---
summary: "Configure Moonshot K2 vs Kimi Coding (separate providers + keys)"
read_when:
  - You want Moonshot K2 (Moonshot Open Platform) vs Kimi Coding setup
  - You need to understand separate endpoints, keys, and model refs
  - You want copy/paste config for either provider
title: "Moonshot AI"
---

Moonshot provides the Kimi API with OpenAI-compatible endpoints. Set the
default model to `moonshot/kimi-k2.6` for the Moonshot Open Platform, or
`kimi/kimi-for-coding` for Kimi Coding.

<Warning>
Moonshot and Kimi Coding are **separate providers**, each shipped as a separate external plugin. Keys are not interchangeable, endpoints differ, and model refs differ (`moonshot/...` vs `kimi/...`).
</Warning>

## Built-in model catalog

[//]: # "moonshot-kimi-k2-ids:start"

| Model ref                         | Name                   | Reasoning | Input       | Context | Max output |
| --------------------------------- | ---------------------- | --------- | ----------- | ------- | ---------- |
| `moonshot/kimi-k2.6`              | Kimi K2.6              | No        | text, image | 262,144 | 262,144    |
| `moonshot/kimi-k2.7-code`         | Kimi K2.7 Code         | Always on | text, image | 262,144 | 262,144    |
| `moonshot/kimi-k2.5`              | Kimi K2.5              | No        | text, image | 262,144 | 262,144    |
| `moonshot/kimi-k2-thinking`       | Kimi K2 Thinking       | Yes       | text        | 262,144 | 262,144    |
| `moonshot/kimi-k2-thinking-turbo` | Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo | Yes       | text        | 262,144 | 262,144    |
| `moonshot/kimi-k2-turbo`          | Kimi K2 Turbo          | No        | text        | 256,000 | 16,384     |

[//]: # "moonshot-kimi-k2-ids:end"

Catalog cost estimates use Moonshot's published pay-as-you-go rates: Kimi
K2.7 Code is $0.19/MTok cache hit, $0.95/MTok input, $4.00/MTok output; Kimi
K2.6 is $0.16/MTok cache hit, $0.95/MTok input, $4.00/MTok output; Kimi K2.5
is $0.10/MTok cache hit, $0.60/MTok input, $3.00/MTok output. Other catalog
entries keep zero-cost placeholders unless you override them in config.

Kimi K2.7 Code always uses native thinking. OpenClaw exposes only the `on`
thinking state for this model and omits outbound `thinking` and
`reasoning_effort` fields, as required by Moonshot. It also omits sampling
overrides (`temperature`, `top_p`, `n`, `presence_penalty`,
`frequency_penalty`), which K2.7 fixes to provider defaults. Kimi K2.6 remains
the onboarding default.

## Getting started

Both Moonshot and Kimi Coding are external plugins - install one before
onboarding.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Moonshot API">
    **Best for:** Kimi K2 models via the Moonshot Open Platform.

    <Steps>
      <Step title="Install the plugin">
        ```bash
        openclaw plugins install @openclaw/moonshot-provider
        openclaw gateway restart
        ```
      </Step>
      <Step title="Choose your endpoint region">
        | Auth choice            | Endpoint                       | Region        |
        | ---------------------- | ------------------------------ | ------------- |
        | `moonshot-api-key`     | `https://api.moonshot.ai/v1`   | International |
        | `moonshot-api-key-cn`  | `https://api.moonshot.cn/v1`   | China         |
      </Step>
      <Step title="Run onboarding">
        ```bash
        openclaw onboard --auth-choice moonshot-api-key
        ```

        Or for the China endpoint:

        ```bash
        openclaw onboard --auth-choice moonshot-api-key-cn
        ```
      </Step>
      <Step title="Set a default model">
        ```json5
        {
          agents: {
            defaults: {
              model: { primary: "moonshot/kimi-k2.6" },
            },
          },
        }
        ```
      </Step>
      <Step title="Verify models are available">
        ```bash
        openclaw models list --provider moonshot
        ```
      </Step>
      <Step title="Run a live smoke test">
        Use an isolated state dir when you want to verify model access and cost
        tracking without touching your normal sessions:

        ```bash
        OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH=/tmp/openclaw-kimi/openclaw.json \
        OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR=/tmp/openclaw-kimi \
        openclaw agent --local \
          --session-id live-kimi-cost \
          --message 'Reply exactly: KIMI_LIVE_OK' \
          --thinking off \
          --json
        ```

        The JSON response should report `provider: "moonshot"` and
        `model: "kimi-k2.6"`. The assistant transcript entry stores normalized
        token usage plus estimated cost under `usage.cost` when Moonshot returns
        usage metadata.
      </Step>
    </Steps>

