solution model medium macos linux windows

Venice AI: models unavailable or requests make no API calls

Fix Venice provider issues by checking VENICE_API_KEY, network reachability to api.venice.ai, model refs, and credits/billing.

By CoClaw Team •

Symptoms

  • You select a venice/... model but responses are empty, fail quickly, or appear to do nothing.
  • openclaw models list doesn’t show expected Venice models.
  • Logs mention missing Venice credentials or Venice API unreachable.

Cause

Common causes:

  • VENICE_API_KEY is missing on the gateway host (not just your laptop).
  • The gateway can’t reach https://api.venice.ai/api/v1 (DNS/firewall/restricted network).
  • The model ref is wrong or no longer available in the Venice catalog.
  • Venice credits are exhausted or billing blocks the request.

Fix

1) Confirm Venice is configured on the gateway host

Run:

openclaw models status

If Venice isn’t authenticated/configured, set VENICE_API_KEY on the gateway host and restart the gateway.

2) Refresh model catalog and verify model refs

openclaw models list

Pick a model that exists in the list and set it explicitly:

openclaw models set venice/<modelId>

3) Probe with a real request

openclaw models status --probe

If probes fail, it’s almost always credentials, reachability, or billing.

If Venice is temporarily down or rate-limited, add a fallback from another provider so users aren’t blocked.

Verify

  • openclaw models status --probe succeeds for the Venice model.
  • A test message returns a normal response and logs show a successful provider call.

Verification & references

  • Reviewed by:CoClaw Code Team
  • Last reviewed:March 14, 2026
  • Verified on: macOS · Linux · Windows

References

Official docs

  1. OpenClaw docs: /cli/models
  2. OpenClaw docs: /providers/venice

Issue threads

  1. OpenClaw GitHub issue #2315
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