Amazon Bedrock

AWS managed model service using Bedrock Converse API. Auth via AWS SDK credential chain (IAM roles, env vars, profiles). Supports auto-discovery of Bedrock models.

Amazon Bedrock is AWS's managed model service that provides access to foundation models from Anthropic, Meta, Mistral, Cohere, and Amazon's own Titan models — all through the AWS Bedrock Converse API. For OpenClaw, this means you can run Claude models through your existing AWS billing and IAM infrastructure. The primary appeal is enterprise integration. If your organization already uses AWS, Bedrock lets you access Claude without a separate Anthropic account. Authentication uses the standard AWS SDK credential chain (IAM roles, environment variables, or named profiles), which integrates cleanly with existing AWS security posture. This is particularly valuable in corporate environments where new vendor approvals are slow. Pricing for Claude models on Bedrock matches Anthropic's direct pricing closely — Claude Opus 4.6 at $5/$25 per MTok, Sonnet at $3/$15. Bedrock also offers Provisioned Throughput for predictable workloads and batch inference for non-time-sensitive tasks. AWS adds no markup on the base model pricing, but you do need to manage AWS infrastructure (VPC, IAM, CloudWatch) which has its own overhead. OpenClaw integrates with Bedrock via the bedrock-converse-stream API type, supporting streaming, tool use, vision, and thinking. The auto-discovery feature detects available Bedrock models in your account. One key difference from direct Anthropic: model IDs use the Bedrock format (e.g., us.anthropic.claude-opus-4-6-v1:0) rather than simple model names.

Tags: aws, enterprise, bedrock, auto-discovery

Use Cases

  • Enterprise OpenClaw deployments where AWS is the standard cloud provider
  • Teams with strict vendor management policies — Bedrock avoids adding a new vendor (Anthropic)
  • Multi-service AWS workflows where AI costs consolidate on a single AWS bill
  • Compliance-sensitive environments leveraging AWS's security certifications (HIPAA, SOC 2, FedRAMP)
  • Bedrock auto-discovery for dynamically selecting available models in your AWS account

Tips

  • Use IAM roles instead of API keys for authentication — more secure and integrates with AWS's security model.
  • Enable CloudWatch logging for Bedrock to track usage and costs alongside your other AWS services.
  • If you're already on AWS, Bedrock simplifies billing — everything on one AWS invoice. No separate Anthropic account needed.
  • Use the AWS region closest to your OpenClaw host for lowest latency. us-east-1 has the most model availability.
  • Set up AWS Cost Explorer alerts to monitor Bedrock spend — it can add up quickly with Opus-class models.
  • For cost optimization, consider Bedrock's batch inference for non-interactive tasks like data enrichment.

Known Issues & Gotchas

  • Model IDs use verbose Bedrock format (us.anthropic.claude-opus-4-6-v1:0) — different from Anthropic's direct API naming.
  • You may need to request model access in the AWS console before models appear. Some models require explicit enablement per region.
  • AWS credential chain can be confusing — IAM roles, environment variables, profiles, and SSO all interact. Test with `aws sts get-caller-identity` first.
  • Not all Anthropic features are available on Bedrock immediately. New Claude releases may take weeks to appear on Bedrock.
  • Prompt caching support may differ from direct Anthropic API. Check Bedrock-specific documentation.
  • Cross-region inference (the 'us.' prefix) routes to multiple regions. If you need specific region compliance, use region-specific model IDs.
  • Bedrock has separate quotas from Anthropic direct — your Anthropic tier doesn't transfer. Request quota increases through AWS Service Quotas.

Alternatives

  • Anthropic (Direct)
  • OpenAI
  • Google Cloud Vertex AI
  • OpenRouter

Community Feedback

With Claude Sonnet 4.5 in us-east-1, you pay $3.00 per million input tokens but $15.00 per million output tokens — a 5x multiplier.

— TrueFoundry Blog

Bedrock is perfect if you're already all-in on AWS. Same models, same pricing, but everything flows through your existing billing and IAM. No new vendor to onboard.

— Reddit r/aws

The Bedrock model IDs are a nightmare. us.anthropic.claude-opus-4-6-v1:0 — who designed these? Just let me say claude-opus-4-6.

— Reddit r/aws

Configuration Examples

Bedrock with environment variables

providers:
  amazon-bedrock:
    # Auth via AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID + AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY env vars
    # Or IAM role if running on EC2/ECS/Lambda
    model: amazon-bedrock/us.anthropic.claude-sonnet-4-5-v1:0
    region: us-east-1

Bedrock with AWS profile

providers:
  amazon-bedrock:
    profile: my-aws-profile
    region: us-west-2
    model: amazon-bedrock/us.anthropic.claude-opus-4-6-v1:0

Bedrock with auto-discovery

providers:
  amazon-bedrock:
    region: us-east-1
    # Auto-discovers available models in your account
    model: amazon-bedrock/us.anthropic.claude-sonnet-4-5-v1:0