openclaw/docs/gateway/config-tools.md

summary, read_when, title

summary	read_when	title
Tools config (policy, experimental toggles, provider-backed tools) and custom provider/base-URL setup	Configuring `tools.*` policy, allowlists, or experimental features Registering custom providers or overriding base URLs Setting up OpenAI-compatible self-hosted endpoints	Configuration — tools and custom providers

tools.* config keys and custom provider / base-URL setup. For agents, channels, and other top-level config keys, see Configuration reference.

Tools

Tool profiles

tools.profile sets a base allowlist before tools.allow/tools.deny:

Local onboarding defaults new local configs to tools.profile: "coding" when unset (existing explicit profiles are preserved).

Profile	Includes
minimal	session_status only
coding	group:fs, group:runtime, group:web, group:sessions, group:memory, cron, image, image_generate, video_generate
messaging	group:messaging, sessions_list, sessions_history, sessions_send, session_status
full	No restriction (same as unset)

Tool groups

Group	Tools
group:runtime	exec, process, code_execution (bash is accepted as an alias for exec)
group:fs	read, write, edit, apply_patch
group:sessions	sessions_list, sessions_history, sessions_send, sessions_spawn, sessions_yield, subagents, session_status
group:memory	memory_search, memory_get
group:web	web_search, x_search, web_fetch
group:ui	browser, canvas
group:automation	cron, gateway
group:messaging	message
group:nodes	nodes
group:agents	agents_list
group:media	image, image_generate, video_generate, tts
group:openclaw	All built-in tools (excludes provider plugins)

tools.allow / tools.deny

Global tool allow/deny policy (deny wins). Case-insensitive, supports * wildcards. Applied even when Docker sandbox is off.

{
  tools: { deny: ["browser", "canvas"] },
}

tools.byProvider

Further restrict tools for specific providers or models. Order: base profile → provider profile → allow/deny.

{
  tools: {
    profile: "coding",
    byProvider: {
      "google-antigravity": { profile: "minimal" },
      "openai/gpt-5.4": { allow: ["group:fs", "sessions_list"] },
    },
  },
}

tools.elevated

Controls elevated exec access outside the sandbox:

{
  tools: {
    elevated: {
      enabled: true,
      allowFrom: {
        whatsapp: ["+15555550123"],
        discord: ["1234567890123", "987654321098765432"],
      },
    },
  },
}

• Per-agent override (agents.list[].tools.elevated) can only further restrict.
• /elevated on|off|ask|full stores state per session; inline directives apply to single message.
• Elevated exec bypasses sandboxing and uses the configured escape path (gateway by default, or node when the exec target is node).

tools.exec

{
  tools: {
    exec: {
      backgroundMs: 10000,
      timeoutSec: 1800,
      cleanupMs: 1800000,
      notifyOnExit: true,
      notifyOnExitEmptySuccess: false,
      applyPatch: {
        enabled: false,
        allowModels: ["gpt-5.5"],
      },
    },
  },
}

tools.loopDetection

Tool-loop safety checks are disabled by default. Set enabled: true to activate detection. Settings can be defined globally in tools.loopDetection and overridden per-agent at agents.list[].tools.loopDetection.

{
  tools: {
    loopDetection: {
      enabled: true,
      historySize: 30,
      warningThreshold: 10,
      criticalThreshold: 20,
      globalCircuitBreakerThreshold: 30,
      detectors: {
        genericRepeat: true,
        knownPollNoProgress: true,
        pingPong: true,
      },
    },
  },
}

• historySize: max tool-call history retained for loop analysis.
• warningThreshold: repeating no-progress pattern threshold for warnings.
• criticalThreshold: higher repeating threshold for blocking critical loops.
• globalCircuitBreakerThreshold: hard stop threshold for any no-progress run.
• detectors.genericRepeat: warn on repeated same-tool/same-args calls.
• detectors.knownPollNoProgress: warn/block on known poll tools (process.poll, command_status, etc.).
• detectors.pingPong: warn/block on alternating no-progress pair patterns.
• If warningThreshold >= criticalThreshold or criticalThreshold >= globalCircuitBreakerThreshold, validation fails.

