Files
openclaw/docs/providers/venice.md
Peter Steinberger 52a92a1b0a feat(providers): refresh onboarding defaults to current models (#113973)
* feat(providers): refresh onboarding defaults to current models

* chore: drop changelog edit (release generation owns it)
2026-07-25 19:10:26 -07:00

11 KiB

summary, read_when, title
summary read_when title
Use Venice AI privacy-focused models in OpenClaw
You want privacy-focused inference in OpenClaw
You want Venice AI setup guidance
Venice AI

Venice AI provides privacy-focused inference: open models run with no logging, plus anonymized proxy access to Claude, GPT, Gemini, and Grok. All endpoints are OpenAI-compatible (/v1).

Privacy modes

Mode Behavior Models
Private Prompts/responses are never stored or logged. Ephemeral. GLM, Gemma, Grok, Qwen, DeepSeek, Kimi, Venice Uncensored, etc.
Anonymized Proxied through Venice with metadata stripped before forwarding. Claude, GPT, and selected Qwen models
Anonymized models are not fully private. Venice strips metadata before forwarding, but the underlying provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI) still processes the request. Use Private models when full privacy is required.

Getting started

```bash openclaw plugins install @openclaw/venice-provider ``` 1. Sign up at [venice.ai](https://venice.ai) 2. Go to **Settings > API Keys > Create new key** 3. Copy your API key (format: `vapi_xxxxxxxxxxxx`) ```bash openclaw onboard --auth-choice venice-api-key ```
    Prompts for the API key (or reuses an existing `VENICE_API_KEY`), lists available Venice models, and sets your default model.
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Environment variable">
    ```bash
    export VENICE_API_KEY="vapi_xxxxxxxxxxxx"
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Non-interactive">
    ```bash
    openclaw onboard --non-interactive \
      --auth-choice venice-api-key \
      --venice-api-key "vapi_xxxxxxxxxxxx"
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>
```bash openclaw agent --model venice/zai-org-glm-4.7 --message "Hello, are you working?" ```

Model selection

  • Default: venice/zai-org-glm-4.7 (private reasoning).
  • Strongest anonymized option: venice/claude-opus-5.
openclaw models set venice/zai-org-glm-4.7
openclaw models list --all --provider venice

You can also run openclaw configure and pick Model/auth provider > Venice AI.

| Use case | Model | Why | | --------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | | General chat (default) | `zai-org-glm-4.7` | Venice live default trait | | Best overall quality | `claude-opus-5` | Current promoted anonymized Opus model | | Privacy + coding | `qwen3-coder-480b-a35b-instruct-turbo` | Private coding model with large context | | Fast + cheap | `google-gemma-4-31b-it` | Low-cost promoted private vision model | | Complex private tasks | `deepseek-v3.2` | Promoted private reasoning model | | Uncensored | `venice-uncensored-1-2` | Current uncensored Venice model |

Built-in catalog (16 visible models)

| Model ID | Name | Context | Notes | | -------------------------------------- | --------------------------- | ------- | --------------------------- | | `zai-org-glm-5-2` | GLM 5.2 | 1M | Recommended, coding | | `zai-org-glm-4.7` | GLM 4.7 | 198k | Private reasoning | | `venice-uncensored-1-2` | Venice Uncensored 1.2 | 128k | Most uncensored, vision | | `google-gemma-4-31b-it` | Google Gemma 4 31B Instruct | 256k | Recommended, vision | | `kimi-k2-6` | Kimi K2.6 | 256k | Recommended, coding, vision | | `deepseek-v3.2` | DeepSeek V3.2 | 160k | Recommended, reasoning | | `qwen3-235b-a22b-thinking-2507` | Qwen3 235B Thinking | 128k | Default reasoning | | `qwen3-coder-480b-a35b-instruct-turbo` | Qwen3 Coder 480B Turbo | 256k | Default coding | | `qwen3-vl-235b-a22b` | Qwen3 VL 235B | 128k | Default vision | | `grok-4-5` | Grok 4.5 | 500k | Recommended, coding, vision | | Model ID | Name | Context | Notes | | ------------------- | -------------------------------- | ------- | --------------------------- | | `qwen-3-7-max` | Qwen 3.7 Max (via Venice) | 1M | Recommended, coding, vision | | `qwen-3-7-plus` | Qwen 3.7 Plus (via Venice) | 1M | Recommended, coding, vision | | `claude-fable-5` | Claude Fable 5 (via Venice) | 1M | Recommended, coding, vision | | `claude-opus-5` | Claude Opus 5 (via Venice) | 1M | Recommended, coding, vision | | `claude-sonnet-4-6` | Claude Sonnet 4.6 (via Venice) | 1M | Recommended, coding, vision | | `openai-gpt-56-sol` | GPT-5.6 Sol (via Venice) | 1M | Recommended, vision | | Model ID | Replacement | | ----------------------- | --------------------------- | | `zai-org-glm-4.6` | `zai-org-glm-4.7` | | `google-gemma-3-27b-it` | `google-gemma-4-31b-it` | | `kimi-k2-5` | `kimi-k2-6` |

