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OpenClaw can browse the Nevermined Catalog and pay for services as it works. You add one remote MCP server, paste your Nevermined API key, and OpenClaw does the rest. This is the per-host walkthrough; for the full tool surface and the safety model, see Using the Catalog from a harness.
OpenClaw connects with a plain Nevermined API key, not the OAuth “approve a spending cap” flow that some assistants (Claude, ChatGPT) use. The key is your credential — it spends whatever its Nevermined account funds, so you set the budget on your account, not in OpenClaw.

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Before you connect

1

A Nevermined account

Free, at nevermined.app.
2

A Nevermined API key

Create a plain API key in the app — Settings → Global NVM API Keys — for the environment you want, and send the whole string, prefix included (sandbox:… or live:…). A key minted by an OAuth flow can’t pay through the Router’s delegation routes, so use a plain one. See Get a Nevermined API key.
3

A way to pay

The key spends from one of two budgets you set up once: a Nevermined Subscription whose monthly credits a plain key can spend, or a spending delegation — a capped, revocable budget funded from your own wallet (Using the Catalog from a harness walks through it). Discovery is free and needs neither.
Start on sandbox, where you use testnet funds and nothing costs real money, before you point OpenClaw at live.

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Add the Catalog to OpenClaw

1

Add the server

Add the Catalog MCP server with the OpenClaw CLI, pointing at the environment you want and passing your Nevermined API key as an Authorization header:
Leave the server’s auth unset — if you set auth: oauth, OpenClaw ignores the static Authorization header.

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Your Nevermined API key

That key is your credential — there is no separate consent screen to approve. Paste it in place of <your Nevermined API key> and keep the prefix: a live: key for mcp.live, a sandbox: key for mcp.sandbox. The key spends whatever its account funds — your Subscription credits, or a spending delegation funded from your wallet — so the budget and the audit trail live on your Nevermined account, not in OpenClaw. Treat it like a password: never commit it or paste it into a shared chat (prefer an env-var reference such as Bearer ${MCP_TOKEN}). Every way to mint one: Get a Nevermined API key.

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Make your first paid call

Ask for something only live data can answer, and name the server so OpenClaw reaches for it rather than answering from memory.
1

Browse for free

Ask “list the Nevermined catalog categories” — a free tool call, no payment.
2

Ask it to buy

“Buy the service with slug <slug> through the Nevermined server and show me the response.” The paid call draws on your subscription credits or delegation and returns the merchant’s response.
If OpenClaw answers without paying, it answered from its own knowledge — name the server and ask for live data. More on phrasing: Catalog MCP tips.

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Disconnect or rotate the key

  • Stop the credential (Nevermined side). The key is the credential, so to cut OpenClaw off, rotate or delete the key in the app (Settings → Global NVM API Keys) — every call with the old key then fails. To cap spending without revoking the key, revoke the delegation it spends from in Payment methods; discovery still works.
  • Remove the server (OpenClaw side). Remove the Nevermined server from Settings → MCP, or delete its block under mcp.servers in your openclaw.json.
To spend again, paste a fresh key; if you revoked the delegation, create a new one — see Using the Catalog from a harness.

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Next

Using the Catalog from a harness

The full plain-key playbook — discovery, delegations, and the safety rules.

Catalog MCP — full reference

Every tool, the API-key header, and every refusal code.