Building plugins
Building provider plugins
Build a provider plugin to add a model provider (LLM) to OpenClaw: a model catalog, API-key auth, and dynamic model resolution.
Walkthrough
Package and manifest
Step 1: Package and manifest
{"name": "@myorg/openclaw-acme-ai","version": "1.0.0","type": "module","openclaw": { "extensions": ["./index.ts"], "providers": ["acme-ai"], "compat": { "pluginApi": ">=2026.3.24-beta.2", "minGatewayVersion": "2026.3.24-beta.2" }, "build": { "openclawVersion": "2026.3.24-beta.2", "pluginSdkVersion": "2026.3.24-beta.2" }}}{"id": "acme-ai","name": "Acme AI","description": "Acme AI model provider","providers": ["acme-ai"],"modelSupport": { "modelPrefixes": ["acme-"]},"setup": { "providers": [ { "id": "acme-ai", "envVars": ["ACME_AI_API_KEY"] } ]},"providerAuthAliases": { "acme-ai-coding": "acme-ai"},"providerAuthChoices": [ { "provider": "acme-ai", "method": "api-key", "choiceId": "acme-ai-api-key", "choiceLabel": "Acme AI API key", "groupId": "acme-ai", "groupLabel": "Acme AI", "cliFlag": "--acme-ai-api-key", "cliOption": "--acme-ai-api-key <key>", "cliDescription": "Acme AI API key" }],"configSchema": { "type": "object", "additionalProperties": false}}setup.providers[].envVars lets OpenClaw detect credentials without
loading your plugin runtime. Add providerAuthAliases when a provider
variant should reuse another provider id's auth. modelSupport is
optional and lets OpenClaw auto-load your provider plugin from shorthand
model ids like acme-large before runtime hooks exist. openclaw.compat
and openclaw.build in package.json are required for ClawHub
publishing (openclaw.compat.pluginApi and openclaw.build.openclawVersion
are the two required fields; minGatewayVersion falls back to
openclaw.install.minHostVersion when omitted).
Register the provider
A minimal text provider needs an id, label, auth, and catalog.
catalog is the provider-owned runtime/config hook; it can call live
vendor APIs and returns models.providers entries.
import { definePluginEntry } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/plugin-entry";import { createProviderApiKeyAuthMethod } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/provider-auth"; export default definePluginEntry({ id: "acme-ai", name: "Acme AI", description: "Acme AI model provider", register(api) { api.registerProvider({ id: "acme-ai", label: "Acme AI", docsPath: "/providers/acme-ai", envVars: ["ACME_AI_API_KEY"], auth: [ createProviderApiKeyAuthMethod({ providerId: "acme-ai", methodId: "api-key", label: "Acme AI API key", hint: "API key from your Acme AI dashboard", optionKey: "acmeAiApiKey", flagName: "--acme-ai-api-key", envVar: "ACME_AI_API_KEY", promptMessage: "Enter your Acme AI API key", defaultModel: "acme-ai/acme-large", }), ], catalog: { order: "simple", run: async (ctx) => { const apiKey = ctx.resolveProviderApiKey("acme-ai").apiKey; if (!apiKey) return null; return { provider: { baseUrl: "https://api.acme-ai.com/v1", apiKey, api: "openai-completions", models: [ { id: "acme-large", name: "Acme Large", reasoning: true, input: ["text", "image"], cost: { input: 3, output: 15, cacheRead: 0.3, cacheWrite: 3.75 }, contextWindow: 200000, maxTokens: 32768, }, { id: "acme-small", name: "Acme Small", reasoning: false, input: ["text"], cost: { input: 1, output: 5, cacheRead: 0.1, cacheWrite: 1.25 }, contextWindow: 128000, maxTokens: 8192, }, ], }, }; }, }, }); api.registerModelCatalogProvider({ provider: "acme-ai", kinds: ["text"], liveCatalog: async (ctx) => { const apiKey = ctx.resolveProviderApiKey("acme-ai").apiKey; if (!apiKey) return null; return [ { kind: "text", provider: "acme-ai", model: "acme-large", label: "Acme Large", source: "live", }, ]; }, }); },});registerModelCatalogProvider is the newer control-plane catalog surface
for list/help/picker UI, covering text, voice, image_generation,
video_generation, and music_generation rows. Keep vendor endpoint
calls and response mapping in the plugin; OpenClaw owns the shared row
shape, source labels, and help rendering.
That is a working provider. Users can now run
openclaw onboard --acme-ai-api-key <key> and select
acme-ai/acme-large as their model.
