OpenClaw + Claude API: Complete Setup Guide

# Add to ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or use a .env file
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-api03-..."

# Verify it is set
echo $ANTHROPIC_API_KEY

# ~/.openclaw/config.yaml
llm:
  provider: anthropic
  model: claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022
  api_key_env: ANTHROPIC_API_KEY   # name of the env var, not the key itself
  max_tokens: 4096
  temperature: 0.1                 # low temperature = more consistent, less creative
  stream: true                     # stream token-by-token to terminal

agent:
  max_iterations: 10
  allow_shell: false               # set to true to grant shell execution permissions

export OPENCLAW_LLM_PROVIDER=anthropic
export OPENCLAW_LLM_MODEL=claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-api03-...

# Test
openclaw run "Summarise this in one sentence: OpenClaw is an autonomous AI agent framework."

openclaw run "Review this pull request diff" \
  --provider anthropic \
  --model claude-3-5-haiku-20241022 \
  --file diff.txt

#!/bin/bash
# .git/hooks/commit-msg
DIFF=$(git diff --cached)
if [ -z "$DIFF" ]; then exit 0; fi

REVIEW=$(echo "$DIFF" | openclaw run \
  "Review this git diff for bugs, security issues, and style problems.
   Format output as markdown with three sections: Bugs, Security, Style.
   Be concise — max 300 words." \
  --stdin --provider anthropic --model claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022)

echo ""
echo "=== AI Code Review ==="
echo "$REVIEW"
echo "====================="

# Summarise a long PDF (after extracting text with pdftotext)
pdftotext report.pdf - | openclaw run \
  "Summarise this document in 5 bullet points, then list any action items." \
  --stdin

# Summarise a URL (requires allow-shell)
openclaw run --allow-shell \
  "Fetch https://example.com/changelog.md and summarise what changed in v2.0"

#!/bin/bash
# Generate PR description from branch diff
BASE_BRANCH="${1:-main}"
DIFF=$(git diff "$BASE_BRANCH"...HEAD)
COMMITS=$(git log "$BASE_BRANCH"...HEAD --oneline)

PR_BODY=$(printf "Commits:\n%s\n\nDiff:\n%s" "$COMMITS" "$DIFF" | \
  openclaw run \
    "Write a GitHub Pull Request description for these changes.
     Include: Summary, Changes Made (bullet list), Testing, Screenshots if applicable.
     Use GitHub Flavoured Markdown." \
    --stdin)

echo "$PR_BODY" | pbcopy  # macOS — copies to clipboard
echo "PR description copied to clipboard!"

# ~/.openclaw/tasks/competitor-research.yaml
name: Competitor Research Brief
provider: anthropic
model: claude-opus-4-5
allow_shell: true

steps:
  - prompt: |
      You are a market research analyst.
      Research the company: {{ company_name }}
      1. Summarise their main product and positioning
      2. Identify their key differentiators vs OpenClaw
      3. Note any recent news (funding, product launches)
      Write a 500-word brief in markdown format.
  output: research_brief.md

openclaw task run competitor-research.yaml --var company_name="AutoGPT"

llm:
  provider: anthropic
  model: claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022
  max_tokens: 1024       # caps output — default 4096
  max_input_tokens: 8000 # truncate large inputs before sending

# Stage 1: Fast Haiku extracts structure from raw input
STRUCTURED=$(cat raw-data.txt | openclaw run \
  "Extract key facts as JSON. Keep it short." \
  --stdin --model claude-3-5-haiku-20241022)

# Stage 2: Sonnet writes the final report from structured data
echo "$STRUCTURED" | openclaw run \
  "Write a 300-word executive summary of these facts." \
  --stdin --model claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022

openclaw run "..." --summary      # prints tokens in/out + estimated cost after each run
openclaw log show --cost          # show cost breakdown from session logs

openclaw run "Write a blog post about AI automation" --stream

# Disable streaming (wait for full response — useful for piping output to files)
openclaw run "Generate a report" --no-stream > report.md

OPENCLAW_LOG_LEVEL=debug openclaw run "test prompt"
# Shows: model, tokens, request payload, response time