tools.web

{
  tools: {
    web: {
      search: {
        enabled: true,
        apiKey: "brave_api_key", // or BRAVE_API_KEY env
        maxResults: 5,
        timeoutSeconds: 30,
        cacheTtlMinutes: 15,
      },
      fetch: {
        enabled: true,
        provider: "firecrawl", // optional; omit for auto-detect
        maxChars: 50000,
        maxCharsCap: 50000,
        maxResponseBytes: 2000000,
        timeoutSeconds: 30,
        cacheTtlMinutes: 15,
        maxRedirects: 3,
        readability: true,
        userAgent: "custom-ua",
      },
    },
  },
}

tools.media

Configures inbound media understanding (image/audio/video):

{
  tools: {
    media: {
      concurrency: 2,
      asyncCompletion: {
        directSend: false, // opt-in: send finished async music/video directly to the channel
      },
      audio: {
        enabled: true,
        maxBytes: 20971520,
        scope: {
          default: "deny",
          rules: [{ action: "allow", match: { chatType: "direct" } }],
        },
        models: [
          { provider: "openai", model: "gpt-4o-mini-transcribe" },
          { type: "cli", command: "whisper", args: ["--model", "base", "{{MediaPath}}"] },
        ],
      },
      video: {
        enabled: true,
        maxBytes: 52428800,
        models: [{ provider: "google", model: "gemini-3-flash-preview" }],
      },
    },
  },
}

Provider entry (type: "provider" or omitted):

• provider: API provider id (openai, anthropic, google/gemini, groq, etc.)
• model: model id override
• profile / preferredProfile: auth-profiles.json profile selection

CLI entry (type: "cli"):

• command: executable to run
• args: templated args (supports {{MediaPath}}, {{Prompt}}, {{MaxChars}}, etc.)

Common fields:

• capabilities: optional list (image, audio, video). Defaults: openai/anthropic/minimax → image, google → image+audio+video, groq → audio.
• prompt, maxChars, maxBytes, timeoutSeconds, language: per-entry overrides.
• Failures fall back to the next entry.

Provider auth follows standard order: auth-profiles.json → env vars → models.providers.*.apiKey.

Async completion fields:

• asyncCompletion.directSend: when true, completed async music_generate and video_generate tasks try direct channel delivery first. Default: false (legacy requester-session wake/model-delivery path).

tools.agentToAgent

{
  tools: {
    agentToAgent: {
      enabled: false,
      allow: ["home", "work"],
    },
  },
}

tools.sessions

Controls which sessions can be targeted by the session tools (sessions_list, sessions_history, sessions_send).

Default: tree (current session + sessions spawned by it, such as subagents).

{
  tools: {
    sessions: {
      // "self" | "tree" | "agent" | "all"
      visibility: "tree",
    },
  },
}

Notes:

• self: only the current session key.
• tree: current session + sessions spawned by the current session (subagents).
• agent: any session belonging to the current agent id (can include other users if you run per-sender sessions under the same agent id).
• all: any session. Cross-agent targeting still requires tools.agentToAgent.
• Sandbox clamp: when the current session is sandboxed and agents.defaults.sandbox.sessionToolsVisibility="spawned", visibility is forced to tree even if tools.sessions.visibility="all".

tools.sessions_spawn

Controls inline attachment support for sessions_spawn.

{
  tools: {
    sessions_spawn: {
      attachments: {
        enabled: false, // opt-in: set true to allow inline file attachments
        maxTotalBytes: 5242880, // 5 MB total across all files
        maxFiles: 50,
        maxFileBytes: 1048576, // 1 MB per file
        retainOnSessionKeep: false, // keep attachments when cleanup="keep"
      },
    },
  },
}

Notes:

• Attachments are only supported for runtime: "subagent". ACP runtime rejects them.
• Files are materialized into the child workspace at .openclaw/attachments/<uuid>/ with a .manifest.json.
• Attachment content is automatically redacted from transcript persistence.
• Base64 inputs are validated with strict alphabet/padding checks and a pre-decode size guard.
• File permissions are 0700 for directories and 0600 for files.
• Cleanup follows the cleanup policy: delete always removes attachments; keep retains them only when retainOnSessionKeep: true.

tools.experimental

Experimental built-in tool flags. Default off unless a strict-agentic GPT-5 auto-enable rule applies.

