openclaw/docs/gateway/local-model-services.md

summary	read_when	title
Start local model servers on demand before OpenClaw model requests	You want OpenClaw to start a local model server only when its model is selected You run ds4, inferrs, vLLM, llama.cpp, MLX, or another OpenAI-compatible local server You need to control cold start, readiness, and idle shutdown for local providers	Local model services

models.providers.<id>.localService starts a provider-owned local model server on demand. When a request selects a model from that provider, OpenClaw probes the health endpoint, starts the process if it is down, waits for readiness, then sends the request. Use it to avoid keeping expensive local servers running all day.

How it works

1. A model request resolves to a configured provider.
2. If that provider has localService, OpenClaw probes healthUrl.
3. On a successful probe, OpenClaw uses the already-running server.
4. On a failed probe, OpenClaw spawns command with args.
5. OpenClaw polls the health endpoint until readyTimeoutMs expires.
6. The model request goes through the normal provider transport.
7. If OpenClaw started the process and idleStopMs is set, it stops the process after the last in-flight request has been idle that long.

OpenClaw does not install launchd, systemd, Docker, or any daemon for this. The server is a plain child process of whichever OpenClaw process first needed it.

Startup is serialized per provider command/argument/env set, so concurrent requests for the same service do not spawn duplicate servers. If another OpenClaw process already has a healthy server at the same healthUrl, this process reuses it without adopting it (each process only manages the child it personally started). Active streaming responses hold a lease, so idle shutdown waits until response handling completes.

Config shape

{
  models: {
    providers: {
      local: {
        baseUrl: "http://127.0.0.1:8000/v1",
        apiKey: "local-model",
        api: "openai-completions",
        timeoutSeconds: 300,
        localService: {
          command: "/absolute/path/to/server",
          args: ["--host", "127.0.0.1", "--port", "8000"],
          cwd: "/absolute/path/to/working-dir",
          env: { LOCAL_MODEL_CACHE: "/absolute/path/to/cache" },
          healthUrl: "http://127.0.0.1:8000/v1/models",
          readyTimeoutMs: 180000,
          idleStopMs: 0,
        },
        models: [
          {
            id: "my-local-model",
            name: "My Local Model",
            reasoning: false,
            input: ["text"],
            cost: { input: 0, output: 0, cacheRead: 0, cacheWrite: 0 },
            contextWindow: 131072,
            maxTokens: 8192,
          },
        ],
      },
    },
  },
}

Set timeoutSeconds on the provider entry (not localService) so slow cold starts and long generations do not hit the default model request timeout. Set an explicit healthUrl whenever your server exposes readiness somewhere other than /models on the base URL.

Fields

Field	Required	Description
command	yes	Absolute executable path. No shell PATH lookup.
args	no	Process arguments. No shell expansion, pipes, globbing, or quoting.
cwd	no	Working directory for the process.
env	no	Environment variables merged over the OpenClaw process environment.
healthUrl	no	Readiness URL. Defaults to baseUrl with /models appended (http://127.0.0.1:8000/v1 becomes http://127.0.0.1:8000/v1/models).
readyTimeoutMs	no	Startup readiness deadline. Default: 120000.
idleStopMs	no	Idle shutdown delay for an OpenClaw-started process. 0 or omitted keeps it alive until OpenClaw exits.

Inferrs example

Inferrs is a custom OpenAI-compatible /v1 backend, so the same localService API works with an inferrs provider entry:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "inferrs/google/gemma-4-E2B-it" },
    },
  },
  models: {
    mode: "merge",
    providers: {
      inferrs: {
        baseUrl: "http://127.0.0.1:8080/v1",
        apiKey: "inferrs-local",
        api: "openai-completions",
        timeoutSeconds: 300,
        localService: {
          command: "/opt/homebrew/bin/inferrs",
          args: [
            "serve",
            "google/gemma-4-E2B-it",
            "--host",
            "127.0.0.1",
            "--port",
            "8080",
            "--device",
            "metal",
          ],
          healthUrl: "http://127.0.0.1:8080/v1/models",
          readyTimeoutMs: 180000,
          idleStopMs: 0,
        },
        models: [
          {
            id: "google/gemma-4-E2B-it",
            name: "Gemma 4 E2B (inferrs)",
            reasoning: false,
            input: ["text"],
            cost: { input: 0, output: 0, cacheRead: 0, cacheWrite: 0 },
            contextWindow: 131072,
            maxTokens: 4096,
            compat: { requiresStringContent: true },
          },
        ],
      },
    },
  },
}

Replace command with the result of which inferrs on the machine running OpenClaw. Full inferrs setup: Inferrs.

ds4 example

{
  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: [],
      },
    },
  },
}

Full setup, context sizing, and verification commands: ds4.

Related

Local model setup, provider choices, and safety guidance. Run OpenClaw through the inferrs OpenAI-compatible local server.