Grok-backed Venice models (grok-4-3 and similar) get the same tool-schema compat patch as the native xAI provider, since they share the same upstream tool-call format.

Model discovery

The bundled catalog above is a manifest-backed seed list. At runtime OpenClaw refreshes it from the Venice /models API and falls back to the seed list if the API is unreachable. The /models endpoint is public (no auth needed for listing), but inference requires a valid API key.

Venice may continue accepting retired model IDs as provider-owned aliases. The OpenClaw catalog advertises only the canonical model IDs returned by /models.

DeepSeek V4 replay behavior

If Venice exposes DeepSeek V4 models such as deepseek-v4-pro or deepseek-v4-flash, OpenClaw fills the required reasoning_content replay field on assistant messages when Venice omits it, and strips thinking/ reasoning/reasoning_effort from the request payload (Venice rejects DeepSeek's native thinking control on these models). This replay fix is separate from the native DeepSeek provider's own thinking controls.

Streaming and tool support

Feature Support
Streaming All models
Function calling All visible seed models; live rows follow API metadata
Vision/Images Models marked "Vision" above
JSON mode Via response_format

Pricing

Venice uses a credit-based system. Anonymized models cost roughly the same as direct API pricing plus a small Venice fee. See venice.ai/pricing for current rates.

Usage examples

# Default private model
openclaw agent --model venice/zai-org-glm-4.7 --message "Quick health check"

# Claude Opus via Venice (anonymized)
openclaw agent --model venice/claude-opus-5 --message "Summarize this task"

# Uncensored model
openclaw agent --model venice/venice-uncensored-1-2 --message "Draft options"

# Vision model with image
openclaw agent --model venice/qwen3-vl-235b-a22b --message "Review attached image"

# Coding model
openclaw agent --model venice/qwen3-coder-480b-a35b-instruct-turbo --message "Refactor this function"

Troubleshooting

```bash echo $VENICE_API_KEY openclaw models list | grep venice ```
Confirm the key starts with `vapi_`.
Run `openclaw models list --all --provider venice` to see currently available models; the catalog changes as Venice adds or retires models. Venice API is at `https://api.venice.ai/api/v1`. Confirm your network allows HTTPS to that host. More help: [Troubleshooting](/help/troubleshooting) and [FAQ](/help/faq).

Advanced configuration

```json5 { env: { VENICE_API_KEY: "vapi_..." }, agents: { defaults: { model: { primary: "venice/zai-org-glm-4.7" } } }, models: { mode: "merge", providers: { venice: { baseUrl: "https://api.venice.ai/api/v1", apiKey: "${VENICE_API_KEY}", api: "openai-completions", models: [ { id: "zai-org-glm-4.7", name: "GLM 4.7", reasoning: true, input: ["text"], cost: { input: 0.55, output: 2.65, cacheRead: 0.11, cacheWrite: 0 }, contextWindow: 198000, maxTokens: 16384, }, ], }, }, }, } ``` Choosing providers, model refs, and failover behavior. Venice AI homepage and account signup. Venice API reference and developer docs. Current Venice credit rates and plans.