    ### Config example

    ```json5
    {
      env: { MOONSHOT_API_KEY: "sk-..." },
      agents: {
        defaults: {
          model: { primary: "moonshot/kimi-k2.6" },
          models: {
            // moonshot-kimi-k2-aliases:start
            "moonshot/kimi-k2.6": { alias: "Kimi K2.6" },
            "moonshot/kimi-k2.7-code": { alias: "Kimi K2.7 Code" },
            "moonshot/kimi-k2.5": { alias: "Kimi K2.5" },
            "moonshot/kimi-k2-thinking": { alias: "Kimi K2 Thinking" },
            "moonshot/kimi-k2-thinking-turbo": { alias: "Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo" },
            "moonshot/kimi-k2-turbo": { alias: "Kimi K2 Turbo" },
            // moonshot-kimi-k2-aliases:end
          },
        },
      },
      models: {
        mode: "merge",
        providers: {
          moonshot: {
            baseUrl: "https://api.moonshot.ai/v1",
            apiKey: "${MOONSHOT_API_KEY}",
            api: "openai-completions",
            models: [
              // moonshot-kimi-k2-models:start
              {
                id: "kimi-k2.6",
                name: "Kimi K2.6",
                reasoning: false,
                input: ["text", "image"],
                cost: { input: 0.95, output: 4, cacheRead: 0.16, cacheWrite: 0 },
                contextWindow: 262144,
                maxTokens: 262144,
              },
              {
                id: "kimi-k2.7-code",
                name: "Kimi K2.7 Code",
                reasoning: true,
                input: ["text", "image"],
                cost: { input: 0.95, output: 4, cacheRead: 0.19, cacheWrite: 0 },
                contextWindow: 262144,
                maxTokens: 262144,
              },
              {
                id: "kimi-k2.5",
                name: "Kimi K2.5",
                reasoning: false,
                input: ["text", "image"],
                cost: { input: 0.6, output: 3, cacheRead: 0.1, cacheWrite: 0 },
                contextWindow: 262144,
                maxTokens: 262144,
              },
              {
                id: "kimi-k2-thinking",
                name: "Kimi K2 Thinking",
                reasoning: true,
                input: ["text"],
                cost: { input: 0, output: 0, cacheRead: 0, cacheWrite: 0 },
                contextWindow: 262144,
                maxTokens: 262144,
              },
              {
                id: "kimi-k2-thinking-turbo",
                name: "Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo",
                reasoning: true,
                input: ["text"],
                cost: { input: 0, output: 0, cacheRead: 0, cacheWrite: 0 },
                contextWindow: 262144,
                maxTokens: 262144,
              },
              {
                id: "kimi-k2-turbo",
                name: "Kimi K2 Turbo",
                reasoning: false,
                input: ["text"],
                cost: { input: 0, output: 0, cacheRead: 0, cacheWrite: 0 },
                contextWindow: 256000,
                maxTokens: 16384,
              },
              // moonshot-kimi-k2-models:end
            ],
          },
        },
      },
    }
    ```

  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Kimi Coding">
    **Best for:** code-focused tasks via the Kimi Coding endpoint.

    <Note>
    Kimi Coding uses a different API key and provider prefix (`kimi/...`) than Moonshot (`moonshot/...`). The stable model ref is `kimi/kimi-for-coding`; legacy refs `kimi/kimi-code` and `kimi/k2p5` remain accepted and normalize to that model id.
    </Note>

    <Steps>
      <Step title="Install the plugin">
        ```bash
        openclaw plugins install @openclaw/kimi-provider
        openclaw gateway restart
        ```
      </Step>
      <Step title="Run onboarding">
        ```bash
        openclaw onboard --auth-choice kimi-code-api-key
        ```
      </Step>
      <Step title="Set a default model">
        ```json5
        {
          agents: {
            defaults: {
              model: { primary: "kimi/kimi-for-coding" },
            },
          },
        }
        ```
      </Step>
      <Step title="Verify the model is available">
        ```bash
        openclaw models list --provider kimi
        ```
      </Step>
    </Steps>

    ### Config example

    ```json5
    {
      env: { KIMI_API_KEY: "sk-..." },
      agents: {
        defaults: {
          model: { primary: "kimi/kimi-for-coding" },
          models: {
            "kimi/kimi-for-coding": { alias: "Kimi" },
          },
        },
      },
    }
    ```

  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## Kimi web search

The Moonshot plugin also registers **Kimi** as a `web_search` provider, backed by Moonshot web search.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Run interactive web search setup">
    ```bash
    openclaw configure --section web
    ```

    Choose **Kimi** in the web-search section to store
    `plugins.entries.moonshot.config.webSearch.*`.

