Cerebras provides high-speed OpenAI-compatible inference on custom inference hardware. OpenClaw includes a bundled Cerebras provider plugin with a static four-model catalog.

Property	Value
Provider id	cerebras
Plugin	bundled, enabledByDefault: true
Auth env var	CEREBRAS_API_KEY
Onboarding flag	--auth-choice cerebras-api-key
Direct CLI flag	--cerebras-api-key <key>
API	OpenAI-compatible (openai-completions)
Base URL	https://api.cerebras.ai/v1
Default model	cerebras/zai-glm-4.7

Getting started

Get an API key

Create an API key in the [Cerebras Cloud Console](https://cloud.cerebras.ai).

Run onboarding

openclaw onboard --auth-choice cerebras-api-key

openclaw onboard --non-interactive \
  --auth-choice cerebras-api-key \
  --cerebras-api-key "$CEREBRAS_API_KEY"

export CEREBRAS_API_KEY=csk-...

Verify models are available

```bash
openclaw models list --provider cerebras
```

The list should include all four bundled models. If `CEREBRAS_API_KEY` is unresolved, `openclaw models status --json` reports the missing credential under `auth.unusableProfiles`.

Non-interactive setup

openclaw onboard --non-interactive \
  --mode local \
  --auth-choice cerebras-api-key \
  --cerebras-api-key "$CEREBRAS_API_KEY"

Built-in catalog

OpenClaw ships a static Cerebras catalog that mirrors the public OpenAI-compatible endpoint. All four models share a 128k context and 8,192 max-output tokens.

Model ref	Name	Reasoning	Notes
cerebras/zai-glm-4.7	Z.ai GLM 4.7	yes	Default model; preview reasoning model
cerebras/gpt-oss-120b	GPT OSS 120B	yes	Production reasoning model
cerebras/qwen-3-235b-a22b-instruct-2507	Qwen 3 235B Instruct	no	Preview non-reasoning model
cerebras/llama3.1-8b	Llama 3.1 8B	no	Production speed-focused model

Warning

Cerebras marks zai-glm-4.7 and qwen-3-235b-a22b-instruct-2507 as preview models, and llama3.1-8b plus qwen-3-235b-a22b-instruct-2507 are documented for deprecation on May 27, 2026. Check Cerebras' supported-models page before relying on them for production workloads.

Manual config

The bundled plugin usually means you only need the API key. Use explicit models.providers.cerebras config when you want to override model metadata or run in mode: "merge" against the static catalog:

{
  env: { CEREBRAS_API_KEY: "csk-..." },
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "cerebras/zai-glm-4.7" },
    },
  },
  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: "Z.ai GLM 4.7" },
          { id: "gpt-oss-120b", name: "GPT OSS 120B" },
        ],
      },
    },
  },
}

Note

If the Gateway runs as a daemon (launchd, systemd, Docker), make sure CEREBRAS_API_KEY is available to that process — for example in ~/.openclaw/.env or through env.shellEnv. A key exported only in an interactive shell will not help a managed service unless the env is imported separately.

Related

• Model providers — Choosing providers, model refs, and failover behavior.
• Thinking modes — Reasoning effort levels for the two reasoning-capable Cerebras models.
• Configuration reference — Agent defaults and model configuration.
• Models FAQ — Auth profiles, switching models, and resolving "no profile" errors.