Live model discovery
If your provider exposes a /models-style API, keep the provider-specific
endpoint and row projection in your plugin and use
openclaw/plugin-sdk/provider-catalog-live-runtime for the shared fetch
lifecycle. The helper gives you guarded HTTP fetches, provider-auth headers,
structured HTTP errors, TTL caching, and static fallback behavior without
putting provider policy in OpenClaw core.
Use buildLiveModelProviderConfig when the live API only tells you which
provider-owned static catalog rows are currently available:
import { definePluginEntry } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/plugin-entry";import { buildLiveModelProviderConfig, type LiveModelCatalogFetchGuard,} from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/provider-catalog-live-runtime"; const STATIC_MODELS = [ { id: "acme-large", name: "Acme Large", reasoning: true, input: ["text", "image"], cost: { input: 3, output: 15, cacheRead: 0.3, cacheWrite: 3.75 }, contextWindow: 200000, maxTokens: 32768, }, { id: "acme-small", name: "Acme Small", reasoning: false, input: ["text"], cost: { input: 1, output: 5, cacheRead: 0.1, cacheWrite: 1.25 }, contextWindow: 128000, maxTokens: 8192, },] as const; async function buildAcmeLiveProvider(params: { apiKey: string; discoveryApiKey?: string; fetchGuard?: LiveModelCatalogFetchGuard;}) { return await buildLiveModelProviderConfig({ providerId: "acme-ai", endpoint: "https://api.acme-ai.com/v1/models", providerConfig: { baseUrl: "https://api.acme-ai.com/v1", api: "openai-completions", }, models: STATIC_MODELS, apiKey: params.apiKey, discoveryApiKey: params.discoveryApiKey, fetchGuard: params.fetchGuard, ttlMs: 60_000, auditContext: "acme-ai-model-discovery", });} export default definePluginEntry({ id: "acme-ai", name: "Acme AI", register(api) { api.registerProvider({ id: "acme-ai", label: "Acme AI", catalog: { order: "simple", run: async (ctx) => { const auth = ctx.resolveProviderAuth("acme-ai"); const apiKey = auth.apiKey ?? ctx.resolveProviderApiKey("acme-ai").apiKey; if (!apiKey) return null; return { provider: await buildAcmeLiveProvider({ apiKey, discoveryApiKey: auth.discoveryApiKey, }), }; }, }, staticCatalog: { order: "simple", run: async () => ({ provider: { baseUrl: "https://api.acme-ai.com/v1", api: "openai-completions", models: [...STATIC_MODELS], }, }), }, }); },});Use getCachedLiveProviderModelRows when the provider API returns richer
metadata and the plugin needs to project rows into OpenClaw model
definitions itself:
import { getCachedLiveProviderModelRows, LiveModelCatalogHttpError,} from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/provider-catalog-live-runtime"; async function discoverAcmeModels(apiKey: string) { try { const rows = await getCachedLiveProviderModelRows({ providerId: "acme-ai", endpoint: "https://api.acme-ai.com/v1/models", apiKey, ttlMs: 60_000, auditContext: "acme-ai-model-discovery", }); return rows .map((row) => projectAcmeModel(row)) .filter((model) => model !== null); } catch (error) { if (error instanceof LiveModelCatalogHttpError) { return STATIC_MODELS; } throw error; }}run should stay auth-gated and return null when no usable credential is
available. Keep an offline staticRun or static fallback so setup, docs,
tests, and picker surfaces do not depend on live network access. Use a TTL
appropriate for model-list freshness, avoid request-time filesystem polling,
and pass a provider-specific readRows / readModelId only when the
upstream response is not an OpenAI-compatible { data: [{ id, object }] }
shape.
If the upstream provider uses different control tokens than OpenClaw, add a small bidirectional text transform instead of replacing the stream path:
api.registerTextTransforms({ input: [ { from: /red basket/g, to: "blue basket" }, { from: /paper ticket/g, to: "digital ticket" }, { from: /left shelf/g, to: "right shelf" }, ], output: [ { from: /blue basket/g, to: "red basket" }, { from: /digital ticket/g, to: "paper ticket" }, { from: /right shelf/g, to: "left shelf" }, ],});input rewrites the final system prompt and text message content before
transport. output rewrites assistant text deltas and final text before
OpenClaw parses its own control markers or channel delivery.
