Z.AI

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.

Provider: zai
Auth: ZAI_API_KEY
API: Z.AI Chat Completions (Bearer auth)

Getting started

Auto-detect endpoint

Best for: most users. OpenClaw detects the matching Z.AI endpoint from the key and applies the correct base URL automatically.

Run onboarding

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

Set a default model

{
  env: { ZAI_API_KEY: "sk-..." },
  agents: { defaults: { model: { primary: "zai/glm-5.1" } } },
}

Verify the model is available
```
openclaw models list --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

# 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

Set a default model

{
  env: { ZAI_API_KEY: "sk-..." },
  agents: { defaults: { model: { primary: "zai/glm-5.1" } } },
}

Verify the model is available
```
openclaw models list --provider zai
```

Bundled GLM catalog

OpenClaw currently seeds the bundled zai provider with:

Model ref	Notes
`zai/glm-5.1`	Default model
`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). The default bundled model ref is zai/glm-5.1.

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:

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

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 from the key prefix.
Use the explicit regional choices (zai-coding-global, zai-coding-cn, zai-global, zai-cn) when you want to force a specific API surface.

GLM model family

Model family overview for GLM.

Model selection

Choosing providers, model refs, and failover behavior.

Z.AI

Z.AI

Getting started

Bundled GLM catalog

Advanced configuration

Related