Kilo Gateway
Kilo Gateway provides a unified API that routes requests to many models behind a single endpoint and API key. It is OpenAI-compatible, so most OpenAI SDKs work by switching the base URL.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Provider | kilocode |
| Auth | KILOCODE_API_KEY |
| API | OpenAI-compatible |
| Base URL | https://api.kilo.ai/api/gateway/ |
Getting started
- Create an account
Go to app.kilo.ai, sign in or create an account, then navigate to API Keys and generate a new key.
- Run onboarding
openclaw onboard --auth-choice kilocode-api-keyOr set the environment variable directly:
export KILOCODE_API_KEY="<your-kilocode-api-key>" # pragma: allowlist secret - Verify the model is available
openclaw models list --provider kilocode
Default model
The default model is kilocode/kilo/auto, a provider-owned smart-routing
model managed by Kilo Gateway.
OpenClaw treats kilocode/kilo/auto as the stable default ref, but does not
publish a source-backed task-to-upstream-model mapping for that route. Exact
upstream routing behind kilocode/kilo/auto is owned by Kilo Gateway, not
hard-coded in OpenClaw.
Available models
OpenClaw dynamically discovers available models from the Kilo Gateway at startup. Use
/models kilocode to see the full list of models available with your account.
Any model available on the gateway can be used with the kilocode/ prefix:
| Model ref | Notes |
|---|---|
kilocode/kilo/auto | Default — smart routing |
kilocode/anthropic/claude-sonnet-4 | Anthropic via Kilo |
kilocode/openai/gpt-5.4 | OpenAI via Kilo |
kilocode/google/gemini-3-pro-preview | Google via Kilo |
| ...and many more | Use /models kilocode to list all |
At startup, OpenClaw queries GET https://api.kilo.ai/api/gateway/models and merges
discovered models ahead of the static fallback catalog. The bundled fallback always
includes kilocode/kilo/auto (Kilo Auto) with input: ["text", "image"],
reasoning: true, contextWindow: 1000000, and maxTokens: 128000.
Config example
{
env: { KILOCODE_API_KEY: "<your-kilocode-api-key>" }, // pragma: allowlist secret
agents: {
defaults: {
model: { primary: "kilocode/kilo/auto" },
},
},
}
Transport and compatibility
Kilo Gateway is documented in source as OpenRouter-compatible, so it stays on the proxy-style OpenAI-compatible path rather than native OpenAI request shaping.
- Gemini-backed Kilo refs stay on the proxy-Gemini path, so OpenClaw keeps Gemini thought-signature sanitation there without enabling native Gemini replay validation or bootstrap rewrites.
- Kilo Gateway uses a Bearer token with your API key under the hood.
Stream wrapper and reasoning
Kilo's shared stream wrapper adds the provider app header and normalizes proxy reasoning payloads for supported concrete model refs.
kilocode/kilo/auto and other proxy-reasoning-unsupported hints skip reasoning
injection. If you need reasoning support, use a concrete model ref such as
kilocode/anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.
Troubleshooting
- If model discovery fails at startup, OpenClaw falls back to the bundled static catalog containing
kilocode/kilo/auto. - Confirm your API key is valid and that your Kilo account has the desired models enabled.
- When the Gateway runs as a daemon, ensure
KILOCODE_API_KEYis available to that process (for example in~/.openclaw/.envor viaenv.shellEnv).