Ollama advanced configuration

Set api: "openai-completions" explicitly for a proxy behind /v1/chat/completions:

{  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 and tool calling simultaneously; you may need params: { streaming: false } on the model.

OpenClaw injects options.num_ctx by default in this mode so Ollama does not silently fall back to a 4096-token context. If your proxy rejects unknown options fields, disable it:

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

For auto-discovered models, OpenClaw uses the context window /api/show reports, including larger PARAMETER num_ctx values from custom Modelfiles; otherwise it falls back to OpenClaw's default Ollama context window.

Per-model contextWindow declares native window metadata, and per-model contextTokens caps active input. Provider-level maxTokens remains an output-token default; a model entry can override it. Native /api/chat requests set options.num_ctx from a positive params.num_ctx first, then from the effective model contextTokens when present. Local discovery normally caps contextTokens at 32,768 (or the model's smaller native window), so OpenClaw can override a smaller Modelfile context even without an explicit params.num_ctx. Invalid, zero, negative, or non-finite params.num_ctx values are ignored. Only when neither value is available does Ollama choose its own model, Modelfile, OLLAMA_CONTEXT_LENGTH, or VRAM-based default; the native adapter does not fall back directly to the advertised contextWindow. After upgrading an older configuration, run openclaw doctor --fix. Doctor preserves current contextTokens caps without creating a stronger model or provider num_ctx pin; uncapped legacy native entries still migrate their older context budgets. Existing explicit params.num_ctx values remain authoritative, including pins an older Doctor already wrote. Review or remove an oversized existing pin to let contextTokens drive the request again. Use params.num_ctx to override the native request context explicitly. The OpenAI-compatible adapter still injects options.num_ctx by default from params.num_ctx, then the matching model entry's contextTokens or contextWindow; disable with injectNumCtxForOpenAICompat: false if the upstream rejects options.

Native model entries also accept common Ollama runtime options under params, forwarded as native /api/chat options: num_keep, seed, num_predict, top_k, top_p, min_p, typical_p, repeat_last_n, temperature, repeat_penalty, presence_penalty, frequency_penalty, stop, num_batch, num_gpu, main_gpu, use_mmap, and num_thread. Runtime sampling controls (temperature, topP, frequencyPenalty, presencePenalty, and seed) override the matching model defaults, including explicit zero values. The Gateway's Chat Completions API maps top_p, frequency_penalty, and presence_penalty to these controls. With temperature: 0, OpenClaw still normalizes top_p to 1 for greedy sampling after applying overrides. A few keys (format, keep_alive, truncate, shift) are forwarded as top-level request fields instead of nested options. Local native chat requests default to truncate: false and shift: false, so supporting servers reject overflowing input instead of silently dropping history. OpenClaw then attempts compaction and retries, or reports the failure. Generation that fills the window can still produce a labeled partial reply. This behavior is verified with Ollama 0.33.3; older servers may ignore the fields. Explicit per-model values override these defaults. Hosted models and the OpenAI-compatible endpoint keep their existing behavior. OpenClaw only forwards these Ollama request keys, so runtime-only params such as streaming are never sent to Ollama. Use params.think (or params.thinking) to set top-level think; false disables API-level thinking for Qwen-style thinking models.

{  models: {    providers: {      ollama: {        models: [          {            id: "llama3.3",            contextWindow: 131072,            contextTokens: 32768,            maxTokens: 65536,            params: {              num_ctx: 32768,              temperature: 0.7,              top_p: 0.9,              thinking: false,            },          }        ]      }    }  }}

Per-model agents.defaults.models["ollama/<model>"].params.num_ctx also works; the explicit provider model entry wins if both are set.

Native local Ollama compaction summaries default to thinking off. This keeps summarization from using its default three-minute request window for reasoning; Qwen3.5 treats low as thinking enabled rather than a reduced thinking budget. An explicit agents.defaults.compaction.thinkingLevel overrides this preference. Existing per-model params.think/params.thinking settings keep their normal precedence. Hosted routes keep their compaction defaults.

OpenClaw forwards thinking as Ollama expects it: top-level think, not options.think. Auto-discovered models whose /api/show reports a thinking capability expose /think low, /think medium, /think high, and /think max; non-thinking models expose only /think off.

When replaying an assistant message, native requests retain its available reasoning in Ollama's separate thinking field alongside text and tool calls. This lets tool follow-ups reuse reasoning retained by the session's history policy without mixing it into visible answer text.

openclaw agent --model ollama/gemma4 --thinking offopenclaw agent --model ollama/gemma4 --thinking low

Or set a model default:

{  agents: {    defaults: {      models: {        "ollama/gemma4": {          params: { thinking: "low" },        },      },    },  },}

Per-model params.think/params.thinking can disable or force API thinking for a specific model. OpenClaw preserves that explicit config when the active run only has the implicit off default; a non-off runtime command such as /think medium still overrides it. A truthy thinking request is never sent to a model explicitly marked reasoning: false; a think: false request is always sent regardless.

Models named deepseek-r1, reasoning, reason, or think are treated as reasoning-capable by default — no extra config needed:

ollama pull deepseek-r1:32b

Ollama runs locally and is free, so all model costs are 0 for both auto-discovered and manually defined models.

The bundled Ollama plugin registers a memory embedding provider for memory search. It uses the configured Ollama base URL and API key, calls /api/embed, and batches multiple memory chunks into one input request when possible.

When proxy.enabled=true, embedding requests to the exact host-local loopback origin derived from the configured baseUrl use OpenClaw's guarded direct path instead of the managed forward proxy. The configured hostname must itself be localhost or a loopback IP literal — DNS names that merely resolve to loopback still use the managed proxy path. LAN, tailnet, private-network, and public Ollama hosts always stay on the managed proxy path, and redirects to another host/port do not inherit trust. proxy.loopbackMode: "proxy" routes loopback traffic through the proxy anyway; proxy.loopbackMode: "block" denies it before connecting — see Managed proxy.

Query-time embeddings use retrieval prefixes for models that require or recommend them: nomic-embed-text, qwen3-embedding, and mxbai-embed-large. Document batches stay raw, so existing indexes need no format migration.

Embedding concurrency and batching behavior are owned by the Ollama memory provider. For a remote embedding host, use the supported remote.baseUrl and remote.apiKey fields to keep auth scoped to that host:

{  memory: {    search: {      provider: "ollama",      model: "nomic-embed-text",      remote: {        baseUrl: "http://gpu-box.local:11434",        apiKey: "ollama-local",      },    },  },}

Ollama uses the native API (/api/chat) by default, which supports streaming and tool calling together — no special config needed.

For native requests, thinking control is forwarded directly: /think off and openclaw agent --thinking off send top-level think: false unless an explicit params.think/params.thinking is configured; /think low|medium|high send the matching effort string. Verified full-effort Ollama Cloud families such as GLM 5.2 and DeepSeek V4 also send native think: "max" for /think max; other models and local servers keep the compatible think: "high" mapping.