---
summary: "Canonical credential eligibility and resolution semantics for auth profiles"
title: "Auth credential semantics"
read_when:
  - Working on auth profile resolution or credential routing
  - Debugging model auth failures or profile order
---

These semantics keep selection-time and runtime auth behavior aligned. They are shared by:

- `resolveAuthProfileOrder` (profile ordering)
- `resolveApiKeyForProfile` (runtime credential resolution)
- `openclaw models status --probe`
- `openclaw doctor` auth checks (`doctor-auth`)

## Stable probe reason codes

Probe results carry a `status` bucket (`ok`, `auth`, `rate_limit`, `billing`, `timeout`, `format`, `unknown`, `no_model`) plus a stable `reasonCode` when the probe never reached a model call:

| `reasonCode`             | Meaning                                                                      |
| ------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `excluded_by_auth_order` | Profile omitted from the explicit auth order for its provider.               |
| `missing_credential`     | No inline credential or SecretRef is configured.                             |
| `expired`                | Token `expires` is in the past.                                              |
| `invalid_expires`        | `expires` is not a valid positive Unix ms timestamp.                         |
| `unresolved_ref`         | Configured SecretRef could not be resolved.                                  |
| `ineligible_profile`     | Profile is incompatible with provider config (includes malformed key input). |
| `no_model`               | Credentials exist but no probeable model candidate resolved.                 |

Eligibility checks report `ok` as the reason code for usable credentials.

## Token credentials

Token credentials (`type: "token"`) support inline `token` and/or `tokenRef`.

### Eligibility rules

1. A token profile is ineligible when both `token` and `tokenRef` are absent (`missing_credential`).
2. `expires` is optional. When present it must be a finite number of Unix epoch milliseconds greater than `0` and no larger than the maximum JavaScript `Date` timestamp (8640000000000000).
3. If `expires` is invalid (wrong type, `NaN`, `0`, negative, non-finite, or beyond that maximum), the profile is ineligible with `invalid_expires`.
4. If `expires` is in the past, the profile is ineligible with `expired`.
5. `tokenRef` does not bypass `expires` validation.

### Resolution rules

1. Resolver semantics match eligibility semantics for `expires`.
2. For eligible profiles, token material may be resolved from the inline value or `tokenRef`.
3. Unresolvable refs produce `unresolved_ref` in `models status --probe` output.

## Agent copy portability

Agent auth inheritance is read-through. When an agent has no local profile, it resolves profiles from the shared auth store at runtime without copying secret material into its own credential store (`agents/<agentId>/agent/openclaw-agent.sqlite`). The shared store lives in `state/openclaw.sqlite` after `openclaw doctor --fix` performs the one-time relocation. Until then, doctor reports the legacy `agents/main/agent/openclaw-agent.sqlite` owner and leaves that agent undeletable.

Explicit copy flows, such as `openclaw agents add`, use this portability policy:

- `api_key` and `token` profiles are portable unless `copyToAgents: false`.
- `oauth` profiles are not portable by default because refresh tokens can be single-use or rotation-sensitive.
- Provider-owned OAuth flows may opt in with `copyToAgents: true` only when copying refresh material across agents is known safe; the opt-in only applies when the profile carries inline access/refresh material.

Non-portable profiles remain available through the shared read-through base unless the target agent signs in separately and creates its own local profile.

## Config-only auth routes

`auth.profiles` entries with `mode: "aws-sdk"` are routing metadata, not stored credentials. They are valid when the target provider uses `models.providers.<id>.auth: "aws-sdk"`, the route the plugin-owned Amazon Bedrock setup writes. These profile ids may appear in `auth.order` and session overrides even when no matching entry exists in the credential store.

Do not write `type: "aws-sdk"` into the credential store; stored credentials are only `api_key`, `token`, or `oauth`. If a legacy `auth-profiles.json` has such a marker, `openclaw doctor --fix` moves it to `auth.profiles` and removes the marker from the store.

## Explicit auth order filtering

- When `auth.order.<provider>` or the auth-store order override is set for a provider, `models status --probe` only probes profile ids that remain in the resolved auth order for that provider. The stored override wins over `auth.order` config.
- A stored profile for that provider that is omitted from the explicit order is not silently tried later. Probe output reports it with `reasonCode: excluded_by_auth_order` and the detail `Excluded by auth.order for this provider.`
- A valid session user pin is an explicit per-session exception: OpenClaw tries that profile first even when it is omitted from the provider order, then uses the ordered same-provider profiles as retry candidates. A cooldown or disabled window applies only to the affected profile; it does not suppress its eligible siblings.

## Probe target resolution

- Probe targets can come from auth profiles, environment credentials, or `models.json` (result `source`: `profile`, `env`, `models.json`).
- If a provider has credentials but OpenClaw cannot resolve a probeable model candidate for it, `models status --probe` reports `status: no_model` with `reasonCode: no_model`.

## External CLI credential discovery

- Runtime-only credentials owned by external CLIs (Claude CLI for `claude-cli`, Codex CLI for `openai`, MiniMax CLI for `minimax-portal`) are discovered only when the provider, runtime, or auth profile is in scope for the current operation, or when a stored local profile for that external source already exists.
- Auth-store callers choose an explicit external-CLI discovery mode: `none` for persisted/plugin auth only, `existing` for refreshing already stored external CLI profiles, or `scoped` for a concrete provider/profile set.
- Read-only/status paths pass `allowKeychainPrompt: false`; they use file-backed external CLI credentials only and do not read or reuse macOS Keychain results.

## OAuth SecretRef Policy Guard

SecretRef input is for static credentials only. OAuth credentials are runtime-mutable (refresh flows persist rotated tokens), so SecretRef-backed OAuth material would split mutable state across stores.

- If a profile credential is `type: "oauth"`, SecretRef objects are rejected for any credential material field on that profile.
- If `auth.profiles.<id>.mode` is `"oauth"`, SecretRef-backed `keyRef`/`tokenRef` input for that profile is rejected.
- Violations are hard failures (thrown errors) in startup/reload secret preparation and profile resolution paths.

## Legacy-Compatible Messaging

For script compatibility, probe errors keep this first line unchanged:

`Auth profile credentials are missing or expired.`

Human-friendly detail and the stable reason code follow on subsequent lines in the form `↳ Auth reason [code]: ...`.

## Related

- [Secrets management](/gateway/secrets)
- [Auth storage](/concepts/oauth)
