🦞 How to Use OpenClaw with Your Claude Pro/Max Account

---

Note

This sets up OpenClaw using your claude.ai account (the same one behind Claude CLI) — no Console API key needed. As of April 2026, Anthropic changed their policy so that third-party tools like OpenClaw no longer pull from your included Pro/Max subscription usage. Instead, it bills against your Extra Usage (pay-as-you-go) balance. It still uses your claude.ai login, just not the included subscription credits. See how to verify your usage at the bottom.

Don't panic! 🦞 OpenClaw can authenticate using your existing claude.ai account — the same one you use with Claude CLI. No API keys, no console account, no extra signup needed.

There's one gotcha: the setup command writes the wrong model prefix, which breaks things. But it's an easy fix — takes about 2 minutes and you'll be clawing along in no time.

---

Step 1 — Log in

Make sure you're signed into Claude CLI first (claude auth status to check), then run:

openclaw models auth login --provider anthropic --method cli --set-default

You'll see Default model set to claude-cli/claude-sonnet-4-6 — that's expected but wrong. Next step fixes it.

Step 2 — Fix the model prefix

Caution

Don't skip this. The login command sets the model to claude-cli/... which doesn't work. You'll get an "Unknown model" error until you fix it.

Option A — run this command:

sed -i.bak 's|claude-cli/|anthropic/|g' ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json

Option B — open ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json in any text editor and find-and-replace claude-cli/ with anthropic/.

Step 3 — Restart

openclaw gateway restart && openclaw status

You should see anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6 with no errors. That's it — you're done.

---

Troubleshooting

"Unknown model" error

You missed Step 2. Run the fix:

sed -i.bak 's|claude-cli/|anthropic/|g' ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
openclaw restart

Auth not working

Make sure Claude CLI is signed in first:

claude auth status

Should show authMethod: "claude.ai" and a Pro or Max subscription. If not, run claude auth login first, then redo Step 1.

Want to verify the config manually?

Open ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json. The key parts should look like:

"auth": {
  "profiles": {
    "anthropic:default": {
      "provider": "anthropic",
      "mode": "token"
    }
  }
}

"model": {
  "primary": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6"
}

Prefer a static API key?

Set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY in ~/.openclaw/.env (not a workspace .env) and change "mode" to "api_key" in the auth profile.

---

Verifying Extra Usage

After running OpenClaw for a bit, you can confirm it's billing against Extra Usage:

1. Open claude.ai or the Claude desktop app
2. Go to Settings → Usage
3. You should see OpenClaw activity showing up under Extra Usage, not your included subscription credits

If you don't see any Extra Usage charges, double-check that your auth is working (openclaw status) and that you've actually sent some messages through OpenClaw.

Note: Your openclaw.json contains sensitive tokens. Don't share or commit it.

License

MIT