Switch OpenClaw to PinCC Relay Guide | Generated by AI

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Question: How do I configure OpenClaw to use a Claude relay service like https://v2-as.pincc.ai/ (a PinCC relay), while currently using OpenRouter?

Answer:

Background: How OpenClaw Handles Custom Relay/Proxy Providers

OpenClaw does not care who actually runs inference. It just needs a compatible HTTP API that looks like OpenAI or Anthropic. When you configure a provider in OpenClaw, you define a baseUrl — if that URL points to a relay/proxy instead of a cloud vendor, OpenClaw never needs to know.

The PinCC relay (https://v2-as.pincc.ai/) is an Anthropic-compatible messages API, so you configure it with api: "anthropic-messages".

Step 1 — Open Your Config File

nano ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json

Step 2 — Add PinCC as a Custom Provider

Add a custom provider block using the PinCC relay address and your PinCC token. The config uses api: "anthropic-messages" since PinCC speaks the Anthropic protocol:

{
  "models": {
    "mode": "merge",
    "providers": {
      "pincc-claude": {
        "baseUrl": "https://v2-as.pincc.ai",
        "apiKey": "YOUR_PINCC_TOKEN_HERE",
        "api": "anthropic-messages",
        "authHeader": true,
        "models": [
          {
            "id": "claude-sonnet-4-6",
            "name": "Claude Sonnet 4.6",
            "api": "anthropic-messages",
            "reasoning": false,
            "input": ["text"],
            "contextWindow": 200000,
            "maxTokens": 8192,
            "cost": { "input": 0, "output": 0, "cacheRead": 0, "cacheWrite": 0 }
          },
          {
            "id": "claude-opus-4-6",
            "name": "Claude Opus 4.6",
            "api": "anthropic-messages",
            "reasoning": false,
            "input": ["text"],
            "contextWindow": 200000,
            "maxTokens": 8192,
            "cost": { "input": 0, "output": 0, "cacheRead": 0, "cacheWrite": 0 }
          },
          {
            "id": "claude-haiku-4-5",
            "name": "Claude Haiku 4.5",
            "api": "anthropic-messages",
            "reasoning": false,
            "input": ["text"],
            "contextWindow": 200000,
            "maxTokens": 8192,
            "cost": { "input": 0, "output": 0, "cacheRead": 0, "cacheWrite": 0 }
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": {
        "primary": "pincc-claude/claude-sonnet-4-6"
      }
    }
  }
}

Note: The model reference format is provider-name/model-id. OpenClaw splits on the first / — so pincc-claude/claude-sonnet-4-6 means provider pincc-claude, model claude-sonnet-4-6.

Step 3 — Keep OpenRouter as Fallback (Optional)

Since you are already using OpenRouter, you can keep it as a fallback so if PinCC relay fails, it rolls over to OpenRouter automatically:

"agents": {
  "defaults": {
    "model": {
      "primary": "pincc-claude/claude-sonnet-4-6",
      "fallback": [
        "openrouter/anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Step 4 — Restart OpenClaw Gateway

openclaw restart

Or if using systemd:

sudo systemctl restart openclaw

Step 5 — Verify the New Provider Is Loaded

openclaw models list

You should see pincc-claude/claude-sonnet-4-6 listed. If not, check for JSON syntax errors first:

# Validate JSON syntax
python3 -m json.tool ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json

Step 6 — Test the Relay Connection

# Quick curl test directly against the PinCC relay
curl https://v2-as.pincc.ai/v1/messages \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_PINCC_TOKEN_HERE" \
  -H "anthropic-version: 2023-06-01" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "max_tokens": 64,
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "say hi"}]
  }'

If you get a valid response, your relay is working and OpenClaw will use it correctly.

Summary of Key Config Differences

Setting OpenRouter PinCC Relay
api type built-in (no models.providers needed) "anthropic-messages"
baseUrl automatic https://v2-as.pincc.ai
apiKey sk-or-... from OpenRouter Your PinCC token
Model ref format openrouter/anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5 pincc-claude/claude-sonnet-4-6
authHeader not needed true

References:

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