  </Step>
  <Step title="Configure the web search region and model">
    Interactive setup prompts for:

    | Setting             | Options                                                              |
    | ------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |
    | API region          | `https://api.moonshot.ai/v1` (international) or `https://api.moonshot.cn/v1` (China) |
    | Web search model    | Defaults to `kimi-k2.6`                                             |

  </Step>
</Steps>

Config lives under `plugins.entries.moonshot.config.webSearch`:

```json5
{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      moonshot: {
        config: {
          webSearch: {
            apiKey: "sk-...", // or use KIMI_API_KEY / MOONSHOT_API_KEY
            baseUrl: "https://api.moonshot.ai/v1",
            model: "kimi-k2.6",
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
  tools: {
    web: {
      search: {
        provider: "kimi",
      },
    },
  },
}
```

## Advanced configuration

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Native thinking mode">
    Kimi K2.7 Code always uses native thinking. Moonshot requires clients to
    omit the `thinking` field for this model, so OpenClaw exposes only `on` and
    ignores stale `off` settings. K2.7 also fixes `temperature`, `top_p`, `n`,
    `presence_penalty`, and `frequency_penalty`; OpenClaw omits configured
    overrides for those fields.

    Other Moonshot Kimi models support binary native thinking:

    - `thinking: { type: "enabled" }`
    - `thinking: { type: "disabled" }`

    Configure it per model via `agents.defaults.models.<provider/model>.params`:

    ```json5
    {
      agents: {
        defaults: {
          models: {
            "moonshot/kimi-k2.6": {
              params: {
                thinking: { type: "disabled" },
              },
            },
          },
        },
      },
    }
    ```

    OpenClaw maps runtime `/think` levels for those models:

    | `/think` level       | Moonshot behavior          |
    | -------------------- | -------------------------- |
    | `/think off`         | `thinking.type=disabled`   |
    | Any non-off level    | `thinking.type=enabled`    |

    <Warning>
    When Moonshot thinking is enabled, `tool_choice` must be `auto` or `none`. A pinned tool choice (`type: "tool"` or `type: "function"`) forces thinking back to `disabled` instead, so the requested tool still runs; `tool_choice: "required"` is normalized to `auto` instead. This applies to every Moonshot model except Kimi K2.7 Code, whose thinking mode cannot be disabled - its `tool_choice` is normalized to `auto` when incompatible.
    </Warning>

    Kimi K2.6 also accepts an optional `thinking.keep` field that controls
    multi-turn retention of `reasoning_content`. Set it to `"all"` to keep full
    reasoning across turns; omit it (or leave it `null`) to use the server
    default strategy. OpenClaw only forwards `thinking.keep` for
    `moonshot/kimi-k2.6` and strips it from other models. Kimi K2.7 Code
    preserves full reasoning history by default while OpenClaw omits the entire
    `thinking` field.

    ```json5
    {
      agents: {
        defaults: {
          models: {
            "moonshot/kimi-k2.6": {
              params: {
                thinking: { type: "enabled", keep: "all" },
              },
            },
          },
        },
      },
    }
    ```

  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Tool call id sanitization">
    Moonshot Kimi serves native tool_call ids shaped like `functions.<name>:<index>`. OpenClaw preserves the first occurrence of each native Kimi id and rewrites later duplicates to deterministic OpenAI-style `call_*` ids. Matching tool results are remapped with the same id so replay remains unique without stripping Kimi's first native id. This behavior is wired into the bundled Moonshot provider and is not a user-configurable setting.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Streaming usage compatibility">
    Native Moonshot endpoints (`https://api.moonshot.ai/v1` and
    `https://api.moonshot.cn/v1`) advertise streaming usage compatibility.
    OpenClaw keys this off the endpoint host, not the provider id, so a custom
    provider id pointed at the same native Moonshot host inherits the same
    streaming-usage behavior.

    With the catalog K2.6 pricing, streamed usage that includes input, output,
    and cache-read tokens is also converted into local estimated USD cost for
    `/status`, `/usage full`, `/usage cost`, and transcript-backed session
    accounting.

  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Endpoint and model ref reference">
    | Provider   | Model ref prefix | Endpoint                      | Auth env var        |
    | ---------- | ---------------- | ------------------------------ | ------------------- |
    | Moonshot   | `moonshot/`      | `https://api.moonshot.ai/v1`  | `MOONSHOT_API_KEY`  |
    | Moonshot CN| `moonshot/`      | `https://api.moonshot.cn/v1`  | `MOONSHOT_API_KEY`  |
    | Kimi Coding| `kimi/`          | Kimi Coding endpoint           | `KIMI_API_KEY`      |
    | Web search | N/A              | Same as Moonshot API region    | `KIMI_API_KEY` or `MOONSHOT_API_KEY` |

    - Kimi web search uses `KIMI_API_KEY` or `MOONSHOT_API_KEY`, and defaults to `https://api.moonshot.ai/v1` with model `kimi-k2.6`.
    - Override pricing and context metadata in `models.providers` if needed.
    - If Moonshot publishes different context limits for a model, adjust `contextWindow` accordingly.

  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Related

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Model selection" href="/concepts/model-providers" icon="layers">
    Choosing providers, model refs, and failover behavior.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Web search" href="/tools/web" icon="magnifying-glass">
    Configuring web search providers including Kimi.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Configuration reference" href="/gateway/configuration-reference" icon="gear">
    Full config schema for providers, models, and plugins.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Moonshot Open Platform" href="https://platform.moonshot.ai" icon="globe">
    Moonshot API key management and documentation.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>