Use OpenClaw with llmapi.cheap

Run OpenClaw on Gemini 3.8 Flash, Claude Sonnet 4.6, Claude Opus 4.6 or GPT-OSS with a single llmapi.cheap key. Plans start at $2 a month, and there is a free one-hour trial.

Protocol: OpenAI Chat · Config: ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json

Fastest: one command

The setup command finds OpenClaw on your machine, writes its configuration with your key and sets Gemini 3.8 Flash (high) as the default model. It needs no Node.js. Sign up first: your key is created automatically, and the dashboard shows this command with the key already filled in.

macOS / Linux

curl -fsSL https://llmapi.cheap/install.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell)

irm https://llmapi.cheap/install.ps1 | iex

Manual setup

OpenClaw rejects unknown config keys, so let it merge the provider itself:

openclaw config set models.providers.llmapi '{"baseUrl":"https://llmapi.cheap/v1","apiKey":"YOUR_API_KEY","api":"openai-completions","models":[{"id":"gemini-3.8-flash-high","name":"Gemini 3.8 Flash (high)","contextWindow":1048576,"maxTokens":64000},{"id":"claude-sonnet-4-6","name":"Claude Sonnet 4.6","contextWindow":200000,"maxTokens":64000}]}' --strict-json --merge
openclaw config set agents.defaults.model.primary llmapi/gemini-3.8-flash-high

Endpoints

Use the base URL that matches the protocol your tool speaks.

OpenAI

https://llmapi.cheap/v1

Anthropic

https://llmapi.cheap

Gemini

https://llmapi.cheap/v1beta

Models

https://llmapi.cheap/v1/models

Model IDs

Any of these work wherever OpenClaw asks for a model name. Gemini 3.8 Flash (high) is the default the setup command picks.

Troubleshooting

• 401 / invalid key: check the key starts with sk-llm- and has no extra spaces. Create a new one under Dashboard → API keys if needed.
• Model not allowed: the free trial covers the Gemini models; Claude and GPT-OSS come with any paid plan.
• 404 on requests: OpenAI-style tools need https://llmapi.cheap/v1; Anthropic-style tools need https://llmapi.cheap without /v1.