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NEAR AI Cloud: Aider and Zed

Updated 02-11-2026

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Configure Aider and Zed to use NEAR AI Cloud as an OpenAI-compatible provider.

NEAR AI Cloud exposes an OpenAI-compatible API, so Aider and Zed can use NEAR AI models with a base URL, an API key, and a model ID.

Use the gateway by default:

Setting Value
Base URL https://cloud-api.near.ai/v1
Model ID z-ai/glm-5.2
API key A NEAR AI Cloud API key

Create an API key from the NEAR AI Cloud Dashboard. Do not paste API keys into shared files, docs, issue comments, or screenshots.

Aider

Aider uses OpenAI-compatible endpoints through the standard OpenAI environment variables. Set them in the shell that starts Aider:

export OPENAI_API_BASE=https://cloud-api.near.ai/v1
export OPENAI_API_KEY="<your NEAR AI API key>"

Then run Aider with the openai/ model prefix:

aider --model openai/z-ai/glm-5.2

To refresh the model, update the command-line model string. For example, after confirming a new model ID from /v1/models, replace openai/z-ai/glm-5.2 with openai/<new-model-id>.

If Aider warns that it does not recognize a new model, first confirm the model works with the curl smoke test below. Aider may need a model metadata update before it can infer limits for a newly released model.

Optional: set limits and enable reasoning for Aider

Aider does not auto-detect limits or reasoning for an unknown model ID, so it falls back to generic defaults and may print Warning ...: Unknown context window size and costs, using sane defaults. These steps are optional — basic chat and tool calls work without them — but they fix the warning and expose GLM 5.2's thinking. Both files key on the exact --model string, so use openai/z-ai/glm-5.2.

Set the limits in .aider.model.metadata.json and pass it with --model-metadata-file:

{
  "openai/z-ai/glm-5.2": {
    "max_input_tokens": 500000,
    "max_output_tokens": 131072,
    "max_tokens": 131072,
    "litellm_provider": "openai",
    "mode": "chat"
  }
}

Allow the reasoning options in .aider.model.settings.yml and pass it with --model-settings-file:

- name: openai/z-ai/glm-5.2
  accepts_settings:
    - reasoning_effort

accepts_settings only allow-lists the reasoning options for this model; it does not turn reasoning on by itself. To actually request reasoning you must also pass --reasoning-effort on the launch command, which Aider sends as extra_body.reasoning_effort for an openai/-prefixed model:

aider --model openai/z-ai/glm-5.2 \
  --model-metadata-file .aider.model.metadata.json \
  --model-settings-file .aider.model.settings.yml \
  --reasoning-effort high

The model name in both files must match the --model string exactly, or the entries are ignored.

Zed

Zed supports custom OpenAI-compatible providers. Add NEAR AI Cloud to Zed from Agent Settings with agent: open settings, or add the provider to settings.json and keep the API key in Zed's provider settings UI, the system keychain, or an environment variable.

Do not store API keys in settings.json. For provider id nearai, Zed's generated environment variable is:

export NEARAI_API_KEY="<your NEAR AI API key>"

Add this provider config to Zed's settings.json:

{
  "language_models": {
    "openai_compatible": {
      "nearai": {
        "api_url": "https://cloud-api.near.ai/v1",
        "available_models": [
          {
            "name": "z-ai/glm-5.2",
            "display_name": "GLM 5.2",
            "max_tokens": 500000,
            "max_output_tokens": 131072,
            "reasoning_effort": "xhigh"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

reasoning_effort is what makes Zed expose GLM 5.2's thinking: if you omit it, Zed treats the model as non-thinking and shows no thinking toggle or effort variants in the agent panel. GLM 5.2 advertises reasoning in /v1/models, and it is a Z.AI model, for which Zed's docs recommend xhigh. Valid values are none, minimal, low, medium, high, and xhigh. Tool calling does not need a flag here — Zed defaults openai_compatible model capabilities.tools to true.

To refresh models in Zed, add or update entries in available_models, then restart Zed or reselect the provider in the model picker. If you used Agent Settings instead of editing JSON, open the NEAR AI provider entry and update the model ID and context window there.

Use https://cloud-api.near.ai/v1 as the provider API URL. Do not paste the full chat-completions route into Zed's API URL field.

Curl smoke test

Verify the model is listed:

curl -fsSL https://cloud-api.near.ai/v1/models \
  | jq -e '.data[] | select(.id == "z-ai/glm-5.2")'

Then verify a chat completion:

curl https://cloud-api.near.ai/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NEARAI_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "z-ai/glm-5.2",
    "messages": [
      {"role": "user", "content": "Reply with only: near-ai-ok"}
    ],
    "max_tokens": 20
  }'

If you only set OPENAI_API_KEY for Aider, either export NEARAI_API_KEY="$OPENAI_API_KEY" before running the curl command or replace $NEARAI_API_KEY with $OPENAI_API_KEY in the Authorization header.

Troubleshooting

Symptom Likely cause Fix
model not listed The client has a stale model list, or the model was not added to the manual provider config. Run the /v1/models curl check, copy the exact model ID, then update Aider's --model openai/<model-id> string or Zed's available_models entry.
401 Missing, invalid, expired, or unavailable API key in the process that starts the client. Generate or copy a NEAR AI Cloud API key, set OPENAI_API_KEY for Aider or NEARAI_API_KEY for the Zed nearai provider, then restart the client.
Wrong base URL includes /chat/completions The client expects a base URL, but the full request endpoint was pasted. Use https://cloud-api.near.ai/v1 in Aider's OPENAI_API_BASE and Zed's api_url. The client appends /chat/completions itself.

Sources Checked

Sources checked on 2026-06-23:

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