For bundled providers that only register one text provider with API-key
auth plus a single catalog-backed runtime, prefer the narrower
defineSingleProviderPluginEntry(...) helper:
import { defineSingleProviderPluginEntry } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/provider-entry"; export default defineSingleProviderPluginEntry({ id: "acme-ai", name: "Acme AI", description: "Acme AI model provider", provider: { label: "Acme AI", docsPath: "/providers/acme-ai", auth: [ { methodId: "api-key", label: "Acme AI API key", hint: "API key from your Acme AI dashboard", optionKey: "acmeAiApiKey", flagName: "--acme-ai-api-key", envVar: "ACME_AI_API_KEY", promptMessage: "Enter your Acme AI API key", defaultModel: "acme-ai/acme-large", }, ], catalog: { buildProvider: () => ({ api: "openai-completions", baseUrl: "https://api.acme-ai.com/v1", models: [{ id: "acme-large", name: "Acme Large" }], }), buildStaticProvider: () => ({ api: "openai-completions", baseUrl: "https://api.acme-ai.com/v1", models: [{ id: "acme-large", name: "Acme Large" }], }), }, },});buildProvider is the live catalog path used when OpenClaw can resolve real
provider auth. It may perform provider-specific discovery. Use
buildStaticProvider only for offline rows that are safe to show before auth
is configured; it must not require credentials or make network requests.
OpenClaw's models list --all display currently executes static catalogs
only for bundled provider plugins, with an empty config, empty env, and no
agent/workspace paths.
If your auth flow also needs to patch models.providers.*, aliases, and
the agent default model during onboarding, use the preset helpers from
openclaw/plugin-sdk/provider-onboard. The narrowest helpers are
createDefaultModelPresetAppliers(...),
createDefaultModelsPresetAppliers(...), and
createModelCatalogPresetAppliers(...).
When a provider's native endpoint supports streamed usage blocks on the
normal openai-completions transport, prefer the shared catalog helpers in
openclaw/plugin-sdk/provider-catalog-shared instead of hardcoding
provider-id checks. supportsNativeStreamingUsageCompat(...) and
applyProviderNativeStreamingUsageCompat(...) detect support from the
endpoint capability map, so native Moonshot/DashScope-style endpoints still
opt in even when a plugin is using a custom provider id.
The live discovery examples above cover /models-style provider APIs. Keep
that discovery inside catalog.run, gated on usable auth, and keep
staticRun network-free for offline catalog generation.
Add dynamic model resolution
If your provider accepts arbitrary model IDs (like a proxy or router),
add resolveDynamicModel:
api.registerProvider({ // ... id, label, auth, catalog from above resolveDynamicModel: (ctx) => ({ id: ctx.modelId, name: ctx.modelId, provider: "acme-ai", api: "openai-completions", baseUrl: "https://api.acme-ai.com/v1", reasoning: false, input: ["text"], cost: { input: 0, output: 0, cacheRead: 0, cacheWrite: 0 }, contextWindow: 128000, maxTokens: 8192, }),});If resolving requires a network call, use prepareDynamicModel for async
warm-up - resolveDynamicModel runs again after it completes.
Add runtime hooks (as needed)
Most providers only need catalog + resolveDynamicModel. Add hooks
incrementally as your provider requires them.
Shared helper builders now cover the most common replay/tool-compat families, so plugins usually do not need to hand-wire each hook one by one:
import { buildProviderReplayFamilyHooks } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/provider-model-shared";import { buildProviderStreamFamilyHooks } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/provider-stream";import { buildProviderToolCompatFamilyHooks } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/provider-tools"; const GOOGLE_FAMILY_HOOKS = { ...buildProviderReplayFamilyHooks({ family: "google-gemini" }), ...buildProviderStreamFamilyHooks("google-thinking"), ...buildProviderToolCompatFamilyHooks("gemini"),}; api.registerProvider({ id: "acme-gemini-compatible", // ... ...GOOGLE_FAMILY_HOOKS,});Available replay families today:
| Family | What it wires in | Bundled examples |
|---|---|---|
openai-compatible |
Shared OpenAI-style replay policy for OpenAI-compatible transports, including tool-call-id sanitation, assistant-first ordering fixes, and generic Gemini-turn validation where the transport needs it | moonshot, ollama, xai, zai |
anthropic-by-model |
Claude-aware replay policy chosen by modelId, so Anthropic-message transports only get Claude-specific thinking-block cleanup when the resolved model is actually a Claude id |
amazon-bedrock |
native-anthropic-by-model |
Same Claude-by-model policy as anthropic-by-model, plus tool-call-id sanitation and native Anthropic tool-use id preservation for transports that must keep vendor-native ids |
anthropic-vertex, clawrouter |
google-gemini |
