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OpenClaw supports Ollama Web Search as a bundled web_search provider, returning titles, URLs, and snippets from Ollama’s web-search API. Local/self-hosted Ollama needs no API key by default; it requires a reachable Ollama host plus ollama signin. Direct hosted search (no local Ollama) needs baseUrl: "https://ollama.com" and a real OLLAMA_API_KEY.

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Setup

1

Start Ollama

Make sure Ollama is installed and running.
2

Sign in

ollama signin
3

Choose Ollama Web Search

openclaw configure --section web
Select Ollama Web Search as the provider.
If you already use Ollama for models, Ollama Web Search reuses the same configured host.
OpenClaw never auto-selects Ollama Web Search over a higher-priority credentialed provider; you must choose it explicitly with tools.web.search.provider: "ollama".

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Config

{
  tools: {
    web: {
      search: {
        provider: "ollama",
      },
    },
  },
}
Optional host override, scoped to web search only: 
{
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      ollama: {
        config: {
          webSearch: {
            baseUrl: "http://ollama-host:11434",
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}
Or reuse the host already configured for the Ollama model provider: 
{
  models: {
    providers: {
      ollama: {
        baseUrl: "http://ollama-host:11434",
      },
    },
  },
}
models.providers.ollama.baseUrl is the canonical key; the web-search provider also accepts baseURL there for compatibility with OpenAI SDK-style config examples. If nothing is set, OpenClaw defaults to http://127.0.0.1:11434. Direct hosted Ollama Web Search (no local Ollama): 
{
  models: {
    providers: {
      ollama: {
        baseUrl: "https://ollama.com",
        apiKey: "OLLAMA_API_KEY",
      },
    },
  },
  tools: {
    web: {
      search: {
        provider: "ollama",
      },
    },
  },
}

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Auth and request routing

  • No web-search-specific API key field exists; the provider reuses models.providers.ollama.apiKey (or the matching env-backed provider auth) when the configured host is auth-protected.
  • Host resolution order: plugins.entries.ollama.config.webSearch.baseUrl → models.providers.ollama.baseUrl (or baseURL) → http://127.0.0.1:11434.
  • If the resolved host is https://ollama.com, OpenClaw calls https://ollama.com/api/web_search directly with the API key as bearer auth.
  • Otherwise OpenClaw calls the local proxy endpoint /api/experimental/web_search first (which signs and forwards to Ollama Cloud), then falls back to /api/web_search on the same host. If both fail and OLLAMA_API_KEY is set, it retries once against https://ollama.com/api/web_search with that key — without sending it to the local host.
  • OpenClaw warns during setup if Ollama is unreachable or not signed in, but does not block selecting the provider.