Ollama

Ollama is a local LLM runtime that makes it easy to run open-source models on your machine. OpenClaw integrates with Ollama’s native API (/api/chat), supports streaming and tool calling, and can auto-discover local Ollama models when you opt in with OLLAMA_API_KEY (or an auth profile) and do not define an explicit models.providers.ollama entry.

Quick start

Onboarding (recommended)

The fastest way to set up Ollama is through onboarding:

openclaw onboard

Select Ollama from the provider list. Onboarding will:

Ask for the Ollama base URL where your instance can be reached (default http://127.0.0.1:11434).
Let you choose Cloud + Local (cloud models and local models) or Local (local models only).
Open a browser sign-in flow if you choose Cloud + Local and are not signed in to ollama.com.
Discover available models and suggest defaults.
Auto-pull the selected model if it is not available locally.

Non-interactive mode is also supported:

openclaw onboard --non-interactive \
  --auth-choice ollama \
  --accept-risk

Optionally specify a custom base URL or model:

openclaw onboard --non-interactive \
  --auth-choice ollama \
  --custom-base-url "http://ollama-host:11434" \
  --custom-model-id "qwen3.5:27b" \
  --accept-risk

Manual setup

Install Ollama: https://ollama.com/download
Pull a local model if you want local inference:

ollama pull glm-4.7-flash
# or
ollama pull gpt-oss:20b
# or
ollama pull llama3.3

If you want cloud models too, sign in:

ollama signin

Run onboarding and choose Ollama:

openclaw onboard

Local: local models only
Cloud + Local: local models plus cloud models
Cloud models such as kimi-k2.5:cloud, minimax-m2.5:cloud, and glm-5:cloud do not require a local ollama pull

OpenClaw currently suggests:

local default: glm-4.7-flash
cloud defaults: kimi-k2.5:cloud, minimax-m2.5:cloud, glm-5:cloud

If you prefer manual setup, enable Ollama for OpenClaw directly (any value works; Ollama doesn’t require a real key):

# Set environment variable
export OLLAMA_API_KEY="ollama-local"

# Or configure in your config file
openclaw config set models.providers.ollama.apiKey "ollama-local"

Inspect or switch models:

openclaw models list
openclaw models set ollama/glm-4.7-flash

Or set the default in config:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "ollama/glm-4.7-flash" },
    },
  },
}

Model discovery (implicit provider)

When you set OLLAMA_API_KEY (or an auth profile) and do not define models.providers.ollama, OpenClaw discovers models from the local Ollama instance at http://127.0.0.1:11434:

Queries /api/tags
Uses best-effort /api/show lookups to read contextWindow when available
Marks reasoning with a model-name heuristic (r1, reasoning, think)
Sets maxTokens to the default Ollama max-token cap used by OpenClaw
Sets all costs to 0

This avoids manual model entries while keeping the catalog aligned with the local Ollama instance.

To see what models are available:

ollama list
openclaw models list

To add a new model, simply pull it with Ollama:

ollama pull mistral

The new model will be automatically discovered and available to use.

If you set models.providers.ollama explicitly, auto-discovery is skipped and you must define models manually (see below).

Configuration

Basic setup (implicit discovery)

The simplest way to enable Ollama is via environment variable:

export OLLAMA_API_KEY="ollama-local"

Explicit setup (manual models)

Use explicit config when:

Ollama runs on another host/port.
You want to force specific context windows or model lists.
You want fully manual model definitions.

{
  models: {
    providers: {
      ollama: {
        baseUrl: "http://ollama-host:11434",
        apiKey: "ollama-local",
        api: "ollama",
        models: [
          {
            id: "gpt-oss:20b",
            name: "GPT-OSS 20B",
            reasoning: false,
            input: ["text"],
            cost: { input: 0, output: 0, cacheRead: 0, cacheWrite: 0 },
            contextWindow: 8192,
            maxTokens: 8192 * 10
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

If OLLAMA_API_KEY is set, you can omit apiKey in the provider entry and OpenClaw will fill it for availability checks.

