[Bug]: `google-vertex` provider returns 404 from Google when models are accessed via `openclaw agent`, but direct curl with same URL + ADC token works

### Bug type

Behavior bug (incorrect output/state without crash)

### Beta release blocker

No

### Summary

`openclaw agent` calls to `google-vertex/*` models fail with `FailoverError: 404` even though the same URL + ADC token return HTTP 200 via curl, and patched debug logs in the google-vertex transport never trigger — indicating the request is being routed through an unexpected code path.

### Steps to reproduce

Here's a clean copy-paste version for the GitHub issue:

---

## Steps to Reproduce

**Environment:** OpenClaw 2026.5.18, macOS, GCP project with `aiplatform.googleapis.com` API enabled, ADC configured (`gcloud auth application-default login`).

**1. Configure `google-vertex` provider in `openclaw.json`:**

```bash
cat > /tmp/gv.json5 << 'EOF'
{
  "models": {
    "providers": {
      "google-vertex": {
        "baseUrl": "https://aiplatform.googleapis.com",
        "apiKey": "***",
        "models": [
          {
            "id": "gemini-2.5-flash",
            "name": "Gemini 2.5 Flash",
            "reasoning": true,
            "input": ["text", "image"],
            "cost": { "input": 0.30, "output": 2.50, "cacheRead": 0.03, "cacheWrite": 0.30 },
            "contextWindow": 1048576,
            "maxTokens": 65536
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "models": { "google-vertex/gemini-2.5-flash": {} }
    }
  },
  "env": {
    "vars": {
      "GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT": "<your-gcp-project>",
      "GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION": "global"
    }
  }
}
EOF
openclaw config patch --file /tmp/gv.json5 --replace-path "models.providers.google-vertex"
openclaw gateway restart
```

**2. Verify model is registered:**
```bash
openclaw models list | grep gemini-2.5-flash
# google-vertex/gemini-2.5-flash    text+image  1024k  no  yes  configured
```

**3. Call the model:**
```bash
openclaw agent --agent main --model google-vertex/gemini-2.5-flash --message "hi"
```

**Actual result:**
```
GatewayClientRequestError: FailoverError: 404 <!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang=en>
  <meta charset=utf-8>
  <title>Error 404 (Not Found)!!1</title>
```

**Expected result:** Model response (similar to `anthropic-vertex/*` models which work correctly with the same ADC).

**4. Confirm the URL itself works via direct curl** (with the same ADC token):
```bash
TOKEN=*** auth application-default print-access-token)
curl -s -o /dev/null -w "HTTP %{http_code}\n" \
  "https://aiplatform.googleapis.com/v1/projects/<your-project>/locations/global/publishers/google/models/gemini-2.5-flash:streamGenerateContent?alt=sse" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"contents":[{"role":"user","parts":[{"text":"hi"}]}]}'
# HTTP 200
```

This is the same URL OpenClaw's `buildGoogleVertexRequestUrl()` in `dist/transport-stream-BGlgI5ge.js` should construct. So the URL/auth/payload work — but the request from `openclaw agent` produces a 404 with HTML body (Google's default not-found page), suggesting the actual outgoing request goes to a different URL than expected.

**Additional debug:** Adding `console.log` statements at the entry of `createGoogleTransportStreamFn` (transport-stream.js) and inside `createStreamFn` (provider-registration.js, the Google plugin) — **neither log line is reached** when calling a `google-vertex/*` model. This suggests the request is being routed through a different code path entirely.



### Expected behavior

`openclaw agent --agent main --model google-vertex/gemini-2.5-flash --message "hi"` should return the model's text response and route through `createGoogleVertexTransportStreamFn` in `dist/transport-stream-BGlgI5ge.js` — matching the behavior of `anthropic-vertex/claude-opus-4-7` calls, which succeed against `https://aiplatform.us.rep.googleapis.com` using the same ADC credentials in this OpenClaw 2026.5.18 install.

### Actual behavior

Calls to any `google-vertex/*` model immediately return `GatewayClientRequestError: FailoverError: 404 <!DOCTYPE html>... <title>Error 404 (Not Found)!!1</title>` (Google's default not-found HTML page), while identical requests to `anthropic-vertex/*` models succeed and the same target URL (`https://aiplatform.googleapis.com/v1/projects/<id>/locations/global/publishers/google/models/gemini-2.5-flash:streamGenerateContent?alt=sse`) returns HTTP 200 when called directly via `curl` with the gateway's ADC token; additionally, `console.log` statements added at the entry of `createGoogleTransportStreamFn` (dist/transport-stream-BGlgI5ge.js) and inside the Google plugin's `createStreamFn` (dist/provider-registration-DWpi0i_i.js) never appear in the gateway log when a `google-vertex/*` model is invoked, indicating the request never reaches the expected transport function.

### OpenClaw version

OpenClaw 2026.5.18

### Operating system

macOS 26.3.1 

### Install method

npm global

### Model

`google-vertex/gemini-2.5-flash` (also reproduced with `google-vertex/gemini-3.5-flash`, `google-vertex/gemini-3.1-pro-preview`, `google-vertex/gemini-2.5-pro`, and `google-vertex/gemini-2.5-flash-lite` — all return the same 404).

