OpenClaw

OpenClaw is an open-source personal agent that runs on your machine and answers from chat apps, a terminal or a schedule. It takes custom model providers in its config file.

Verified against OpenClaw 2026.9.6. The config below is re-run against that release every week, including a tool call round trip.

Install

OpenClaw needs Node.js 24.16 or later; the install fails on older versions.

npm install -g openclaw@2026.9.6

Configure

Add LowRouter as a provider in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json and make one of its models the default:

{
  "models": {
    "mode": "merge",
    "providers": {
      "lowrouter": {
        "baseUrl": "https://api.lowrouter.ai/v1",
        "apiKey": "${LOWROUTER_API_KEY}",
        "api": "openai-completions",
        "models": [
          {
            "id": "auto/mistralai/mistral-large-2512",
            "name": "Mistral Large (LowRouter)",
            "contextWindow": 256000,
            "maxTokens": 8192
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": { "primary": "lowrouter/auto/mistralai/mistral-large-2512" }
    }
  }
}

${LOWROUTER_API_KEY} is read from the environment when OpenClaw starts, so the key stays out of the file:

export LOWROUTER_API_KEY=sk-lr-...
openclaw config validate
openclaw agent --local --message "What is in my workspace?"

--local runs one agent turn in the terminal without the OpenClaw gateway service; the same config serves the gateway and chat apps.

Details of this config:

• OpenClaw checks the file against a strict schema and refuses to start on a key it does not know. Run openclaw config validate after editing; it names the offending key.
• The default model is lowrouter/ followed by the LowRouter model ID. OpenClaw splits on the first slash only, so the slashes inside the ID are fine.
• baseUrl ends in /v1. OpenClaw appends only /chat/completions.
• maxTokens caps the answer length OpenClaw asks for (sent as max_completion_tokens). Without it OpenClaw asks for 8,192. contextWindow is what it plans compaction around; set it to the model’s real context window from the model browser.
• mode: "merge" keeps OpenClaw’s built-in providers next to LowRouter. Each additional LowRouter model is another entry in models.
• The agent’s file tools work inside its workspace, ~/.openclaw/workspace, not the directory you run it from.

Picking a model

OpenClaw’s agent acts through function calling, so pick a model with the function-calling tag. The model browser filtered to them lists every one.

The example uses auto/mistralai/mistral-large-2512, served from the EU (256k context). Models we have run through OpenClaw’s tool loop:

• auto/qwen/qwen3-coder-30b-a3b-instruct, a coding model served from the EU (128k context).
• auto/anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5, a cheaper Anthropic model (200k context).

Recommended setup

• Use a dedicated key. OpenClaw can wake itself on a schedule and act on incoming messages, so it can spend while you are away; a key of its own shows that spend separately and can be revoked on its own.
• Give each LowRouter model its real contextWindow and a maxTokens within the model’s output limit.

Troubleshooting

• “The selected model was not found by the provider” with a 404: baseUrl is missing /v1. The request went to a path LowRouter does not serve, and OpenClaw reports that as an unknown model.
• OpenClaw will not start after an edit: run openclaw config validate. A misspelled key is rejected outright.
• A 400 about output tokens: the model’s output limit is lower than maxTokens (or the 8,192 default). Lower maxTokens for that model entry.
• The agent cannot find a file you mention: put it in ~/.openclaw/workspace.