Native Gemini replay policy plus bootstrap replay sanitation. The shared family keeps the text-output Gemini CLI on tagged reasoning; the direct google provider overrides resolveReasoningOutputMode to native because Gemini API thinking arrives as native thought parts. |
google, google-gemini-cli |
passthrough-gemini |
Gemini thought-signature sanitation for Gemini models running through OpenAI-compatible proxy transports; does not enable native Gemini replay validation or bootstrap rewrites | openrouter, kilocode, opencode, opencode-go |
hybrid-anthropic-openai |
Hybrid policy for providers that mix Anthropic-message and OpenAI-compatible model surfaces in one plugin; optional Claude-only thinking-block dropping stays scoped to the Anthropic side | minimax |
Available stream families today:
| Family | What it wires in | Bundled examples |
|---|---|---|
google-thinking |
Gemini thinking payload normalization on the shared stream path | google, google-gemini-cli |
kilocode-thinking |
Kilo reasoning wrapper on the shared proxy stream path, with kilo/auto and unsupported proxy reasoning ids skipping injected thinking |
kilocode |
moonshot-thinking |
Moonshot binary native-thinking payload mapping from config + /think level |
moonshot |
minimax-fast-mode |
MiniMax fast-mode model rewrite on the shared stream path | minimax, minimax-portal |
openai-responses-defaults |
Shared native OpenAI/Codex Responses wrappers: attribution headers, /fast/serviceTier, text verbosity, native Codex web search, reasoning-compat payload shaping, and Responses context management |
openai |
openrouter-thinking |
OpenRouter reasoning wrapper for proxy routes, with unsupported-model/auto skips handled centrally |
openrouter |
tool-stream-default-on |
Default-on tool_stream wrapper for providers like Z.AI that want tool streaming unless explicitly disabled |
zai |
SDK seams powering the family builders
Each family builder is composed from lower-level public helpers exported from the same package, which you can reach for when a provider needs to go off the common pattern:
openclaw/plugin-sdk/provider-model-shared-ProviderReplayFamily,buildProviderReplayFamilyHooks(...), and the raw replay builders (buildOpenAICompatibleReplayPolicy,buildAnthropicReplayPolicyForModel,buildGoogleGeminiReplayPolicy,buildHybridAnthropicOrOpenAIReplayPolicy). Also exports Gemini replay helpers (sanitizeGoogleGeminiReplayHistory,resolveTaggedReasoningOutputMode) and endpoint/model helpers (resolveProviderEndpoint,normalizeProviderId,normalizeGooglePreviewModelId).openclaw/plugin-sdk/provider-stream-ProviderStreamFamily,buildProviderStreamFamilyHooks(...),composeProviderStreamWrappers(...), plus the shared OpenAI/Codex wrappers (createOpenAIAttributionHeadersWrapper,createOpenAIFastModeWrapper,createOpenAIServiceTierWrapper,createOpenAIResponsesContextManagementWrapper,createCodexNativeWebSearchWrapper), DeepSeek V4 OpenAI-compatible wrapper (createDeepSeekV4OpenAICompatibleThinkingWrapper), Anthropic Messages thinking prefill cleanup (createAnthropicThinkingPrefillPayloadWrapper), plain-text tool-call compat (createPlainTextToolCallCompatWrapper), and shared proxy/provider wrappers (createOpenRouterWrapper,createToolStreamWrapper,createMinimaxFastModeWrapper).openclaw/plugin-sdk/provider-stream-shared- lightweight payload and event wrappers for hot provider paths, includingcreateOpenAICompatibleCompletionsThinkingOffWrapper,createPayloadPatchStreamWrapper,createPlainTextToolCallCompatWrapper,normalizeOpenAICompatibleReasoningPayload(...), andsetQwenChatTemplateThinking(...).openclaw/plugin-sdk/provider-tools-ProviderToolCompatFamily,buildProviderToolCompatFamilyHooks("deepseek" | "gemini" | "openai"), and underlying provider schema helpers.
For Gemini-family providers, keep the reasoning-output mode aligned with
the transport. Direct Google Gemini API providers should use native
reasoning output so OpenClaw consumes native thought parts without adding
<think> / <final> prompt directives. Text-only Gemini CLI-style
backends that parse a final JSON/text response can keep the shared
google-gemini tagged contract.
Some stream helpers stay provider-local on purpose. @openclaw/anthropic-provider keeps wrapAnthropicProviderStream, resolveAnthropicBetas, resolveAnthropicFastMode, resolveAnthropicServiceTier, and the lower-level Anthropic wrapper builders in its own public api.ts / contract-api.ts seam because they encode Claude OAuth beta handling and context1m gating. The xAI plugin similarly keeps native xAI Responses shaping in its own wrapStreamFn (/fast aliases, default tool_stream, unsupported strict-tool cleanup, xAI-specific reasoning-payload removal).
The same package-root pattern also backs @openclaw/openai-provider (provider builders, default-model helpers, realtime provider builders) and @openclaw/openrouter-provider (provider builder plus onboarding/config helpers).
