openclaw/docs/providers/cloudflare-ai-gateway.md

summary, title, read_when

summary	title	read_when
Cloudflare AI Gateway setup (auth + model selection)	Cloudflare AI gateway	You want to use Cloudflare AI Gateway with OpenClaw You need the account ID, gateway ID, or API key env var

Cloudflare AI Gateway sits in front of provider APIs and adds analytics, caching, and controls. For Anthropic, OpenClaw uses the Anthropic Messages API through your Gateway endpoint.

Property	Value
Provider	cloudflare-ai-gateway
Plugin	official external package (@openclaw/cloudflare-ai-gateway-provider)
Base URL	https://gateway.ai.cloudflare.com/v1/<account_id>/<gateway_id>/anthropic
Default model	cloudflare-ai-gateway/claude-sonnet-4-6
API key	CLOUDFLARE_AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY (your provider API key for requests through the Gateway)

For Anthropic models routed through Cloudflare AI Gateway, use your **Anthropic API key** as the provider key.

When thinking is enabled for Anthropic Messages models, OpenClaw strips trailing assistant prefill turns before sending the payload through Cloudflare AI Gateway. Anthropic rejects response prefilling with extended thinking, while ordinary non-thinking prefill remains available.

Install plugin

Install the official plugin, then restart Gateway:

openclaw plugins install @openclaw/cloudflare-ai-gateway-provider
openclaw gateway restart

Getting started

Run onboarding and choose the Cloudflare AI Gateway auth option:

```bash
openclaw onboard --auth-choice cloudflare-ai-gateway-api-key
```

This prompts for your account ID, gateway ID, and API key.

Add the model to your OpenClaw config:

```json5
{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "cloudflare-ai-gateway/claude-sonnet-4-6" },
    },
  },
}
```

```bash openclaw models list --provider cloudflare-ai-gateway ```

Non-interactive example

For scripted or CI setups, pass all values on the command line:

openclaw onboard --non-interactive \
  --mode local \
  --auth-choice cloudflare-ai-gateway-api-key \
  --cloudflare-ai-gateway-account-id "your-account-id" \
  --cloudflare-ai-gateway-gateway-id "your-gateway-id" \
  --cloudflare-ai-gateway-api-key "$CLOUDFLARE_AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY"

Advanced configuration

If you enabled Gateway authentication in Cloudflare, add the `cf-aig-authorization` header. This is **in addition to** your provider API key.

```json5
{
  models: {
    providers: {
      "cloudflare-ai-gateway": {
        headers: {
          "cf-aig-authorization": "Bearer <cloudflare-ai-gateway-token>",
        },
      },
    },
  },
}
```

<Tip>
The `cf-aig-authorization` header authenticates with the Cloudflare Gateway itself, while the provider API key (for example, your Anthropic key) authenticates with the upstream provider.
</Tip>

If the Gateway runs as a daemon (launchd/systemd), make sure `CLOUDFLARE_AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY` is available to that process.

<Warning>
A key exported only in an interactive shell will not help a launchd/systemd daemon unless that environment is imported there as well. Set the key in `~/.openclaw/.env` or via `env.shellEnv` to ensure the gateway process can read it.
</Warning>

Related

Choosing providers, model refs, and failover behavior. General troubleshooting and FAQ.