| name | model-switch |
| description | Switch the Manager Agent's own LLM model. Use when the human admin requests changing the Manager's model. |
Model Switch
Switch the Manager's own LLM model. The script tests connectivity first, then patches openclaw.json.
Usage
bash /opt/hiclaw/agent/skills/model-switch/scripts/update-manager-model.sh <MODEL_ID> [--context-window <SIZE>] [--no-reasoning]
Examples:
bash /opt/hiclaw/agent/skills/model-switch/scripts/update-manager-model.sh claude-sonnet-4-6
bash /opt/hiclaw/agent/skills/model-switch/scripts/update-manager-model.sh my-custom-model --context-window 300000
bash /opt/hiclaw/agent/skills/model-switch/scripts/update-manager-model.sh deepseek-chat --no-reasoning
What the script does
- Strips any
hiclaw-gateway/ prefix from the model name
- Tests the model via
POST /v1/chat/completions on the AI Gateway — exits with error if unreachable
- If the model is already in the
models array: switches agents.defaults.model.primary
- If the model is new: adds it to the
models array and switches primary
- Always outputs
RESTART_REQUIRED
After running the script
The script always outputs RESTART_REQUIRED. Run openclaw gateway restart to apply the change, then tell the human admin the switch is complete.
Reasoning control
By default, reasoning (extended thinking) is enabled. To disable it, pass --no-reasoning.
On failure
If the gateway test fails (non-200), the script outputs ERROR: MODEL_NOT_REACHABLE and exits. No changes are made to openclaw.json.
When you see this error, tell the human admin clearly:
- The model is not reachable because the current default AI Provider likely does not support it.
- They need to open the Higress Console and:
- Create a new AI Provider for the model's vendor (e.g.
kimi, deepseek, minimax).
- Create a new AI Route with a model name prefix predicate (e.g. provider
kimi → match kimi-*), so that requests for models with that prefix are routed to the new provider, while unmatched models continue to go through the default route.
- Do NOT modify the default AI Provider — it is managed by the initialization config and will be overwritten on restart.
After the admin confirms the provider and route are configured, you can retry the model-switch script.
Important
This skill switches the primary model (persisted in openclaw.json). After running the script, you must run openclaw gateway restart for the change to take effect. The human admin can also use the /model slash command to switch the current session's model instantly without restart, but that is non-persistent and only supports pre-configured models.
Switching to an unknown model
When the human admin requests switching to a model you don't recognize, you MUST:
- Ask the admin two questions before running the script:
- "This model is not in the known list. What is its context window size (in tokens)?"
- "Does this model support reasoning (extended thinking)?"
- Run the script with the appropriate flags:
bash /opt/hiclaw/agent/skills/model-switch/scripts/update-manager-model.sh <MODEL_ID> --context-window <SIZE> [--no-reasoning]
- If the admin does not know the context window, use the default (150,000) by omitting
--context-window.
- If the model does not support reasoning, add
--no-reasoning.
Pre-configured models (for reference)
| Model | contextWindow | maxTokens |
|---|
| gpt-5.4 | 1,050,000 | 128,000 |
| gpt-5.3-codex / gpt-5-mini / gpt-5-nano | 400,000 | 128,000 |
| claude-opus-4-6 | 1,000,000 | 128,000 |
| claude-sonnet-4-6 | 1,000,000 | 64,000 |
| claude-haiku-4-5 | 200,000 | 64,000 |
| qwen3.5-plus | 200,000 | 64,000 |
| deepseek-chat / deepseek-reasoner / kimi-k2.5 | 256,000 | 128,000 |
| glm-5 / MiniMax-M2.7 / MiniMax-M2.7-highspeed / MiniMax-M2.5 | 200,000 | 128,000 |
