How to Use OpenClaw with Google Gemini — Full Setup Guide

Google Gemini is a solid LLM choice for OpenClaw — especially if you're hitting rate limits on Anthropic or want to take advantage of Gemini's long context window. Setting it up takes about 5 minutes.

Get Your Gemini API Key

Go to Google AI Studio, sign in, and create an API key. Gemini 1.5 Pro and Gemini 2.0 Flash are both available — Flash is faster and cheaper for most everyday tasks.

Configure OpenClaw to Use Gemini

openclaw config set llm.provider google
openclaw config set llm.apiKey YOUR_GEMINI_API_KEY
openclaw config set llm.model gemini-2.0-flash

Restart the gateway after changing providers:

openclaw gateway restart
openclaw gateway status
# Should show: LLM: google/gemini-2.0-flash ✓

Available Gemini Models

OpenClaw supports these Gemini models (as of 2026):

• gemini-2.0-flash — Fast, cheap, great for everyday tasks and cron jobs
• gemini-1.5-pro — Long context (1M tokens), better reasoning
• gemini-2.0-flash-thinking — Reasoning model, slower but more capable for complex tasks

Set Model in openclaw.json

{
  "llm": {
    "provider": "google",
    "model": "gemini-2.0-flash",
    "apiKey": "YOUR_GEMINI_API_KEY",
    "temperature": 0.7,
    "maxTokens": 8192
  }
}

Using Gemini for Specific Cron Jobs

You can run different models for different crons. Use a cheaper model for high-frequency checks:

openclaw cron update hex-uptime-check \
  --model "google/gemini-2.0-flash"

openclaw cron update hex-weekly-report \
  --model "google/gemini-1.5-pro"

Gemini vs. Claude for OpenClaw

Gemini Flash is significantly cheaper than Claude Sonnet — good for high-volume cron jobs. Claude tends to follow complex instructions more reliably. A common pattern: use Gemini for simple monitoring tasks, Claude for anything requiring nuanced judgment or multi-step reasoning.

Troubleshooting

# Test your Gemini connection:
openclaw chat --message "hello, which model are you?"

# Check logs for errors:
openclaw gateway logs --tail 20 | grep -i gemini

Want the full OpenClaw setup guide? The OpenClaw Playbook covers everything — $9.99.