Token exchange
For providers that need a token exchange before each inference call:
prepareRuntimeAuth: async (ctx) => { const exchanged = await exchangeToken(ctx.apiKey); return { apiKey: exchanged.token, baseUrl: exchanged.baseUrl, expiresAt: exchanged.expiresAt, };},Custom headers
For providers that need custom request headers or body modifications:
// wrapStreamFn returns a StreamFn derived from ctx.streamFnwrapStreamFn: (ctx) => { if (!ctx.streamFn) return undefined; const inner = ctx.streamFn; return async (params) => { params.headers = { ...params.headers, "X-Acme-Version": "2", }; return inner(params); };},Native transport identity
For providers that need native request/session headers or metadata on generic HTTP or WebSocket transports:
resolveTransportTurnState: (ctx) => ({ headers: { "x-request-id": ctx.turnId, }, metadata: { session_id: ctx.sessionId ?? "", turn_id: ctx.turnId, },}),resolveWebSocketSessionPolicy: (ctx) => ({ headers: { "x-session-id": ctx.sessionId ?? "", }, degradeCooldownMs: 60_000,}),Usage and billing
For providers that expose usage/billing data:
resolveUsageAuth: async (ctx) => { const auth = await ctx.resolveOAuthToken(); return auth ? { token: auth.token } : null;},fetchUsageSnapshot: async (ctx) => { return await fetchAcmeUsage(ctx.token, ctx.timeoutMs);},resolveUsageAuth has three outcomes. Return
{ token, accountId?, subscriptionType?, rateLimitTier? } when the
provider has a usage/billing credential (the optional fields carry
non-secret plan metadata from the resolved profile into
fetchUsageSnapshot). Return
{ handled: true } only when the provider has definitively handled usage
auth but has no usable usage token, and OpenClaw must skip generic
API-key/OAuth fallback. Return null or undefined when the provider did
not handle the request and OpenClaw should continue with generic fallback.
Declare the provider id in contracts.usageProviders. When that manifest
contract and both hooks are present, OpenClaw automatically includes
the provider in usage collection without loading unrelated provider
plugins. No core allowlist update is required.
fetchUsageSnapshot returns the shared provider-neutral shape:
plan: provider-reported subscription or key labelwindows: resettable quota windows as used percentagesbilling: typedbalance,spend, orbudgetentries;unitcan be an ISO currency or a provider unit such ascreditssummary: compact provider-specific context that does not fit those structured fields
Keep currency semantics exact. A provider credit is not USD unless the
upstream contract says so. A plugin that implements only
fetchUsageSnapshot remains available for explicit/synthetic callers but
is not auto-discovered, because OpenClaw cannot resolve its usage credential.
Common provider hooks
OpenClaw calls hooks in roughly this order for model/provider plugins.
Most providers only use 2-3. This is not the full ProviderPlugin
contract - see Internals: Provider Runtime
Hooks for the
complete, currently-accurate hook list and fallback notes.
Compatibility-only provider fields that OpenClaw no longer calls, such as
ProviderPlugin.capabilities and suppressBuiltInModel, are not listed
here.
| Hook | When to use |
|---|---|
catalog |
Model catalog or base URL defaults |
applyConfigDefaults |
Provider-owned global defaults during config materialization |
normalizeModelId |
Legacy/preview model-id alias cleanup before lookup |
normalizeTransport |
Provider-family api / baseUrl cleanup before generic model assembly |
normalizeConfig |
Normalize models.providers.<id> config |
applyNativeStreamingUsageCompat |
Native streaming-usage compat rewrites for config providers |
resolveConfigApiKey |
Provider-owned env-marker auth resolution |
resolveSyntheticAuth |
Local/self-hosted or config-backed synthetic auth |
resolveExternalAuthProfiles |
Overlay provider-owned external auth profiles for CLI/app-managed credentials |
shouldDeferSyntheticProfileAuth |
Lower synthetic stored-profile placeholders behind env/config auth |
resolveDynamicModel |
Accept arbitrary upstream model IDs |
prepareDynamicModel |
Async metadata fetch before resolving |
normalizeResolvedModel |
Transport rewrites before the runner |
normalizeToolSchemas |
Provider-owned tool-schema cleanup before registration |
inspectToolSchemas |
Provider-owned tool-schema diagnostics |
resolveReasoningOutputMode |
Tagged vs native reasoning-output contract |
prepareExtraParams |
Default request params |
createStreamFn |
Fully custom StreamFn transport |
wrapStreamFn |
Custom headers/body wrappers on the normal stream path |
resolveTransportTurnState |
Native per-turn headers/metadata |
resolveWebSocketSessionPolicy |
Native WS session headers/cool-down |
formatApiKey |
Custom runtime token shape |
refreshOAuth |
Custom OAuth refresh |
buildAuthDoctorHint |
Auth repair guidance |
matchesContextOverflowError |
Provider-owned overflow detection |
classifyFailoverReason |
Provider-owned rate-limit/overload classification |
isCacheTtlEligible |
Prompt cache TTL gating |
buildMissingAuthMessage |
