Skip to main content
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

FieldRequiredDescription
commandyesAbsolute executable path. No shell PATH lookup.
argsnoProcess arguments. No shell expansion, pipes, globbing, or quoting.
cwdnoWorking directory for the process.
envnoEnvironment variables merged over the OpenClaw process environment.
healthUrlnoReadiness URL. Defaults to baseUrl with /models appended (http://127.0.0.1:8000/v1 becomes http://127.0.0.1:8000/v1/models).
readyTimeoutMsnoStartup readiness deadline. Default: 120000.
idleStopMsnoIdle 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.

Local models

Local model setup, provider choices, and safety guidance.

Inferrs

Run OpenClaw through the inferrs OpenAI-compatible local server.