{
  tools: {
    experimental: {
      planTool: true, // enable experimental update_plan
    },
  },
}

Notes:

• planTool: enables the structured update_plan tool for non-trivial multi-step work tracking.
• Default: false unless agents.defaults.embeddedPi.executionContract (or a per-agent override) is set to "strict-agentic" for an OpenAI or OpenAI Codex GPT-5-family run. Set true to force the tool on outside that scope, or false to keep it off even for strict-agentic GPT-5 runs.
• When enabled, the system prompt also adds usage guidance so the model only uses it for substantial work and keeps at most one step in_progress.

agents.defaults.subagents

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      subagents: {
        allowAgents: ["research"],
        model: "minimax/MiniMax-M2.7",
        maxConcurrent: 8,
        runTimeoutSeconds: 900,
        archiveAfterMinutes: 60,
      },
    },
  },
}

• model: default model for spawned sub-agents. If omitted, sub-agents inherit the caller's model.
• allowAgents: default allowlist of target agent ids for sessions_spawn when the requester agent does not set its own subagents.allowAgents (["*"] = any; default: same agent only).
• runTimeoutSeconds: default timeout (seconds) for sessions_spawn when the tool call omits runTimeoutSeconds. 0 means no timeout.
• Per-subagent tool policy: tools.subagents.tools.allow / tools.subagents.tools.deny.

---

Custom providers and base URLs

OpenClaw uses the built-in model catalog. Add custom providers via models.providers in config or ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/agent/models.json.

{
  models: {
    mode: "merge", // merge (default) | replace
    providers: {
      "custom-proxy": {
        baseUrl: "http://localhost:4000/v1",
        apiKey: "LITELLM_KEY",
        api: "openai-completions", // openai-completions | openai-responses | anthropic-messages | google-generative-ai
        models: [
          {
            id: "llama-3.1-8b",
            name: "Llama 3.1 8B",
            reasoning: false,
            input: ["text"],
            cost: { input: 0, output: 0, cacheRead: 0, cacheWrite: 0 },
            contextWindow: 128000,
            contextTokens: 96000,
            maxTokens: 32000,
          },
        ],
      },
    },
  },
}

• Use authHeader: true + headers for custom auth needs.
• Override agent config root with OPENCLAW_AGENT_DIR (or PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR, a legacy environment variable alias).
• Merge precedence for matching provider IDs:
  • Non-empty agent models.json baseUrl values win.
  • Non-empty agent apiKey values win only when that provider is not SecretRef-managed in current config/auth-profile context.
  • SecretRef-managed provider apiKey values are refreshed from source markers (ENV_VAR_NAME for env refs, secretref-managed for file/exec refs) instead of persisting resolved secrets.
  • SecretRef-managed provider header values are refreshed from source markers (secretref-env:ENV_VAR_NAME for env refs, secretref-managed for file/exec refs).
  • Empty or missing agent apiKey/baseUrl fall back to models.providers in config.
  • Matching model contextWindow/maxTokens use the higher value between explicit config and implicit catalog values.
  • Matching model contextTokens preserves an explicit runtime cap when present; use it to limit effective context without changing native model metadata.
  • Use models.mode: "replace" when you want config to fully rewrite models.json.
  • Marker persistence is source-authoritative: markers are written from the active source config snapshot (pre-resolution), not from resolved runtime secret values.