Custom missing-auth hint |
augmentModelCatalog |
Synthetic forward-compat rows (deprecated - prefer registerModelCatalogProvider) |
resolveThinkingProfile |
Model-specific /think option set |
isBinaryThinking |
Binary thinking on/off compatibility (deprecated - prefer resolveThinkingProfile) |
supportsXHighThinking |
xhigh reasoning support compatibility (deprecated - prefer resolveThinkingProfile) |
resolveDefaultThinkingLevel |
Default /think policy compatibility (deprecated - prefer resolveThinkingProfile) |
isModernModelRef |
Live/smoke model matching |
prepareRuntimeAuth |
Token exchange before inference |
resolveUsageAuth |
Custom usage credential parsing |
fetchUsageSnapshot |
Custom usage endpoint |
createEmbeddingProvider |
Provider-owned embedding adapter for memory/search |
buildReplayPolicy |
Custom transcript replay/compaction policy |
sanitizeReplayHistory |
Provider-specific replay rewrites after generic cleanup |
validateReplayTurns |
Strict replay-turn validation before the embedded runner |
onModelSelected |
Post-selection callback (e.g. telemetry) |
Runtime fallback notes:
normalizeConfigresolves one owning plugin per provider id (bundled providers first, then the matched runtime plugin) and calls only that hook - there is no scan across other providers. Google's ownnormalizeConfighook is what normalizesgoogle/google-vertex/google-antigravityconfig entries; it is not a separate core fallback.resolveConfigApiKeyuses the provider hook when exposed. Amazon Bedrock keeps AWS env-marker resolution in its provider plugin; runtime auth itself still uses the AWS SDK default chain when configured withauth: "aws-sdk".resolveThinkingProfile(ctx)receives the selectedprovider,modelId, optional mergedreasoningcatalog hint, and optional merged modelcompatfacts. Usecompatonly to select the provider's thinking UI/profile.resolveSystemPromptContributionlets a provider inject cache-aware system-prompt guidance for a model family. Prefer it over the legacy plugin-widebefore_prompt_buildhook when the behavior belongs to one provider/model family and should preserve the stable/dynamic cache split.
Add extra capabilities (optional)
Step 5: Add extra capabilities
A provider plugin can register embeddings, speech, realtime transcription, realtime voice, media understanding, image generation, video generation, web fetch, and web search alongside text inference. OpenClaw classifies this as a hybrid-capability plugin - the recommended pattern for company plugins (one plugin per vendor). See Internals: Capability Ownership.
Register each capability inside register(api) alongside your existing
api.registerProvider(...) call. Pick only the tabs you need:
Speech (TTS)
import { assertOkOrThrowProviderError, postJsonRequest,} from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/provider-http"; api.registerSpeechProvider({ id: "acme-ai", label: "Acme Speech", defaultTimeoutMs: 120_000, isConfigured: ({ config }) => Boolean(config.messages?.tts), synthesize: async (req) => { const { response, release } = await postJsonRequest({ url: "https://api.example.com/v1/speech", headers: new Headers({ "Content-Type": "application/json" }), body: { text: req.text }, timeoutMs: req.timeoutMs, fetchFn: fetch, auditContext: "acme speech", }); try { await assertOkOrThrowProviderError(response, "Acme Speech API error"); return { audioBuffer: Buffer.from(await response.arrayBuffer()), outputFormat: "mp3", fileExtension: ".mp3", voiceCompatible: false, }; } finally { await release(); } },});Use assertOkOrThrowProviderError(...) for provider HTTP failures so
plugins share capped error-body reads, JSON error parsing, and
request-id suffixes.
Realtime transcription
Prefer createRealtimeTranscriptionWebSocketSession(...) - the shared
helper handles proxy capture, reconnect backoff, close flushing, ready
handshakes, audio queueing, and close-event diagnostics. Your plugin
only maps upstream events.
api.registerRealtimeTranscriptionProvider({ id: "acme-ai", label: "Acme Realtime Transcription", isConfigured: () => true, createSession: (req) => { const apiKey = String(req.providerConfig.apiKey ?? ""); return createRealtimeTranscriptionWebSocketSession({ providerId: "acme-ai", callbacks: req, url: "wss://api.example.com/v1/realtime-transcription", headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${apiKey}` }, onMessage: (event, transport) => { if (event.type === "session.created") { transport.sendJson({ type: "session.update" }); transport.markReady(); return; } if (event.type === "transcript.final") { req.onTranscript?.(event.text); } }, sendAudio: (audio, transport) => { transport.sendJson({ type: "audio.append", audio: audio.toString("base64"), }); }, onClose: (transport) => { transport.sendJson({ type: "audio.end" }); }, }); },});Batch STT providers that POST multipart audio should use
buildAudioTranscriptionFormData(...) from
openclaw/plugin-sdk/provider-http. The helper normalizes upload
filenames, including AAC uploads that need an M4A-style filename for
compatible transcription APIs.
