Anthropic recently tightened how third-party tools can use Claude through consumer subscriptions. If you're running OpenClaw or any self-hosted AI setup) on a $20 or $200 Claude plan, it's likely broken or about to be. The fix is switching your auth provider from Anthropic direct to OpenRouter. Why OpenRouter works: - Same Claude brain, routes through OpenRouter's layer instead - Far fewer restrictions on tool use and external calls - Instant fallback to Gemini 2.5 or GPT-4o if Claude blocks anything - One API key manages everything - Cost difference is negligible (~3% OpenRouter margin) The config change: 1. Get an OpenRouter API key (openrouter.ai - free to sign up) 2. In your OpenClaw config, swap the base URL from Anthropic's endpoint to OpenRouter's 3. Set your model to anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6 via OpenRouter 4. Add a fallback model (google/gemini-2.5-pro or openai/gpt-4o) 5. Test one agent, then roll it across Takes about 15-20 minutes if your config is clean. If you're already using OpenRouter for other things (Mercury 2, etc.) you likely have the API key already. Hit me in the comments if you get stuck anywhere.

This is wild! Lots of interesting take-aways. I'll add some links to them in the comments. https://x.com/Fried_rice/status/2038894956459290963