Provider field details

• models.mode: provider catalog behavior (merge or replace).
• models.providers: custom provider map keyed by provider id.
  • Safe edits: use openclaw config set models.providers.<id> '<json>' --strict-json --merge or openclaw config set models.providers.<id>.models '<json-array>' --strict-json --merge for additive updates. config set refuses destructive replacements unless you pass --replace.
• models.providers.*.api: request adapter (openai-completions, openai-responses, anthropic-messages, google-generative-ai, etc).
• models.providers.*.apiKey: provider credential (prefer SecretRef/env substitution).
• models.providers.*.auth: auth strategy (api-key, token, oauth, aws-sdk).
• models.providers.*.injectNumCtxForOpenAICompat: for Ollama + openai-completions, inject options.num_ctx into requests (default: true).
• models.providers.*.authHeader: force credential transport in the Authorization header when required.
• models.providers.*.baseUrl: upstream API base URL.
• models.providers.*.headers: extra static headers for proxy/tenant routing.
• models.providers.*.request: transport overrides for model-provider HTTP requests.
  • request.headers: extra headers (merged with provider defaults). Values accept SecretRef.
  • request.auth: auth strategy override. Modes: "provider-default" (use provider's built-in auth), "authorization-bearer" (with token), "header" (with headerName, value, optional prefix).
  • request.proxy: HTTP proxy override. Modes: "env-proxy" (use HTTP_PROXY/HTTPS_PROXY env vars), "explicit-proxy" (with url). Both modes accept an optional tls sub-object.
  • request.tls: TLS override for direct connections. Fields: ca, cert, key, passphrase (all accept SecretRef), serverName, insecureSkipVerify.
  • request.allowPrivateNetwork: when true, allow HTTPS to baseUrl when DNS resolves to private, CGNAT, or similar ranges, via the provider HTTP fetch guard (operator opt-in for trusted self-hosted OpenAI-compatible endpoints). WebSocket uses the same request for headers/TLS but not that fetch SSRF gate. Default false.
• models.providers.*.models: explicit provider model catalog entries.
• models.providers.*.models.*.contextWindow: native model context window metadata.
• models.providers.*.models.*.contextTokens: optional runtime context cap. Use this when you want a smaller effective context budget than the model's native contextWindow.
• models.providers.*.models.*.compat.supportsDeveloperRole: optional compatibility hint. For api: "openai-completions" with a non-empty non-native baseUrl (host not api.openai.com), OpenClaw forces this to false at runtime. Empty/omitted baseUrl keeps default OpenAI behavior.
• models.providers.*.models.*.compat.requiresStringContent: optional compatibility hint for string-only OpenAI-compatible chat endpoints. When true, OpenClaw flattens pure text messages[].content arrays into plain strings before sending the request.
• plugins.entries.amazon-bedrock.config.discovery: Bedrock auto-discovery settings root.
• plugins.entries.amazon-bedrock.config.discovery.enabled: turn implicit discovery on/off.
• plugins.entries.amazon-bedrock.config.discovery.region: AWS region for discovery.
• plugins.entries.amazon-bedrock.config.discovery.providerFilter: optional provider-id filter for targeted discovery.
• plugins.entries.amazon-bedrock.config.discovery.refreshInterval: polling interval for discovery refresh.
• plugins.entries.amazon-bedrock.config.discovery.defaultContextWindow: fallback context window for discovered models.
• plugins.entries.amazon-bedrock.config.discovery.defaultMaxTokens: fallback max output tokens for discovered models.

Provider examples

{
  env: { CEREBRAS_API_KEY: "sk-..." },
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: {
        primary: "cerebras/zai-glm-4.7",
        fallbacks: ["cerebras/zai-glm-4.6"],
      },
      models: {
        "cerebras/zai-glm-4.7": { alias: "GLM 4.7 (Cerebras)" },
        "cerebras/zai-glm-4.6": { alias: "GLM 4.6 (Cerebras)" },
      },
    },
  },
  models: {
    mode: "merge",
    providers: {
      cerebras: {
        baseUrl: "https://api.cerebras.ai/v1",
        apiKey: "${CEREBRAS_API_KEY}",
        api: "openai-completions",
        models: [
          { id: "zai-glm-4.7", name: "GLM 4.7 (Cerebras)" },
          { id: "zai-glm-4.6", name: "GLM 4.6 (Cerebras)" },
        ],
      },
    },
  },
}

Use cerebras/zai-glm-4.7 for Cerebras; zai/glm-4.7 for Z.AI direct.

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "opencode/claude-opus-4-6" },
      models: { "opencode/claude-opus-4-6": { alias: "Opus" } },
    },
  },
}

Set OPENCODE_API_KEY (or OPENCODE_ZEN_API_KEY). Use opencode/... refs for the Zen catalog or opencode-go/... refs for the Go catalog. Shortcut: openclaw onboard --auth-choice opencode-zen or openclaw onboard --auth-choice opencode-go.

