Arcee AI Provider Setup

Arcee AI offers the Trinity line of mixture-of-experts models via an API that follows OpenAI conventions. Every Trinity model carries an Apache 2.0 license. Arcee comes as an official OpenClaw plugin rather than part of the core distribution, so you must install it before you can start using it.

You can reach Arcee models either directly through the Arcee platform or by going through OpenRouter.

Property	Value
Provider	`arcee`
Auth	`ARCEEAI_API_KEY` (direct) or `OPENROUTER_API_KEY` (via OpenRouter)
API	OpenAI-compatible
Base URL	`https://api.arcee.ai/api/v1` (direct) or `https://openrouter.ai/api/v1` (OpenRouter)

Install plugin

openclaw plugins install @openclaw/arcee-provider
openclaw gateway restart

Getting started

Direct (Arcee platform)

Get an API key

Head over to Arcee AI to generate an API key.

Run onboarding

openclaw onboard --auth-choice arceeai-api-key

Set a default model

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "arcee/trinity-large-thinking" },
    },
  },
}

Via OpenRouter

Get an API key

Generate an API key on OpenRouter.

Run onboarding

openclaw onboard --auth-choice arceeai-openrouter

Set a default model

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "arcee/trinity-large-thinking" },
    },
  },
}

Both the direct and OpenRouter paths accept the same set of model refs.

Non-interactive setup

Direct (Arcee platform)

openclaw onboard --non-interactive --accept-risk --skip-health \
  --mode local \
  --auth-choice arceeai-api-key \
  --arceeai-api-key "$ARCEEAI_API_KEY"

Via OpenRouter

openclaw onboard --non-interactive --accept-risk --skip-health \
  --mode local \
  --auth-choice arceeai-openrouter \
  --openrouter-api-key "$OPENROUTER_API_KEY"

Direct Arcee catalog

Model ref	Name	Input	Context	Max output	Cost (in/out per 1M)	Tools	Notes
`arcee/trinity-large-thinking`	Trinity Large Thinking	text	256K	80K	$0.25 / $0.90	No	Default model; extended thinking
`arcee/trinity-large-preview`	Trinity Large Preview	text	128K	16K	$0.25 / $1.00	Yes	General-purpose; 400B params, 13B active
`arcee/trinity-mini`	Trinity Mini 26B	text	128K	80K	$0.045 / $0.15	Yes	Fast and cost-efficient; function calling

Tip

The onboarding preset designates arcee/trinity-large-thinking as the model used by default.

OpenRouter catalog

During OpenRouter onboarding, arcee/trinity-large-preview and arcee/trinity-large-thinking are exposed. OpenClaw stores those provider-qualified model refs in its configuration and passes OpenRouter's canonical arcee-ai/* runtime ids along. OpenRouter no longer serves Trinity Mini; to use that model, go through the Arcee API directly.

Supported features

Feature	Supported
Streaming	Yes
Tool use / function calling	Yes (Trinity Mini, Trinity Large Preview)
Structured output (JSON mode and JSON schema)	Yes
Extended thinking	Yes (Trinity Large Thinking; tools disabled)

Environment note

When the Gateway runs as a daemon (launchd/systemd), confirm that ARCEEAI_API_KEY (or OPENROUTER_API_KEY) is accessible to that process, for instance in ~/.openclaw/.env or through env.shellEnv.

OpenRouter routing

OpenRouter relies on the same arcee/trinity-large-thinking OpenClaw model ref. OpenClaw handles routing using the canonical arcee-ai/trinity-large-thinking OpenRouter runtime id. For OpenRouter-specific configuration details, check the OpenRouter provider docs.

OpenRouter, Reach Arcee models plus a wide range of others with one API key.
Model selection, Picking providers, model refs, and failover behavior.