Configuration & Usage

Modes

clawgate has two modes of operation:

ChatGPT mode (default)

Uses your existing ChatGPT Plus or Pro subscription. No API key needed.

# First time: log in
clawgate login

# Then run the proxy
clawgate

The login flow opens a browser-based OAuth authorization page. You enter a code shown in your terminal, approve the connection, and clawgate saves the token to ~/.clawgate/token.json. Tokens auto-refresh when they expire.

API key mode

Uses a standard OpenAI (or compatible) API key. No login step needed.

clawgate --mode=api --apiKey=sk-xxx

This mode works with any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, including:

• OpenAI API
• Azure OpenAI
• Local inference servers (vLLM, Ollama with OpenAI compat, etc.)
• Any service that speaks the OpenAI Chat Completions format

To use a custom endpoint:

clawgate --mode=api --apiKey=sk-xxx --baseUrl=https://my.endpoint/v1

CLI flags

All flags are optional. Flags take precedence over environment variables.

Both single-dash and double-dash work: --mode=api and -mode=api are equivalent. Both --flag=value and --flag value forms are accepted.

Subcommands

Environment variables

Environment variables work as a fallback when flags are not set. Useful for CI/CD, Docker, and other automated setups.

You can also place these in a .env file in the working directory.

Precedence order: CLI flag > environment variable > .env file > default.

Example using environment variables:

AUTH_MODE=apikey OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-xxx clawgate

Model mapping

clawgate maps Anthropic model names to OpenAI model names:

The anthropic/, openai/, and gemini/ prefixes are stripped before matching, so anthropic/claude-3-5-sonnet and claude-3-5-sonnet both map to the big model.

Override the defaults:

clawgate --bigModel=gpt-4o --smallModel=gpt-4o-mini

Connecting Claude Code

Once clawgate is running, point Claude Code at it by setting the ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL environment variable:

ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8082 claude

On Windows (Command Prompt):

set ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8082
claude

On Windows (PowerShell):

$env:ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="http://localhost:8082"; claude

If you changed the port with --port, adjust the URL accordingly.

Debug mode

Set DEBUG=1 to log all incoming Anthropic requests and outgoing OpenAI requests to the console:

DEBUG=1 clawgate

This is useful for troubleshooting request translation issues or verifying that tool calls are mapped correctly.

Examples

# ChatGPT mode, default settings
clawgate

# API key mode, default models
clawgate --mode=api --apiKey=sk-xxx

# Custom models and port
clawgate --mode=api --apiKey=sk-xxx --bigModel=gpt-4o --smallModel=gpt-4o-mini --port=9000

# Azure OpenAI
clawgate --mode=api --apiKey=xxx --baseUrl=https://myresource.openai.azure.com/openai/deployments/gpt-4o/v1

# Local vLLM
clawgate --mode=api --apiKey=dummy --baseUrl=http://localhost:8000/v1

# Docker / CI (environment variables)
AUTH_MODE=apikey OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-xxx PORT=8082 clawgate

Files and directories

Troubleshooting

“command not found” after install Close and reopen your terminal. If it still doesn’t work, verify that the directory containing the clawgate binary is in your PATH.

“Not logged in” error Run clawgate login to authenticate.

“API key is required” error Pass --apiKey=sk-... when using --mode=api, or set the OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable.

macOS “unidentified developer” dialog Run xattr -d com.apple.quarantine clawgate before first use. See the macOS install guide for details.

Windows SmartScreen warning Click “More info” then “Run anyway”. See the Windows install guide for details.

429 / rate limit errors clawgate retries rate-limited requests automatically (up to 3 times with backoff). If you see persistent 429s, you’re hitting the upstream provider’s rate limit – wait a moment or reduce request frequency.