Get your API keys out of openclaw.json

OpenClaw keeps your model and tool keys in plain text by default. MoltenRock moves them into an encrypted vault on your Mac and leaves a pointer behind.

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The short answer

To secure OpenClaw’s API keys, move them out of openclaw.json and let OpenClaw resolve them from a vault. MoltenRock does this on a Mac: pair OpenClaw, choose the keys to protect, and MoltenRock moves each plaintext key into its Secure Enclave vault and leaves a pointer in the config. You run the one cleanup command it shows, then openclaw secrets reload. Every key OpenClaw resolves is logged.

The problem

openclaw.json is a plaintext key ring

Plain text on disk
Model keys, bot tokens and tool keys sit in one readable file.
Copies multiply
OpenClaw keeps its own copies and regenerates derived files, so keys reappear.
Anything can read it
Any process, and any other agent in that folder, can open the file.

How MoltenRock handles it

A vault OpenClaw asks by name

Sealed keys
Each key lives in MoltenRock’s Secure Enclave vault, encrypted at rest.
Pointers, not values
openclaw.json keeps a reference; OpenClaw resolves the real value from MoltenRock.
Every release logged
The Activity log shows when OpenClaw resolved which key.
Reversible
Leave anytime: keys are written back.

How it works

Three steps

01
Pair
In MoltenRock: OpenClaw → Add OpenClaw agent → name it → Pair.
02
Migrate and clean up
Choose the keys, then run the one cleanup command MoltenRock shows.
03
Reload secrets
Run openclaw secrets reload. MoltenRock can’t see the gateway, so this step is yours.

Straight answer

Gotchas we’ve seen

Stays on your Mac

Your keys, sealed in the vault
A pointer in openclaw.json instead of the value
A log of every key OpenClaw resolves

Leaves your Mac

Each key, to OpenClaw, when it resolves it to make a call
OpenClaw’s own key-database row can shadow the vault until it’s removed (check with openclaw models auth list)
Nothing to a MoltenRock server; there is none

Questions

What people ask first

A key reappears after I migrated it. Why?

OpenClaw keeps its own copies. The durable removal is OpenClaw’s key-database row; until it’s gone, OpenClaw’s copy shadows the vault.

Is the cleanup risky?

OpenClaw’s cleanup is all-or-nothing: if anything’s wrong it changes nothing, so a failure costs a retry, never a key.

Does this cover email too?

Email uses its own token; pairing OpenClaw never touches your mail. For email, see MoltenMail.

What does it cost?

Free with 3 keys and 1 agent; MoltenRock Pro is unlimited from $9.99 a month.

OpenClaw, without the plaintext.

Free for Mac. No account, no cloud, no telemetry.