openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix Internal HTTP client (memory-core embedding) ignores HTTP_PROXY / HTTPS_PROXY env vars [1 participants]

Bug / Feature Request

Summary

OpenClaw's internal HTTP client used by memory-core for embedding API calls does not respect HTTP_PROXY / HTTPS_PROXY environment variables or the env config in openclaw.json.

Environment

• OS: macOS 15.3 (arm64)
• OpenClaw: 2026.4.5
• Node: v25.8.0
• Location: Hong Kong (Gemini API restricted region)

Steps to Reproduce

1. Configure plugins.entries.memory-core with dreaming.enabled: true
2. Set memorySearch.provider: "gemini" (default auto-detection)
3. Add proxy config in openclaw.json: "env": {"HTTP_PROXY": "http://127.0.0.1:7890", "HTTPS_PROXY": "http://127.0.0.1:7890"}
4. Run openclaw memory index --force

Expected Behavior

The Gemini embedding API call should route through the configured proxy, allowing users in restricted regions (e.g. Hong Kong, China mainland) to use Gemini embeddings.

Actual Behavior

Memory index failed (main): gemini embeddings failed: 400 {
  "error": {
    "code": 400,
    "message": "User location is not supported for the API use.",
    "status": "FAILED_PRECONDITION"
  }
}

The request goes direct, ignoring proxy settings. Verified by testing the same API key with curl --proxy which works correctly.

Also tested setting env vars directly in the shell before running the CLI:

HTTP_PROXY=http://127.0.0.1:7890 HTTPS_PROXY=http://127.0.0.1:7890 openclaw memory index --force

Same error — the internal HTTP client does not read proxy env vars.

Workaround

Switched to memorySearch.provider: "local" (node-llama-cpp). Works but loses Gemini's superior embedding quality.

Suggested Fix

The internal HTTP/fetch client used for embedding (and potentially other provider API calls) should:

1. Read HTTP_PROXY/HTTPS_PROXY from both shell env and openclaw.json config env block
2. Apply proxy settings to outbound API requests
3. This would benefit not just Gemini embedding but any provider API call in restricted network environments

Additional Context

• The openclaw.json config already has an env block with proxy settings, but memory-core's embedding HTTP client doesn't use it
• The 2026.4.5 changelog mentions "Providers/request overrides" with proxy controls, but these may only apply to the main provider transport, not the embedding subsystem
• Users behind corporate firewalls or in API-restricted regions are affected