Realtime voice
api.registerRealtimeVoiceProvider({ id: "acme-ai", label: "Acme Realtime Voice", capabilities: { transports: ["gateway-relay"], inputAudioFormats: [{ encoding: "pcm16", sampleRateHz: 24000, channels: 1 }], outputAudioFormats: [{ encoding: "pcm16", sampleRateHz: 24000, channels: 1 }], supportsBargeIn: true, handlesInputAudioBargeIn: true, supportsToolCalls: true, }, isConfigured: ({ providerConfig }) => Boolean(providerConfig.apiKey), createBridge: (req) => ({ // Set this only if the provider accepts multiple tool responses for // one call, for example an immediate "working" response followed by // the final result. supportsToolResultContinuation: false, connect: async () => {}, sendAudio: () => {}, setMediaTimestamp: () => {}, handleBargeIn: () => {}, submitToolResult: () => {}, acknowledgeMark: () => {}, close: () => {}, isConnected: () => true, }),});Declare capabilities so talk.catalog can expose valid modes,
transports, audio formats, and feature flags to browser and native Talk
clients. Implement handleBargeIn when a transport can detect that a
human is interrupting assistant playback and the provider supports
truncating or clearing the active audio response.
submitToolResult may return void for synchronous submission, or a
Promise<void> for an asynchronous completion boundary the provider
bridge can expose. Gateway relay sessions wait for that promise before
confirming a final result or clearing the linked run; reject it when
submission fails.
Set supportsToolResultSuppression: false when the provider cannot
honor options.suppressResponse. OpenClaw then avoids suppression for
internal forced-consult and cancellation results, and rejects direct
suppressed-result requests instead of silently starting a response.
Consumers of createRealtimeVoiceBridgeSession may likewise return a
promise from onToolCall; synchronous throws and rejections are routed
to the session's onError callback.
Set handlesInputAudioBargeIn only when provider VAD confirms an
interruption by calling onClearAudio("barge-in"). Providers that omit
the flag use OpenClaw's local input-audio fallback detection.
Media understanding
api.registerMediaUnderstandingProvider({ id: "acme-ai", capabilities: ["image", "audio"], describeImage: async (req) => ({ text: "A photo of..." }), transcribeAudio: async (req) => ({ text: "Transcript..." }),});Local or self-hosted media providers that intentionally do not require
credentials can expose resolveAuth and return kind: "none".
OpenClaw still keeps the normal auth gate for providers that do not
explicitly opt in. Existing providers can keep reading req.apiKey;
new providers should prefer req.auth.
api.registerMediaUnderstandingProvider({ id: "local-audio", capabilities: ["audio"], resolveAuth: () => ({ kind: "none", source: "local-audio plugin no-auth", }), transcribeAudio: async (req) => ({ text: "Transcript..." }),});Embeddings
api.registerEmbeddingProvider({ id: "acme-ai", defaultModel: "acme-embed", transport: "remote", authProviderId: "acme-ai", create: async ({ model }) => ({ provider: { id: "acme-ai", model, dimensions: 1536, embed: async (input) => { const text = typeof input === "string" ? input : input.text; return fetchAcmeEmbedding(text); }, embedBatch: async (inputs) => Promise.all( inputs.map((input) => fetchAcmeEmbedding(typeof input === "string" ? input : input.text), ), ), }, }),});Declare the same id in contracts.embeddingProviders. This is the
general embedding contract for reusable vector generation, including
memory search. registerMemoryEmbeddingProvider(...) is deprecated
compatibility for existing memory-specific adapters.
Image and video generation
Image and video capabilities use a mode-aware shape. Image
providers declare required generate and edit capability blocks;
video providers declare generate, imageToVideo, and
videoToVideo. Flat aggregate fields like maxInputImages /
maxInputVideos / maxDurationSeconds are not enough to advertise
transform-mode support or disabled modes cleanly. Music generation
follows the same generate / edit pattern.