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "zai/glm-4.7" },
      models: { "zai/glm-4.7": {} },
    },
  },
}

Set ZAI_API_KEY. z.ai/* and z-ai/* are accepted aliases. Shortcut: openclaw onboard --auth-choice zai-api-key.

• General endpoint: https://api.z.ai/api/paas/v4
• Coding endpoint (default): https://api.z.ai/api/coding/paas/v4
• For the general endpoint, define a custom provider with the base URL override.

{
  env: { MOONSHOT_API_KEY: "sk-..." },
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "moonshot/kimi-k2.6" },
      models: { "moonshot/kimi-k2.6": { alias: "Kimi K2.6" } },
    },
  },
  models: {
    mode: "merge",
    providers: {
      moonshot: {
        baseUrl: "https://api.moonshot.ai/v1",
        apiKey: "${MOONSHOT_API_KEY}",
        api: "openai-completions",
        models: [
          {
            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,
          },
        ],
      },
    },
  },
}

For the China endpoint: baseUrl: "https://api.moonshot.cn/v1" or openclaw onboard --auth-choice moonshot-api-key-cn.

Native Moonshot endpoints advertise streaming usage compatibility on the shared openai-completions transport, and OpenClaw keys that off endpoint capabilities rather than the built-in provider id alone.

{
  env: { KIMI_API_KEY: "sk-..." },
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "kimi/kimi-code" },
      models: { "kimi/kimi-code": { alias: "Kimi Code" } },
    },
  },
}

Anthropic-compatible, built-in provider. Shortcut: openclaw onboard --auth-choice kimi-code-api-key.

{
  env: { SYNTHETIC_API_KEY: "sk-..." },
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "synthetic/hf:MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-M2.5" },
      models: { "synthetic/hf:MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-M2.5": { alias: "MiniMax M2.5" } },
    },
  },
  models: {
    mode: "merge",
    providers: {
      synthetic: {
        baseUrl: "https://api.synthetic.new/anthropic",
        apiKey: "${SYNTHETIC_API_KEY}",
        api: "anthropic-messages",
        models: [
          {
            id: "hf:MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-M2.5",
            name: "MiniMax M2.5",
            reasoning: true,
            input: ["text"],
            cost: { input: 0, output: 0, cacheRead: 0, cacheWrite: 0 },
            contextWindow: 192000,
            maxTokens: 65536,
          },
        ],
      },
    },
  },
}

Base URL should omit /v1 (Anthropic client appends it). Shortcut: openclaw onboard --auth-choice synthetic-api-key.

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "minimax/MiniMax-M2.7" },
      models: {
        "minimax/MiniMax-M2.7": { alias: "Minimax" },
      },
    },
  },
  models: {
    mode: "merge",
    providers: {
      minimax: {
        baseUrl: "https://api.minimax.io/anthropic",
        apiKey: "${MINIMAX_API_KEY}",
        api: "anthropic-messages",
        models: [
          {
            id: "MiniMax-M2.7",
            name: "MiniMax M2.7",
            reasoning: true,
            input: ["text", "image"],
            cost: { input: 0.3, output: 1.2, cacheRead: 0.06, cacheWrite: 0.375 },
            contextWindow: 204800,
            maxTokens: 131072,
          },
        ],
      },
    },
  },
}

Set MINIMAX_API_KEY. Shortcuts: openclaw onboard --auth-choice minimax-global-api or openclaw onboard --auth-choice minimax-cn-api. The model catalog defaults to M2.7 only. On the Anthropic-compatible streaming path, OpenClaw disables MiniMax thinking by default unless you explicitly set thinking yourself. /fast on or params.fastMode: true rewrites MiniMax-M2.7 to MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed.

See Local Models. TL;DR: run a large local model via LM Studio Responses API on serious hardware; keep hosted models merged for fallback.

---

Related

• Configuration reference — other top-level keys
• Configuration — agents
• Configuration — channels
• Tools and plugins