### Provider / routing chain

Direct: OpenClaw gateway → google plugin (`dist/extensions/google/index.js`) → google-vertex transport (expected: `createGoogleVertexTransportStreamFn` in `dist/transport-stream-BGlgI5ge.js`) → Vertex AI endpoint `https://aiplatform.googleapis.com/v1/projects/<id>/locations/global/publishers/google/models/<model>:streamGenerateContent?alt=sse`, with auth via ADC (`gcp-vertex-credentials` marker → `resolveGoogleVertexAuthorizedUserHeaders` minting a Bearer token from `~/.config/gcloud/application_default_credentials.json`). No external proxies, gateways, or routers; the gateway is bound to loopback (`ws://127.0.0.1:18789`).

### Additional provider/model setup details

- **Same ADC works for `anthropic-vertex`** (Claude Opus 4.7/4.6, Sonnet 4.6, Haiku 4.5 all succeed via the `@openclaw/anthropic-vertex-provider` plugin at `~/.openclaw/npm/node_modules/@openclaw/anthropic-vertex-provider`), so credentials and ADC discovery are healthy.

- **`google` provider with API key works** for the same Gemini model IDs (`google/gemini-2.5-flash`, `google/gemini-3.5-flash`, etc.) using `GEMINI_API_KEY` from macOS Keychain — confirming the models themselves are reachable from this machine and project.

- **Schema enforces `models.providers.google-vertex.baseUrl`** as required, even though the plugin's `providerEndpoints` config in `dist/extensions/google/openclaw.plugin.json` defines host-based detection for both `aiplatform.googleapis.com` (with `googleVertexRegion: global`) and `*-aiplatform.googleapis.com` (with `googleVertexRegionHostSuffix`).

- **Tried both endpoint patterns**, all failed identically:
  - Regional: `baseUrl=https://us-central1-aiplatform.googleapis.com` + `GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION=us-central1`
  - Global: `baseUrl=https://aiplatform.googleapis.com` + `GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION=global`

- **`env.vars` in `openclaw.json` does not propagate to gateway `process.env`** — confirmed via `ps eww` on the gateway PID showing `GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT` / `GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION` absent until I added them to the LaunchAgent's service-env wrapper file. This may be relevant since `resolveGoogleVertexProject()` reads from `process.env` directly.

- **Plugin registration confirmed:** `openclaw plugins list` shows google plugin enabled (stock bundle `dist/extensions/google/index.js`, v2026.5.18), and `openclaw models list` shows all `google-vertex/*` entries with `Auth: yes` and `configured` tag.

- **`openclaw config validate` passes** for the offending config.

- **Plist `StandardErrorPath` is `/dev/null`** — debug `console.error` is dropped, so debug logs were added as `console.log` (which does reach `~/Library/Logs/openclaw/gateway.log`) and still never fired for `google-vertex/*` calls.

