Z.AI is the API platform for GLM models. It provides REST APIs for GLM and uses API keys for authentication. Create your API key in the Z.AI console. OpenClaw uses the zai provider with a Z.AI API key.

Property	Value
Provider	zai
Auth	ZAI_API_KEY (legacy alias: Z_AI_API_KEY)
API	Z.AI Chat Completions (Bearer auth)

GLM models

GLM is a model family, not a separate provider. In OpenClaw, GLM models use refs such as zai/glm-5.2: provider zai, model id glm-5.2.

Getting started

Auto-detect endpoint

**Best for:** most users. OpenClaw probes supported Z.AI endpoints with your API key and applies the correct base URL automatically.

Run onboarding

    ```bash
    openclaw onboard --auth-choice zai-api-key
    ```

Verify the model is listed

    ```bash
    openclaw models list --all --provider zai
    ```

Explicit regional endpoint

**Best for:** users who want to force a specific Coding Plan or general API surface.

Pick the right onboarding choice

    ```bash
    # Coding Plan Global (recommended for Coding Plan users)
    openclaw onboard --auth-choice zai-coding-global

    # Coding Plan CN (China region)
    openclaw onboard --auth-choice zai-coding-cn

    # General API
    openclaw onboard --auth-choice zai-global

    # General API CN (China region)
    openclaw onboard --auth-choice zai-cn
    ```

Verify the model is listed

    ```bash
    openclaw models list --all --provider zai
    ```

Config example

Tip

zai-api-key lets OpenClaw detect the matching Z.AI endpoint from the key and apply the correct base URL automatically. Use the explicit regional choices when you want to force a specific Coding Plan or general API surface.

{
  env: { ZAI_API_KEY: "sk-..." },
  models: {
    providers: {
      zai: {
        // GLM-5.2 uses the Coding Plan endpoint.
        baseUrl: "https://api.z.ai/api/coding/paas/v4",
      },
    },
  },
  agents: { defaults: { model: { primary: "zai/glm-5.2" } } },
}

Built-in catalog

OpenClaw ships the bundled zai provider catalog in the plugin manifest, so read-only listing can show known GLM rows without loading provider runtime:

openclaw models list --all --provider zai

The manifest-backed catalog currently includes:

Model ref	Notes
zai/glm-5.2	Coding Plan default; 1M context
zai/glm-5.1	General API default
zai/glm-5
zai/glm-5-turbo
zai/glm-5v-turbo
zai/glm-4.7
zai/glm-4.7-flash
zai/glm-4.7-flashx
zai/glm-4.6
zai/glm-4.6v
zai/glm-4.5
zai/glm-4.5-air
zai/glm-4.5-flash
zai/glm-4.5v

Tip

GLM models are available as zai/<model> (example: zai/glm-5).

Note

Coding Plan setup defaults to zai/glm-5.2; general API setup keeps zai/glm-5.1. Endpoint auto-detection falls back to glm-5.1 or glm-4.7 when the selected plan does not expose GLM-5.2. GLM versions and availability can change; run openclaw models list --all --provider zai to see the catalog known to your installed version.

Advanced configuration

Forward-resolving unknown GLM-5 models

Unknown `glm-5*` ids still forward-resolve on the bundled provider path by
synthesizing provider-owned metadata from the `glm-4.7` template when the id
matches the current GLM-5 family shape.

Tool-call streaming

`tool_stream` is enabled by default for Z.AI tool-call streaming. To disable it:

```json5
{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      models: {
        "zai/<model>": {
          params: { tool_stream: false },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}
```

Thinking and preserved thinking

Z.AI thinking follows OpenClaw's `/think` controls. With thinking off,
OpenClaw sends `thinking: { type: "disabled" }` to avoid responses that
spend the output budget on `reasoning_content` before visible text.

Preserved thinking is opt-in because Z.AI requires the full historical
`reasoning_content` to be replayed, which increases prompt tokens. Enable it
per model:

```json5
{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      models: {
        "zai/glm-5.2": {
          params: { preserveThinking: true },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}
```

When enabled and thinking is on, OpenClaw sends
`thinking: { type: "enabled", clear_thinking: false }` and replays prior
`reasoning_content` for the same OpenAI-compatible transcript.

Advanced users can still override the exact provider payload with
`params.extra_body.thinking`.

Image understanding

The bundled Z.AI plugin registers image understanding.

| Property      | Value       |
| ------------- | ----------- |
| Model         | `glm-4.6v`  |

Image understanding is auto-resolved from the configured Z.AI auth — no
additional config is needed.

Auth details

- Z.AI uses Bearer auth with your API key.
- The `zai-api-key` onboarding choice auto-detects the matching Z.AI endpoint by probing supported endpoints with your key.
- Use the explicit regional choices (`zai-coding-global`, `zai-coding-cn`, `zai-global`, `zai-cn`) when you want to force a specific API surface.
- The legacy env var `Z_AI_API_KEY` is still accepted; OpenClaw copies it to `ZAI_API_KEY` at startup if `ZAI_API_KEY` is unset.

Related

• Model selection — Choosing providers, model refs, and failover behavior.
• Configuration reference — Full OpenClaw config schema, including provider and model settings.