OpenClaw Model Switching

1. Course Content

This course will systematically introduce the working mechanism of model selection in OpenClaw and three methods for switching models.

2. Temporarily Switch Session Model

2.1 Open TUI Session

• Enter in terminal:

openclaw tui

2.2 Use /model to Switch Session Model

• Enter /model in the session box and press Enter. For example, here we choose to switch to bailian/qwen3.5-plus. Use the keyboard up and down keys to select the model, then press Enter.

3. Switch Default Model

3.1 Switch via CLI

The simplest way is to use CLI commands to directly set the default model:

• Here we take switching to the bailian/qwen3.6-plus model as an example.

xxxxxxxxxx
openclaw models set bailian/qwen3.6-plus

3.2 Switch via Configuration File

• Edit the openclaw.json configuration file to modify the Agent's default model.

  xxxxxxxxxx
  nano $HOME/.openclaw/openclaw.json
  # Or use your preferred editor, such as vim, code, etc.
  

In openclaw.json, specify the default primary model via the agents.defaults.model.primary configuration item:

xxxxxxxxxx
{
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": {
        "primary": "bailian/qwen3.5-plus"
      }
    }
  }
}

• Verify if the configuration is effective:

xxxxxxxxxx
openclaw models status

Note: When modifying the configuration file, be careful not to add commas or other symbols at the end of the configuration.

4. Add Model Option List

• agents.defaults.models is the allowlist/directory in OpenClaw that controls the scope of usable models. When this configuration item is set, users can only use models included in the list, which serves as the basis for model scope control for both the /model command and session overrides.

4.1 Add Models via Configuration File

Configure agents.defaults.models in openclaw.json to add the models you need to use to the allowlist:

xxxxxxxxxx
"agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": {
        "primary": "bailian/qwen3.5-plus"
      },
      "models": {
        "bailian/qwen3.5-plus": {},
        "bailian/MiniMax-M2.5": {},
        "bailian/glm-4.7": {}
      },
      "workspace": "/home/sunrise/.openclaw/workspace",
      "compaction": {
        "mode": "safeguard",
        "memoryFlush": {
          "enabled": false
        }
      }
    }
  }

4.2 Model Reference Format Specification

In OpenClaw, all model references use a unified format:

xxxxxxxxxx
Provider/ModelID

Examples:

Note: If the model ID itself contains / (e.g., moonshotai/kimi-k2), you must provide the reference in the full openrouter/moonshotai/kimi-k2 format.

5. Appendix: CLI Command Quick Reference