### Logs, screenshots, and evidence

```shell
**Gateway log — the actual 404 error** (`~/Library/Logs/openclaw/gateway.log`):

2026-05-20T15:40:10.374-06:00 [ws] ⇄ res ✗ agent errorCode=UNAVAILABLE 
  errorMessage=FailoverError: 404 <!DOCTYPE html>
  <html lang=en>
    <meta charset=utf-8>
    <meta name=viewport content="initial-scale=1, minimum-scale=1, width=device-width">
    <title>Error 404 (Not Found)!!1</title>
    <style>
      *{margin:0;padding:0}html...
  runId=f9d34afc-89c2-4cee-ab89-4ff246f110a1


**Side-by-side: same URL via curl returns 200, via OpenClaw returns 404:**

$ TOKEN=*** auth application-default print-access-token)
$ for url in \
    "https://aiplatform.googleapis.com/v1/projects/<REDACTED>/locations/us-central1/publishers/google/models/gemini-2.5-flash:streamGenerateContent?alt=sse" \
    "https://aiplatform.googleapis.com/v1/projects/<REDACTED>/locations/global/publishers/google/models/gemini-2.5-flash:streamGenerateContent?alt=sse" \
    "https://us-central1-aiplatform.googleapis.com/v1/projects/<REDACTED>/locations/us-central1/publishers/google/models/gemini-2.5-flash:streamGenerateContent?alt=sse"; do
    curl -s -o /dev/null -w "HTTP %{http_code}  $url\n" "$url" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d '{"contents":[{"role":"user","parts":[{"text":"hi"}]}]}'
  done

HTTP 200  https://aiplatform.googleapis.com/v1/projects/<REDACTED>/locations/us-central1/publishers/google/models/gemini-2.5-flash:streamGenerateContent?alt=sse
HTTP 200  https://aiplatform.googleapis.com/v1/projects/<REDACTED>/locations/global/publishers/google/models/gemini-2.5-flash:streamGenerateContent?alt=sse
HTTP 200  https://us-central1-aiplatform.googleapis.com/v1/projects/<REDACTED>/locations/us-central1/publishers/google/models/gemini-2.5-flash:streamGenerateContent?alt=sse

$ openclaw agent --agent main --model google-vertex/gemini-2.5-flash --message "hi" 2>&1 | tail -3
GatewayClientRequestError: FailoverError: 404 <!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang=en>
  <title>Error 404 (Not Found)!!1</title>


**`openclaw models list` — proving the model is configured and "Auth: yes":**

Model                                      Input      Ctx         Local Auth  Tags
anthropic-vertex/claude-opus-4-7           text+image 977k        no    yes   default,configured
anthropic-vertex/claude-haiku-4-5@20251001 text+image 195k        no    yes   configured
google-vertex/gemini-2.5-pro               text+image 1024k       no    yes   configured
google-vertex/gemini-2.5-flash             text+image 1024k       no    yes   configured
google-vertex/gemini-3.5-flash             text+image 1024k       no    yes   configured
google-vertex/gemini-3.1-pro-preview       text+image 1024k       no    yes   configured
google/gemini-2.5-flash                    text+image 1024k       no    yes   configured

(`anthropic-vertex/*` and `google/*` work; `google-vertex/*` 404s.)

**Debug patches that never triggered** — added to `/opt/homebrew/lib/node_modules/openclaw/dist/`:

// transport-stream-BGlgI5ge.js, entry of createGoogleTransportStreamFn:
console.log("[DEBUG-TRANSPORT-CALLED]", kind, "model.id=", rawModel?.id,
            "model.api=", rawModel?.api, "model.provider=", rawModel?.provider);

// provider-registration-DWpi0i_i.js, top of createStreamFn:
console.log("[DEBUG-CREATESTREAMFN]", "model.id=", model?.id, "model.api=", model?.api,
            "model.provider=", model?.provider, "hasADC=", hasGoogleVertexAuthorizedUserAdcSync());

Neither line ever appears in `~/Library/Logs/openclaw/gateway.log` after restart and multiple `google-vertex/*` calls. The same calls **do** produce the 404 errors logged above, so the gateway is making *some* outbound request — just not via this code path.

**Versions:**

$ openclaw --version
OpenClaw 2026.5.18 (50a2481)

$ node --version
v26.0.0

$ sw_vers
ProductName:    macOS
ProductVersion: 26.3.1
BuildVersion:   arm64

$ openclaw plugins list | grep google
@openclaw/google  google  openclaw  enabled  stock:google/index.js  2026.5.18


**Workaround in use:** `google` provider with `GEMINI_API_KEY` (works fine). The `google-vertex` config is left in place for when this is fixed.

Full investigation notes (with all debug steps) available at `~/.openclaw/workspace/issues/openclaw-google-vertex-404.md` — happy to attach or share if useful.
```

### Impact and severity

- **Affected users/systems/channels:** Any OpenClaw user trying to access Google Gemini models via the `google-vertex` provider (ADC/Vertex AI billing path). The `google` provider (API key / AI Studio billing) and `anthropic-vertex` provider are unaffected.
- **Severity:** Blocks the Vertex AI routing workflow entirely for Gemini. Workaround exists (use `google` provider with `GEMINI_API_KEY`), so not a hard block — but it forces a billing-surface choice users may not want (AI Studio billing vs. unified GCP billing).
- **Frequency:** Always reproducible. Every `openclaw agent` call against any `google-vertex/*` model fails with the same 404 in this install.
- **Consequence:** (1) Cannot route Gemini calls through Vertex AI for unified GCP billing/quota/audit alongside Anthropic on Vertex. (2) Cost-tracking and quota dashboards in GCP miss the Gemini portion of agent traffic. (3) Engineering time lost debugging (in this case ~6 hours across multiple gateway restarts before identifying the workaround). (4) Forces dual-billing setup (GCP for Anthropic-Vertex, Google AI Studio for Gemini API key) which complicates expense management for orgs that prefer single-vendor billing.

### Additional information

NOT_ENOUGH_INFO

(We don't have a known-good version for `google-vertex` on this install — it's been broken since we first configured it today. No prior baseline exists to identify when it regressed, if ever.)

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[Bug]: `google-vertex` provider returns 404 from Google when models are accessed via `openclaw agent`, but direct curl with same URL + ADC token works #84804

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Uh oh!

[Bug]: google-vertex provider returns 404 from Google when models are accessed via openclaw agent, but direct curl with same URL + ADC token works #84804

Description

Bug type

Beta release blocker

Summary

Steps to reproduce

Steps to Reproduce

Expected behavior

Actual behavior

OpenClaw version

Operating system

Install method

Model

Provider / routing chain

Additional provider/model setup details

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Impact and severity

Additional information

Metadata

Metadata

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Labels

Type

Fields

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[Bug]: `google-vertex` provider returns 404 from Google when models are accessed via `openclaw agent`, but direct curl with same URL + ADC token works #84804