70b-instruct" },
+      model: { primary: 'nvidia/llama-3.1-nemotron-70b-instruct' },
     },
   },
 }
diff --git a/src/agents/models-config.providers.nvidia.test.ts b/src/agents/models-config.providers.nvidia.test.ts
index bbd655fe09f..fcb9885e6e5 100644
--- a/src/agents/models-config.providers.nvidia.test.ts
+++ b/src/agents/models-config.providers.nvidia.test.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { mkdtempSync } from "node:fs";
 import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
 import { join } from "node:path";
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { resolveApiKeyForProvider } from "./model-auth.js";
 import { buildNvidiaProvider, resolveImplicitProviders } from "./models-config.providers.js";
 
 describe("NVIDIA provider", () => {
@@ -13,7 +14,30 @@ describe("NVIDIA provider", () => {
     try {
       const providers = await resolveImplicitProviders({ agentDir });
       expect(providers?.nvidia).toBeDefined();
-      expect(providers?.nvidia?.apiKey).toBe("NVIDIA_API_KEY");
+      expect(providers?.nvidia?.models?.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    } finally {
+      if (previous === undefined) {
+        delete process.env.NVIDIA_API_KEY;
+      } else {
+        process.env.NVIDIA_API_KEY = previous;
+      }
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("resolves the nvidia api key value from env", async () => {
+    const agentDir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "openclaw-test-"));
+    const previous = process.env.NVIDIA_API_KEY;
+    process.env.NVIDIA_API_KEY = "nvidia-test-api-key";
+
+    try {
+      const auth = await resolveApiKeyForProvider({
+        provider: "nvidia",
+        agentDir,
+      });
+
+      expect(auth.apiKey).toBe("nvidia-test-api-key");
+      expect(auth.mode).toBe("api-key");
+      expect(auth.source).toContain("NVIDIA_API_KEY");
     } finally {
       if (previous === undefined) {
         delete process.env.NVIDIA_API_KEY;