OpenClaw Switch Models

1. Course Content

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

2. Temporarily Switch Session Model

2.1 Open TUI Session

• Enter in the terminal

openclaw tui

2.2 Use /model to Switch Session Model

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

3. Switch Default Model

3.1 Switch via CLI

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

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

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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

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  nano $HOME/.openclaw/openclaw.json
  # Or use your favorite editor, such as vim, code, etc. It is recommended to modify through IDEs like vscode for easier operation
  

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

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

• Verify whether the configuration takes effect:

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openclaw models status

4. Add Model Options List

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

4.1 Add Models via Configuration File

Configure agents.defaults.models in openclaw.json, and add the models you need to use to the allow list:

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{
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": {
        "primary": "bailian/qwen3.5-plus"
      },
      "models": {
        "bailian/qwen3.5-plus": {},
        "bailian/qwen3.6-plus": {},
        "bailian/qwen3-max-2026-01-23": {},
        "bailian/qwen3-coder-next": {},
        "bailian/qwen3-coder-plus": {},
        "bailian/MiniMax-M2.5": {},
        "bailian/glm-5": {},
        "bailian/glm-4.7": {},
        "bailian/kimi-k2.5": {}
      }
    }
  }
}

4.2 Add the Agent Model List via CLI Command

Using the openclaw config set command, you can safely edit the allow list without manually modifying the JSON file:

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openclaw config set agents.defaults.models.bailian/qwen3-plus '{}'

4.3 Model Reference Format Specification

In OpenClaw, all model references use a unified format:

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provider/modelID

Examples:

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