openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: gpt-image-2 image generation does not use existing openai-codex OAuth and still requires OPENAI_API_KEY [1 comments, 1 participants]

Summary

openai/gpt-image-2 image generation does not appear to reuse an existing openai-codex OAuth profile in my setup, even though the docs say it should.

This seems different from #70885.

• #70885 is about missing image scope
• my case is that OpenClaw appears to go down the direct OpenAI API-key path for image generation and errors before it even uses Codex OAuth

Environment

• OpenClaw: 2026.4.22
• observed on: 2026-04-24
• platform: macOS
• default model: openai-codex/gpt-5.4
• image generation model: openai/gpt-image-2
• openai-codex OAuth profile is present and healthy
• no OPENAI_API_KEY configured

Relevant config/auth state

• agents.defaults.imageGenerationModel.primary = openai/gpt-image-2
• openclaw infer model auth status shows openai-codex OAuth status = ok
• Codex text model usage works normally

Repro

openclaw infer image generate \
  --model openai/gpt-image-2 \
  --size 1024x1536 \
  --output /tmp/test.png \
  --prompt "simple test prompt" \
  --json

Actual result

The OpenAI candidate fails with:

No API key found for provider "openai". You are authenticated with OpenAI Codex OAuth. Use openai-codex/gpt-5.4 (OAuth) or set OPENAI_API_KEY to use openai/gpt-5.4.

Then OpenClaw falls through to fallback providers.

Expected result

Based on the docs, openai/gpt-image-2 should reuse the configured openai-codex OAuth profile instead of requiring OPENAI_API_KEY.

Why I think this is a different bug from #70885

In my case, the failure does not look like "OAuth is used but missing image scope".

It looks like image generation is not actually being routed through the Codex OAuth-backed path at all, and instead still requires direct OpenAI provider auth (OPENAI_API_KEY).

Extra notes

• openclaw infer image providers shows OpenAI available/configured/selected with default model gpt-image-2
• docs currently say Codex OAuth should work for openai/gpt-image-2
• so this may be one of:
  1. CLI openclaw infer image generate is not wired to the same OAuth-aware path described in the docs/tool docs
  2. a regression causes the OpenAI image generation provider to bypass the Codex OAuth route and require direct API-key auth

Docs reference

https://docs.openclaw.ai/tools/image-generation

The docs currently say that when an openai-codex OAuth profile is configured, OpenClaw routes image requests through that same OAuth profile for openai/gpt-image-2.