api.registerImageGenerationProvider({ id: "acme-ai", label: "Acme Images", capabilities: { generate: { maxCount: 4, supportsSize: true }, edit: { enabled: false }, }, generateImage: async (req) => ({ images: [] }),}); api.registerVideoGenerationProvider({ id: "acme-ai", label: "Acme Video", defaultTimeoutMs: 600_000, models: ["acme-video", "acme-image-video"], capabilities: { generate: { maxVideos: 1, maxDurationSeconds: 10, supportsResolution: true }, imageToVideo: { enabled: true, maxVideos: 1, maxInputImages: 1, maxInputImagesByModel: { "acme/reference-to-video": 9 }, maxDurationSeconds: 5, }, videoToVideo: { enabled: false }, }, catalogByModel: { "acme-image-video": { modes: ["imageToVideo"], capabilities: { imageToVideo: { enabled: true, maxVideos: 1, maxInputImages: 1, resolutions: ["480P", "720P", "1080P"], supportsResolution: true, }, videoToVideo: { enabled: false }, }, }, }, generateVideo: async (req) => ({ videos: [] }),});capabilities is required on both provider types; edit and the
video transform blocks (imageToVideo, videoToVideo) always need an
explicit enabled flag.
Use catalogByModel when a listed model's static modes or capabilities
differ from the provider defaults. This metadata keeps
video_generate action=list and model catalogs accurate without
invoking provider code. Request-time capability lookup and enforcement
still belong in resolveModelCapabilities and generateVideo; reuse
the same capability constant for both paths when possible.
Web fetch and search
api.registerWebFetchProvider({ id: "acme-ai-fetch", label: "Acme Fetch", hint: "Fetch pages through Acme's rendering backend.", envVars: ["ACME_FETCH_API_KEY"], placeholder: "acme-...", signupUrl: "https://acme.example.com/fetch", credentialPath: "plugins.entries.acme.config.webFetch.apiKey", getCredentialValue: (fetchConfig) => fetchConfig?.acme?.apiKey, setCredentialValue: (fetchConfigTarget, value) => { const acme = (fetchConfigTarget.acme ??= {}); acme.apiKey = value; }, createTool: () => ({ description: "Fetch a page through Acme Fetch.", parameters: {}, execute: async (args) => ({ content: [] }), }),}); api.registerWebSearchProvider({ id: "acme-ai-search", label: "Acme Search", hint: "Search the web through Acme's search backend.", envVars: ["ACME_SEARCH_API_KEY"], placeholder: "acme-...", signupUrl: "https://acme.example.com/search", credentialPath: "plugins.entries.acme.config.webSearch.apiKey", getCredentialValue: (searchConfig) => searchConfig?.acme?.apiKey, setCredentialValue: (searchConfigTarget, value) => { const acme = (searchConfigTarget.acme ??= {}); acme.apiKey = value; }, createTool: () => ({ description: "Search the web through Acme Search.", parameters: {}, execute: async (args) => ({ content: [] }), }),});Both provider types share the same credential-wiring shape:
hint, envVars, placeholder, signupUrl, credentialPath,
getCredentialValue, setCredentialValue, and createTool are all
required.
Test
Step 6: Test
import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";// Export your provider config object from index.ts or a dedicated fileimport { acmeProvider } from "./provider.js"; describe("acme-ai provider", () => { it("resolves dynamic models", () => { const model = acmeProvider.resolveDynamicModel!({ modelId: "acme-beta-v3", } as any); expect(model.id).toBe("acme-beta-v3"); expect(model.provider).toBe("acme-ai"); }); it("returns catalog when key is available", async () => { const result = await acmeProvider.catalog!.run({ resolveProviderApiKey: () => ({ apiKey: "test-key" }), } as any); expect(result?.provider?.models).toHaveLength(2); }); it("returns null catalog when no key", async () => { const result = await acmeProvider.catalog!.run({ resolveProviderApiKey: () => ({ apiKey: undefined }), } as any); expect(result).toBeNull(); });});Publish to ClawHub
Provider plugins publish the same way as any other external code plugin:
clawhub package publish your-org/your-plugin --dry-runclawhub package publish your-org/your-pluginclawhub skill publish <path> is a different command for publishing a skill
folder, not a plugin package - do not use it here.
File structure
<bundled-plugin-root>/acme-ai/├── package.json # openclaw.providers metadata├── openclaw.plugin.json # Manifest with provider auth metadata├── index.ts # definePluginEntry + registerProvider└── src/ ├── provider.test.ts # Tests └── usage.ts # Usage endpoint (optional)Catalog order reference
catalog.order controls when your catalog merges relative to built-in
providers:
| Order | When | Use case |
|---|---|---|
simple |
First pass | Plain API-key providers |
profile |
After simple | Providers gated on auth profiles |
paired |
After profile | Synthesize multiple related entries |
late |
Last pass | Override existing providers (wins on collision) |
Next steps
- Channel Plugins - if your plugin also provides a channel
- SDK Runtime -
api.runtimehelpers (TTS, search, subagent) - SDK Overview - full subpath import reference
- Plugin Internals - hook details and bundled examples