Anthropic says OpenClaw-style Claude CLI usage is allowed again

Anthropic (Claude) Anthropic builds the Claude model family and provides access via an API and Claude CLI. In OpenClaw, Anthropic API keys and Claude CLI reuse are both supported. Existing legacy Anthropic token profiles are still honored at runtime if they are already configured.Option A: Anthropic API key Best for: standard API access and usage-based billing. Create your API key in the Anthropic Console.CLI setup Anthropic config snippet Thinking defaults (Claude 4.6) - Anthropic Claude 4.6 models default to adaptive thinking in OpenClaw when no explicit thinking level is set. - You can override per-message ( /think: ) or in model params:agents.defaults.models["anthropic/"].params.thinking . - Related Anthropic docs: Fast mode (Anthropic API) OpenClaw’s shared/fast toggle also supports direct public Anthropic traffic, including API-key and OAuth-authenticated requests sent to api.anthropic.com . /fast on maps toservice_tier: "auto" /fast off maps toservice_tier: "standard_only" - Config default: - OpenClaw only injects Anthropic service tiers for direct api.anthropic.com requests. If you routeanthropic/* through a proxy or gateway,/fast leavesservice_tier untouched. - Explicit Anthropic serviceTier orservice_tier model params override the/fast default when both are set. - Anthropic reports the effective tier on the response under usage.service_tier . On accounts without Priority Tier capacity,service_tier: "auto" may still resolve tostandard . Prompt caching (Anthropic API) OpenClaw supports Anthropic’s prompt caching feature. This is API-only; legacy Anthropic token auth does not honor cache settings.Configuration Use thecacheRetention parameter in your model config: | Value | Cache Duration | Description | |---|---|---| none | No caching | Disable prompt caching | short | 5 minutes | Default for API Key auth | long | 1 hour | Extended cache | Defaults When using Anthropic API Key authentication, OpenClaw automatically appliescacheRetention: "short" (5-minute cache) for all Anthropic models. You can override this by explicitly setting cacheRetention in your config. Per-agent cacheRetention overrides Use model-level params as your baseline, then override specific agents viaagents.list[].params . agents.defaults.models["provider/model"].params agents.list[].params (matchingid , overrides by key) Bedrock Claude notes - Anthropic Claude models on Bedrock ( amazon-bedrock/*anthropic.claude* ) acceptcacheRetention pass-through when configured. - Non-Anthropic Bedrock models are forced to cacheRetention: "none" at runtime. - Anthropic API-key smart defaults also seed cacheRetention: "short" for Claude-on-Bedrock model refs when no explicit value is set. 1M context window (Anthropic beta) Anthropic’s 1M context window is beta-gated. In OpenClaw, enable it per model withparams.context1m: true for supported Opus/Sonnet models. anthropic-beta: context-1m-2025-08-07 on Anthropic requests. This only activates when params.context1m is explicitly set to true for that model. Requirement: Anthropic must allow long-context usage on that credential. Note: Anthropic currently rejects context-1m-* beta requests when using legacy Anthropic token auth (sk-ant-oat-* ). If you configure context1m: true with that legacy auth mode, OpenClaw logs a warning and falls back to the standard context window by skipping the context1m beta header while keeping the required OAuth betas. Claude CLI backend The bundled Anthropicclaude-cli backend is supported in OpenClaw. - Anthropic staff told us this usage is allowed again. - OpenClaw therefore treats Claude CLI reuse and claude -p usage as sanctioned for this integration unless Anthropic publishes a new policy. - Anthropic API keys remain the clearest production path for always-on gateway hosts and explicit server-side billing control. - Setup and runtime details are in /gateway/cli-backends. Notes - Anthropic’s public Claude Code docs still document direct CLI usage such as claude -p , and Anthropic staff told us OpenClaw-style Claude CLI usage is allowed again. We are treating that guidance as settled unless Anthropic publishes a new policy change. - Anthropic setup-token remains available in OpenClaw as a supported token-auth path, but OpenClaw now prefers Claude CLI reuse and claude -p when available. - Auth details + reuse rules are in /concepts/oauth. Troubleshooting 401 errors / token suddenly invalid- Anthropic token auth can expire or be revoked. - For new setup, migrate to an Anthropic API key. - Auth is per agent. New agents don’t inherit the main agent’s keys. - Re-run onboarding for that agent, or configure an API key on the gateway host, then verify with openclaw models status . anthropic:default - Run openclaw models status to see which auth profile is active. - Re-run onboarding, or configure an API key for that profile path. - Check openclaw models status --json forauth.unusableProfiles . - Anthropic rate-limit cooldowns can be model-scoped, so a sibling Anthropic model may still be usable even when the current one is cooling down. - Add another Anthropic profile or wait for cooldown.