Vercel AI Gateway Introduction
Vercel AI Gateway is Vercel's AI request proxy service, leveraging their global edge network to accelerate AI API requests. It supports multiple providers and offers a unified entry point with caching and logging.
Prerequisites
- A Vercel account (Hobby plan is fine to start)
- Existing AI provider API keys
- A running OpenClaw instance
Configure in OpenClaw
{
"providers": {
"vercel-openai": {
"type": "openai",
"baseUrl": "https://gateway.ai.vercel.sh/v1/openai",
"apiKey": "{{OPENAI_API_KEY}}",
"models": ["gpt-4o", "gpt-4o-mini"]
},
"vercel-anthropic": {
"type": "anthropic",
"baseUrl": "https://gateway.ai.vercel.sh/v1/anthropic",
"apiKey": "{{ANTHROPIC_API_KEY}}",
"models": ["claude-sonnet-4-20250514"]
}
}
}
Caching
Vercel AI Gateway supports request caching with exact match and semantic caching strategies. Great for FAQ scenarios.
Edge Acceleration
Vercel's edge network has hundreds of nodes worldwide. AI Gateway automatically selects the nearest node, reducing latency for OpenClaw instances deployed in different regions.
Monitoring
The Vercel Dashboard shows request volume trends, average latency, error rates, token usage, and cache hit rates.
Troubleshooting
- Ensure the URL includes the provider path (e.g.,
/openai) - API keys are passed through to the upstream provider
- Increase timeout settings for network fluctuations
Summary
Vercel AI Gateway leverages its global edge network to provide low-latency, high-reliability AI request proxying for OpenClaw. Simple to configure, ideal for teams already in the Vercel ecosystem.