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ds4

ds4 serves DeepSeek V4 Flash from a local Metal backend with an OpenAI-compatible /v1 API. OpenClaw connects to ds4 through the generic openai-completions provider family.

ds4 is not a bundled OpenClaw provider plugin. Configure it under models.providers.ds4, then select ds4/deepseek-v4-flash.

  • Provider id: ds4
  • Plugin: none
  • API: OpenAI-compatible Chat Completions (openai-completions)
  • Suggested base URL: http://127.0.0.1:18000/v1
  • Model id: deepseek-v4-flash
  • Tool calls: supported through OpenAI-style tools and tool_calls
  • Reasoning: DeepSeek-style thinking and reasoning_effort

Requirements

Section titled “Requirements”
  • macOS with Metal support.
  • A working ds4 checkout with ds4-server and the DeepSeek V4 Flash GGUF file.
  • Enough memory for the context you choose. Larger --ctx values allocate more KV memory when the server starts.

Quickstart

Section titled “Quickstart”

  1. Start ds4-server

    Replace `

    ` with your ds4 checkout path.

    ```bash

    /ds4-server
    —model

    /ds4flash.gguf
    —host 127.0.0.1
    —port 18000
    —ctx 32768
    —tokens 128 ```

  2. Verify the OpenAI-compatible endpoint

    Terminal window
    curl http://127.0.0.1:18000/v1/models

    The response should include deepseek-v4-flash.

  3. Add the OpenClaw provider config

    Add the config from Full config, then run a one-shot model check:

    Terminal window
    openclaw infer model run \
      --local \
      --model ds4/deepseek-v4-flash \
      --thinking off \
      --prompt "Reply with exactly: openclaw-ds4-ok" \
      --json

Full config

Section titled “Full config”

Use this config when ds4 is already running on 127.0.0.1:18000.

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "ds4/deepseek-v4-flash" },
      models: {
        "ds4/deepseek-v4-flash": {
          alias: "DS4 local",
        },
      },
    },
  },
  models: {
    mode: "merge",
    providers: {
      ds4: {
        baseUrl: "http://127.0.0.1:18000/v1",
        apiKey: "ds4-local",
        api: "openai-completions",
        timeoutSeconds: 300,
        models: [
          {
            id: "deepseek-v4-flash",
            name: "DeepSeek V4 Flash (ds4)",
            reasoning: true,
            input: ["text"],
            cost: { input: 0, output: 0, cacheRead: 0, cacheWrite: 0 },
            contextWindow: 32768,
            maxTokens: 128,
            compat: {
              supportsUsageInStreaming: true,
              supportsReasoningEffort: true,
              maxTokensField: "max_tokens",
              supportsStrictMode: false,
              thinkingFormat: "deepseek",
              supportedReasoningEfforts: ["low", "medium", "high", "xhigh"],
            },
          },
        ],
      },
    },
  },
}

Keep contextWindow aligned with the ds4-server --ctx value. Keep maxTokens aligned with --tokens unless you intentionally want OpenClaw to request less output than the server default.

On-demand startup

Section titled “On-demand startup”

OpenClaw can start ds4 only when a ds4/... model is selected. Add localService to the same provider entry:

{
  models: {
    providers: {
      ds4: {
        baseUrl: "http://127.0.0.1:18000/v1",
        apiKey: "ds4-local",
        api: "openai-completions",
        timeoutSeconds: 300,
        localService: {
          command: "<DS4_DIR>/ds4-server",
          args: [
            "--model",
            "<DS4_DIR>/ds4flash.gguf",
            "--host",
            "127.0.0.1",
            "--port",
            "18000",
            "--ctx",
            "32768",
            "--tokens",
            "128",
          ],
          cwd: "<DS4_DIR>",
          healthUrl: "http://127.0.0.1:18000/v1/models",
          readyTimeoutMs: 300000,
          idleStopMs: 0,
        },
        models: [
          {
            id: "deepseek-v4-flash",
            name: "DeepSeek V4 Flash (ds4)",
            reasoning: true,
            input: ["text"],
            cost: { input: 0, output: 0, cacheRead: 0, cacheWrite: 0 },
            contextWindow: 32768,
            maxTokens: 128,
            compat: {
              supportsUsageInStreaming: true,
              supportsReasoningEffort: true,
              maxTokensField: "max_tokens",
              supportsStrictMode: false,
              thinkingFormat: "deepseek",
              supportedReasoningEfforts: ["low", "medium", "high", "xhigh"],
            },
          },
        ],
      },
    },
  },
}

command must be an absolute executable path. Shell lookup and ~ expansion are not used. See Local model services for every localService field.

Think Max

Section titled “Think Max”

ds4 applies Think Max only when both conditions are true:

  • ds4-server starts with --ctx 393216 or higher.
  • The request uses reasoning_effort: "max" or the equivalent ds4 effort field.

If you run that large context, update both the server flags and OpenClaw model metadata:

{
  contextWindow: 393216,
  maxTokens: 384000,
  compat: {
    supportsUsageInStreaming: true,
    supportsReasoningEffort: true,
    maxTokensField: "max_tokens",
    supportsStrictMode: false,
    thinkingFormat: "deepseek",
    supportedReasoningEfforts: ["low", "medium", "high", "xhigh", "max"],
  },
}

Test

Section titled “Test”

Start with a direct HTTP check:

Terminal window
curl http://127.0.0.1:18000/v1/chat/completions \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"model":"deepseek-v4-flash","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Reply with exactly: ds4-ok"}],"max_tokens":16,"stream":false,"thinking":{"type":"disabled"}}'

Then test OpenClaw model routing:

Terminal window
openclaw infer model run \
  --local \
  --model ds4/deepseek-v4-flash \
  --thinking off \
  --prompt "Reply with exactly: openclaw-ds4-ok" \
  --json

For a full agent and tool-call smoke, use a context of at least 32768:

Terminal window
openclaw agent \
  --local \
  --session-id ds4-tool-smoke \
  --model ds4/deepseek-v4-flash \
  --thinking off \
  --message "Use the shell command pwd once, then reply exactly: tool-ok <output>" \
  --json \
  --timeout 240

Expected result:

  • executionTrace.winnerProvider is ds4
  • executionTrace.winnerModel is deepseek-v4-flash
  • toolSummary.calls is at least 1
  • finalAssistantVisibleText starts with tool-ok

Troubleshooting

Section titled “Troubleshooting”
curl /v1/models cannot connect

ds4 is not running or not bound to the host and port in baseUrl. Start ds4-server, then retry:

Terminal window
curl http://127.0.0.1:18000/v1/models
500 prompt exceeds context

The configured --ctx is too small for the OpenClaw turn. Raise ds4-server --ctx, then update models.providers.ds4.models[].contextWindow to match. Full agent turns with tools need substantially more context than a direct one-message curl request.

Think Max does not activate

ds4 only uses Think Max when --ctx is at least 393216 and the request asks for reasoning_effort: "max". Smaller contexts fall back to high reasoning.

The first request is slow

ds4 has a cold Metal residency and model warmup phase. Use localService.readyTimeoutMs: 300000 when OpenClaw starts the server on demand.
Section titled “Related”
Local model services

Start local model servers on demand before model requests.

Local models

Choose and operate local model backends.

Model providers

Configure provider refs, auth, and failover.

DeepSeek

Native DeepSeek provider behavior and thinking controls.