Get OpenClaw working with Ollama Cloud (no server management)

#openclaw #ollama #cloud #free

The core issue was that OpenClaw’s built-in “Ollama” provider is designed specifically for local servers.
When you try to point it at a cloud URL, it tries to “discover” models using local-only commands,
which causes the Gateway service to crash.

The Solution: Use the OpenAI Provider

Instead of using the ollama provider type, we used the openai-completions type.
This tells OpenClaw to treat Ollama Cloud as a standard cloud API, bypassing the local discovery logic.

Correct Configuration (`~/.openclaw/openclaw.json`)

Ensure your models.providers section looks like this:

/v1 is what makes it OpenAI-compatible, as opposed to /api.
ollama-cloud instead of ollama because ollama is reserved. Does it have to say ollama-cloud? No, write butts-cloud for all I care.

"models": {
  "providers": {
    "ollama-cloud": {
      "baseUrl": "https://ollama.com/v1",
      "apiKey": "YOUR_OLLAMA_API_KEY",
      "api": "openai-completions",
      "models": [
        {
          "id": "kimi-k2.5:cloud",
          "name": "Kimi K2.5 Cloud",
          "contextWindow": 128000,
          "maxTokens": 4096
        },
        {
          "id": "minimax-m2.5:cloud",
          "name": "MiniMax M2.5 Cloud",
          "contextWindow": 128000,
          "maxTokens": 4096
        },
        {
          "id": "glm-5:cloud",
          "name": "GLM-5 Cloud",
          "contextWindow": 128000,
          "maxTokens": 4096
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Key Troubleshooting Tips

The “76B5208” Code: This is just the version number of OpenClaw (2026.1.30), not an error code. If you see it, the program is running!
The “Invalid Input” Error: This happens if the api field is set to anything other than openai-completions.
Using openclaw after this may act weird: Turn off the gateway with openclaw gateway stop and restart it with openclaw gateway.
Starting a Chat: Use the --session-id flag to give your conversation a name so OpenClaw knows where to send the message.

Example commands to start openclaw:

openclaw agent --message "testing 123" --session-id test-cloud (You can replace test-cloud with whatever)
openclaw tui

Sample Config

{
  "meta": {
    ... Bunch of shit you don't need to touch ...
  },
  "wizard": {
    ... More autogenerated stuff ...
  },
  "models": {
    "providers": {
      "ollama-cloud": {
        "baseUrl": "https://ollama.com/v1", 
        "apiKey": "<GET YOUR OLLAMA API KEY AND PUT IT HERE>",
        "api": "openai-completions",
        "models": [
          {
            "id": "kimi-k2.5:cloud",
            "name": "Kimi K2.5 Cloud",
            "contextWindow": 128000,
            "maxTokens": 4096
          },
          {
            "id": "minimax-m2.5:cloud",
            "name": "MiniMax M2.5 Cloud",
            "contextWindow": 128000,
            "maxTokens": 4096
          },
          {
            "id": "glm-5:cloud",
            "name": "GLM-5 Cloud",
            "contextWindow": 128000,
            "maxTokens": 4096
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": {
        "primary": "ollama-cloud/kimi-k2.5:cloud"
      },
      ...Whatever OpenClaw had already put here, keep it...
    }
  },
  "messages": {
    ... No touchy ...
  },
  "commands": {
    ... Look I just want you to know where your shit is supposed to go...
  },
  "hooks": {
   ...
  },
  "channels": {
    ... Some of these depend on the things you chose during onboarding ...
  },
  "gateway": {
    ...
  },
    "tailscale": {
      ...
    }
  },
  "skills": {
    ...
  },
  "plugins": {
   ...
  }
}