NVIDIA provides an OpenAI-compatible API at https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1 for open models for free. Authenticate with an API key from build.nvidia.com. OpenClaw defaults the NVIDIA provider to Nemotron 3 Ultra, NVIDIA's 550B total / 55B active reasoning model for long-context agentic work.

Getting started

Get your API key

Create an API key at [build.nvidia.com](https://build.nvidia.com/settings/api-keys).

Export the key and run onboarding

```bash
export NVIDIA_API_KEY="nvapi-..."
openclaw onboard --auth-choice nvidia-api-key
```

Set an NVIDIA model

```bash
openclaw models set nvidia/nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b
```

Warning

If you pass --nvidia-api-key instead of the env var, the value lands in shell history and ps output. Prefer the NVIDIA_API_KEY environment variable when possible.

For non-interactive setup, you can also pass the key directly:

openclaw onboard --auth-choice nvidia-api-key --nvidia-api-key "nvapi-..."

Config example

{
  env: { NVIDIA_API_KEY: "nvapi-..." },
  models: {
    providers: {
      nvidia: {
        baseUrl: "https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1",
        api: "openai-completions",
      },
    },
  },
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "nvidia/nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b" },
    },
  },
}

Featured catalog

When an NVIDIA API key is configured, OpenClaw setup and model-selection paths try NVIDIA's public featured-model catalog from https://assets.ngc.nvidia.com/products/api-catalog/featured-models.json and caches the ranked result for 24 hours. New featured models from build.nvidia.com therefore appear in setup and model-selection surfaces without waiting for an OpenClaw release. When the live feed is available, the first returned model is the default option shown during NVIDIA setup.

The fetch uses a fixed HTTPS host policy for assets.ngc.nvidia.com. If no NVIDIA API key is configured, or if that public catalog is unavailable or malformed, OpenClaw falls back to the bundled catalog and bundled default below.

Nemotron 3 Ultra

Nemotron 3 Ultra is the default NVIDIA model in OpenClaw. NVIDIA's build page for nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b lists it as an available free endpoint with a 1M-token context specification. The bundled catalog records a 16,384-token max output to match NVIDIA's current OpenAI-compatible sample request for the hosted endpoint.

Use Ultra for the highest-capability NVIDIA default. Keep Super selected when you want the smaller Nemotron 3 option, or choose one of the third-party models hosted in NVIDIA's catalog when their context, latency, or behavior fits better. The bundled Ultra row sends chat_template_kwargs.enable_thinking: false and force_nonempty_content: true by default so normal chat output stays in the visible answer instead of exposing reasoning text.

Bundled fallback catalog

Model ref	Name	Context	Max output	Notes
nvidia/nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b	NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B	1,000,000	16,384	Default
nvidia/nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b	NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super 120B	262,144	8,192	Featured fallback
nvidia/moonshotai/kimi-k2.5	Kimi K2.5	262,144	8,192	Featured fallback
nvidia/minimaxai/minimax-m2.7	Minimax M2.7	196,608	8,192	Featured fallback
nvidia/z-ai/glm-5.1	GLM 5.1	202,752	8,192	Featured fallback
nvidia/minimaxai/minimax-m2.5	MiniMax M2.5	196,608	8,192	Deprecated, upgrade compatibility
nvidia/z-ai/glm5	GLM-5	202,752	8,192	Deprecated, upgrade compatibility

Advanced configuration

Auto-enable behavior

The provider auto-enables when the `NVIDIA_API_KEY` environment variable is set.
No explicit provider config is required beyond the key.

Catalog and pricing

OpenClaw prefers NVIDIA's public featured-model catalog when NVIDIA auth is
configured and caches it for 24 hours. The bundled fallback catalog is static
and keeps deprecated shipped refs for upgrade compatibility. Costs default
to `0` in source since NVIDIA currently offers free API access for the
listed models.

OpenAI-compatible endpoint

NVIDIA uses the standard `/v1` completions endpoint. Any OpenAI-compatible
tooling should work out of the box with the NVIDIA base URL.

Nemotron 3 Ultra reasoning params

NVIDIA's Ultra sample request uses `chat_template_kwargs.enable_thinking`
and `reasoning_budget` for reasoning output. OpenClaw's bundled Ultra row
disables template thinking by default for normal chat use. If you need to
opt into NVIDIA reasoning output or force other NVIDIA-specific request
fields, set per-model params and keep provider-specific overrides scoped to
the NVIDIA model:

```json5
{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      models: {
        "nvidia/nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b": {
          params: {
            chat_template_kwargs: { enable_thinking: true },
            extra_body: { reasoning_budget: 16384 },
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}
```

`params.extra_body` is the final OpenAI-compatible request-body override, so
use it only for fields NVIDIA documents for the selected endpoint.

Slow custom provider responses

Some NVIDIA-hosted custom models can take longer than the default model idle
watchdog before they emit a first response chunk. For custom NVIDIA provider
entries, raise the provider timeout instead of raising the whole agent
runtime timeout:

```json5
{
  models: {
    providers: {
      "custom-integrate-api-nvidia-com": {
        baseUrl: "https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1",
        api: "openai-completions",
        apiKey: "NVIDIA_API_KEY",
        timeoutSeconds: 300,
      },
    },
  },
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      models: {
        "custom-integrate-api-nvidia-com/meta/llama-3.1-70b-instruct": {
          params: { thinking: "off" },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}
```

Tip

NVIDIA models are currently free to use. Check build.nvidia.com for the latest availability and rate-limit details.

Related

• Model selection — Choosing providers, model refs, and failover behavior.
• Configuration reference — Full config reference for agents, models, and providers.