Custom base URL (explicit config)

If Ollama is running on a different host or port (explicit config disables auto-discovery, so define models manually):

{
  models: {
    providers: {
      ollama: {
        apiKey: "ollama-local",
        baseUrl: "http://ollama-host:11434", // No /v1 - use native Ollama API URL
        api: "ollama", // Set explicitly to guarantee native tool-calling behavior
      },
    },
  },
}

Model selection

Once configured, all your Ollama models are available:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: {
        primary: "ollama/gpt-oss:20b",
        fallbacks: ["ollama/llama3.3", "ollama/qwen2.5-coder:32b"],
      },
    },
  },
}

Cloud models

Cloud models let you run cloud-hosted models (for example kimi-k2.5:cloud, minimax-m2.5:cloud, glm-5:cloud) alongside your local models.

To use cloud models, select Cloud + Local mode during setup. The wizard checks whether you are signed in and opens a browser sign-in flow when needed. If authentication cannot be verified, the wizard falls back to local model defaults.

You can also sign in directly at ollama.com/signin.

Advanced

Reasoning models

OpenClaw treats models with names such as deepseek-r1, reasoning, or think as reasoning-capable by default:

ollama pull deepseek-r1:32b

Model Costs

Ollama is free and runs locally, so all model costs are set to $0.

Streaming Configuration

OpenClaw’s Ollama integration uses the native Ollama API (/api/chat) by default, which fully supports streaming and tool calling simultaneously. No special configuration is needed.

Legacy OpenAI-Compatible Mode

If you need to use the OpenAI-compatible endpoint instead (e.g., behind a proxy that only supports OpenAI format), set api: "openai-completions" explicitly:

{
  models: {
    providers: {
      ollama: {
        baseUrl: "http://ollama-host:11434/v1",
        api: "openai-completions",
        injectNumCtxForOpenAICompat: true, // default: true
        apiKey: "ollama-local",
        models: [...]
      }
    }
  }
}

This mode may not support streaming + tool calling simultaneously. You may need to disable streaming with params: { streaming: false } in model config.

When api: "openai-completions" is used with Ollama, OpenClaw injects options.num_ctx by default so Ollama does not silently fall back to a 4096 context window. If your proxy/upstream rejects unknown options fields, disable this behavior:

{
  models: {
    providers: {
      ollama: {
        baseUrl: "http://ollama-host:11434/v1",
        api: "openai-completions",
        injectNumCtxForOpenAICompat: false,
        apiKey: "ollama-local",
        models: [...]
      }
    }
  }
}

Context windows

For auto-discovered models, OpenClaw uses the context window reported by Ollama when available, otherwise it falls back to the default Ollama context window used by OpenClaw. You can override contextWindow and maxTokens in explicit provider config.

Troubleshooting

Ollama not detected

Make sure Ollama is running and that you set OLLAMA_API_KEY (or an auth profile), and that you did not define an explicit models.providers.ollama entry:

ollama serve

And that the API is accessible:

curl http://localhost:11434/api/tags

No models available

If your model is not listed, either:

Pull the model locally, or
Define the model explicitly in models.providers.ollama.

To add models:

ollama list  # See what's installed
ollama pull glm-4.7-flash
ollama pull gpt-oss:20b
ollama pull llama3.3     # Or another model

Connection refused

Check that Ollama is running on the correct port:

# Check if Ollama is running
ps aux | grep ollama

# Or restart Ollama
ollama serve

Ollama

Ollama

Quick start

Onboarding (recommended)

Manual setup

Model discovery (implicit provider)

Configuration

Basic setup (implicit discovery)

Explicit setup (manual models)

Custom base URL (explicit config)

Model selection

Cloud models

Advanced

Reasoning models

Model Costs

Streaming Configuration

Legacy OpenAI-Compatible Mode

Context windows

Troubleshooting

Ollama not detected

No models available

Connection refused

See Also