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

1. Create an account

   Go to app.kilo.ai, sign in or create an account, then navigate to API Keys and generate a new key.

2. Run onboarding

   openclaw onboard --auth-choice kilocode-api-key

   Or set the environment variable directly:

   export KILOCODE_API_KEY="

   ” # pragma: allowlist secret ```

3. 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.

Note

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.

Built-in catalog

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-5.5	OpenAI via Kilo
kilocode/google/gemini-3.1-pro-preview	Google via Kilo
…and many more	Use /models kilocode to list all

Tip

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.

Warning

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_KEY is available to that process (for example in ~/.openclaw/.env or via env.shellEnv).

Related

Model selection

Choosing providers, model refs, and failover behavior.

Configuration reference

Full OpenClaw configuration reference.

Kilo Gateway

Kilo Gateway dashboard, API keys, and account management.