nemoclaw-user-configure-inference

What this skill does

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# Use a Local Inference Server

## Gotchas

- Ollama is convenient for local chat, but some model/template combinations can return tool calls as plain text under realistic agent load.

## Prerequisites

- NemoClaw installed.
- A local model server running, or a supported Ollama, vLLM, or NIM setup that the NemoClaw onboard wizard can use, start, or install.

NemoClaw can route inference to a model server running on your machine instead of a cloud API.
This page covers Ollama, compatible-endpoint paths for other servers, and experimental managed options for vLLM and NVIDIA NIM.

All approaches use the same `inference.local` routing model.
The agent inside the sandbox never connects to your model server directly.
OpenShell intercepts inference traffic and forwards it to the local endpoint you configure.

## Ollama

Ollama is the default local inference option.
The onboard wizard detects Ollama automatically when it is installed or running on the host.

If Ollama is installed but not running, NemoClaw starts it for you.
On macOS and Linux, the wizard can also offer to install Ollama when it is not present.
When the host Ollama is below the minimum version NemoClaw expects for its starter models (currently `0.7.0`), the wizard surfaces an explicit **Upgrade Ollama** entry in the provider menu instead of silently reusing the older daemon, and the express setup path resolves to that entry.
The wizard inspects both the CLI binary (`ollama --version`) and the locally running daemon (`/api/version` on `:11434`) so the upgrade entry still appears when only one side is stale, for example a fresh user-local binary paired with the original system daemon.
The gate skips Windows-host Ollama reached from WSL via `host.docker.internal`; the separate **Use / Start / Install Ollama on Windows host** entries handle that case and run their own actions on the Windows side.
On macOS, the wizard runs the platform install or upgrade path with `brew upgrade ollama`.
On Linux, the wizard runs the official `https://ollama.com/install.sh` path.
Upgrades on Linux always take the sudo-driven system path because the sudo-free user-local fallback would leave the existing system daemon on `:11434` serving the stale binary.
If sudo is not available in a non-interactive run, NemoClaw refuses to silently downgrade the path and asks you to rerun interactively or upgrade Ollama manually.
After an upgrade finishes, NemoClaw re-probes the running daemon's `/api/version` and fails the run if the daemon still reports below the minimum.
Fresh installs skip this re-probe because the bundled installers ship a daemon at or above the minimum.
On WSL, the wizard can use, start, restart, or install Ollama on the Windows host through PowerShell interop.

### Linux Install Modes

On native Linux, the install path picks between a system install (under `/usr/local`, via the official `https://ollama.com/install.sh`) and a sudo-free user-local install (under `${HOME}/.local`).
NemoClaw selects the mode automatically:

- Running as root or with passwordless sudo (`sudo -n true` returns 0) selects the system install.
- A non-interactive run (`NEMOCLAW_NON_INTERACTIVE=1` or no TTY on stdin) without passwordless sudo selects the user-local install.
  This is the path that lets headless hosts complete onboarding without prompting for a sudo password.
- An interactive shell without passwordless sudo selects the system install and lets the official installer prompt for the password as usual.

Override the detection with `NEMOCLAW_OLLAMA_INSTALL_MODE=system` or `NEMOCLAW_OLLAMA_INSTALL_MODE=user`.

The user-local install replicates only the binary extraction step of the official installer.
It downloads the release tarball, extracts it to `${HOME}/.local`, and launches `${HOME}/.local/bin/ollama serve` once.
It does not configure a systemd service, does not create the `ollama` system user, and does not install CUDA drivers, so the daemon must be relaunched manually after a reboot.
NemoClaw also prints a one-line `PATH` hint if `${HOME}/.local/bin` is not already on your `PATH`; you can add `export PATH="${HOME}/.local/bin:$PATH"` to your shell profile to invoke `ollama` directly.

Both modes rely on `zstd` for archive extraction. On Debian and Ubuntu, the system path uses `sudo apt-get` to install `zstd` automatically and explains the prompt before continuing.
The user-local path cannot bootstrap system packages without elevation, so if `zstd` is missing it prints per-distro install hints and exits — install `zstd` manually, then rerun onboarding.

Run the onboard wizard.

```console
$ nemoclaw onboard
```

Select **Local Ollama** from the provider list.
NemoClaw lists installed models or offers starter models if none are installed.
On hosts where the larger starter models fit the currently available GPU memory, the starter list includes `qwen3.6:35b` and selects it by default.
When another GPU workload is using most of the memory at onboard time, NemoClaw downgrades the menu to the largest model that still fits.
It pulls the selected model, loads it into memory, and validates it before continuing.
When Ollama reports a loaded-model context length, NemoClaw uses that value for the `contextWindow` baked into `openclaw.json` unless you set `NEMOCLAW_CONTEXT_WINDOW` yourself.
If the selected model declares that it does not support tool calling, onboarding stops with guidance to choose a model whose `ollama show <model>` capabilities include `tools`.
The validation also requires structured chat-completions tool calls.
If the model leaks tool-call JSON as plain message text, onboarding stops so you can choose a model that returns tool calls in the expected response field.
On WSL, if you choose the Windows-host Ollama path, NemoClaw uses `host.docker.internal:11434` and pulls missing models through the Ollama HTTP API instead of requiring the `ollama` CLI inside WSL.

### WSL with Windows-Host Ollama

When NemoClaw runs inside WSL, the provider menu can include Windows-host Ollama actions:

- Use Ollama on Windows host when the Windows daemon is already reachable.
- Restart Ollama on Windows host when the daemon is installed but only bound to Windows loopback.
- Start Ollama on Windows host when Ollama is installed but not running.
- Install Ollama on Windows host when Windows does not have Ollama installed.

The install and restart paths set `OLLAMA_HOST=0.0.0.0:11434` on the Windows side so Docker and WSL can reach the daemon through `host.docker.internal`.
After an install or restart action, NemoClaw relaunches Ollama from the detected Windows tray app or verified `ollama.exe` path and waits until `host.docker.internal:11434` responds.

If the HTTP endpoint is not reachable yet, NemoClaw also checks for the Windows `ollama.exe` process through PowerShell interop so it can offer a start or restart action instead of hiding the Windows-host path.
If the daemon does not become reachable, onboarding prints PowerShell commands you can run to inspect the Windows-side process and port state. Use one Ollama instance on port `11434` at a time.
If both WSL and Windows-host Ollama are running, pick the intended menu entry during onboarding so NemoClaw validates and pulls models against the right daemon.

**Warning:**

Ollama is convenient for local chat, but some model/template combinations can
return tool calls as plain text under realistic agent load. If the TUI shows raw
JSON such as `{"name":"memory_search","arguments":{...}}` instead of running a
tool, switch to vLLM with `--enable-auto-tool-choice` and the correct
`--tool-call-parser`. See [Tool-Calling Reliability](references/tool-calling-reliability.md).

### Authenticated Reverse Proxy

On non-WSL hosts, NemoClaw keeps Ollama bound to `127.0.0.1:11434` and starts a token-gated reverse proxy on `0.0.0.0:11435`.
The nat