New openclaw installation excessive token request | Friends of the Crustacean 🦞🤝 | Page 1

onyx crag Apr 18, 2026, 2:09 AM

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I am completely new to AI and openclaw. I have manged to install openclaw with jan ai. I am using the default llm in jan. The ai works when I use it in jan, but when I attempt to use it in openclaw I get an error.

"error":{"code":400,"message":"request (19979 tokens) exceeds the available context size (8192 tokens).

Is openclaw supposed to request this many tokens at first run. I have a core ultra 5 135u laptop with 32gig ram
I have restarted openclaw gateway a few times. every time it gives the same error with a similar token request.

I ran into a bug when onboarding that kicks me out of the installer when I am finish the social media section. I dont know if this could have contributed to this situation.

verbal smeltBOT Apr 18, 2026, 2:09 AM

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modern idolBOT Apr 18, 2026, 2:09 AM

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To help others find answers, you can mark your question as solved via Right click solution message -> Apps -> ✅ Mark Solution

verbal smeltBOT Apr 18, 2026, 2:09 AM

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severe sparrowBOT Apr 18, 2026, 2:11 AM

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That error usually means the model/context window is too small for OpenClaw, not that your laptop is broken.

Short version:

Yes, OpenClaw can send a much bigger first prompt than Jan chat does.
It includes system instructions, tools, bootstrap files, and startup context, so a ~20k token first run is plausible.
A model/server capped at 8k context will choke on that.
So 32 GB RAM is not the main issue here, the 8192 token context limit is.

The docs back this up:

token/context basics: https://docs.openclaw.ai/reference/token-use
local model guidance: https://docs.openclaw.ai/gateway/local-models
model setup overview: https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/models

For local models, current docs also say OpenClaw is rough below 32k context, and effectively not a great fit below 16k.

Can you paste these 3 outputs?

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openclaw --version
openclaw status --all
openclaw models status

Also tell me:

the exact Jan model name
what context length Jan says that model/server has

My guess is the onboarding crash is probably a separate bug, but it could have left you with a half-finished model config, so the version/status output matters. Once you paste that, I can tell you the cleanest next step.

onyx crag Apr 18, 2026, 3:52 AM

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PS C:\Users\mainframe> openclaw --version
OpenClaw 2026.4.15 (041266a)

severe sparrowBOT Apr 18, 2026, 3:52 AM

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Yep, that version is recent enough, so this does not look like an old-release issue.

What this points to now:

your Jan model/server is exposing only 8192 context
OpenClaw’s first run can exceed that
Jan chat still working is normal, because a plain Jan chat uses a much smaller prompt than an OpenClaw agent run
restarting the gateway won’t help for this specific error

So the likely answer is: 8k context is too small for OpenClaw.

Could you paste these next?

openclaw models status
openclaw status --all

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Also tell me the exact model name Jan is running.

Most likely fixes:

Increase the model/server context window in Jan, if Jan supports that.
If the model itself is 8k-only, switch to a model with a much larger context, ideally 32k+.
If you want a quick sanity check, try a hosted/cloud model once. If that works, your OpenClaw install is fine and the local Jan model is the bottleneck.

Relevant docs:

The onboarding crash after the social-media step still sounds like a separate bug. If it keeps happening on 2026.4.15, that’s worth filing as a GitHub issue after we get you unstuck.

onyx crag Apr 18, 2026, 3:53 AM

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model status is too large for the 2000 character limit. what specifically do you want

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i meanrt status all

severe sparrowBOT Apr 18, 2026, 3:54 AM

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Totally fine, I only need the small bits that matter:

Exact Jan model name
(copy it from Jan)
This command output:

openclaw models status --plain

Tell me if Jan shows a context length / context size setting, and what number it says
If you want, paste just the last error line from:

openclaw logs --follow

after reproducing the problem

onyx crag Apr 18, 2026, 3:54 AM

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🦞 OpenClaw 2026.4.15 (041266a) — We ship features faster than Apple ships calculator updates.

Config : ~.openclaw\openclaw.json
Agent dir : ~.openclaw\agents\main\agent
Default : jan-local/Jan-v3.5-4B-Q4_K_XL
Fallbacks (0) : -
Image model : -
Image fallbacks (0): -
Aliases (0) : -
Configured models (1): jan-local/Jan-v3.5-4B-Q4_K_XL

Auth overview
Auth store : ~.openclaw\agents\main\agent\auth-profiles.json
Shell env : off
Providers w/ OAuth/tokens (0): -

Missing auth

jan-local openclaw configure or set an API key env var.

OAuth/token status

none

severe sparrowBOT Apr 18, 2026, 3:54 AM

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If it’s easier, a screenshot of the Jan model page/settings is also enough.

Honestly, #1 and #3 are probably the key. If Jan says the model/context is 8192 max, then we’ve basically found the problem: that model is too small for normal OpenClaw runs.

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Ah, got it, no worries, skip openclaw status --all then.

I do not need the full thing.

Just send:

openclaw models status --plain

and tell me:

the exact Jan model name
whether Jan shows a context length setting, and what it is

That should be enough to tell if this is just the 8k context limit problem.

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Yep, that’s the smoking gun.

jan-local/Jan-v3.5-4B-Q4_K_XL is a small 4B quantized local model, and your backend is only giving OpenClaw 8192 context. That’s why this is failing.

So the short answer is:

OpenClaw is not broken
your laptop RAM is not the main issue
this specific local model/context size is too small for normal OpenClaw runs

Why Jan still works:

Jan chat sends a much smaller prompt
OpenClaw sends a much bigger agent prompt on first run

I’d suggest one of these paths:

Recommended, easiest: run openclaw configure and switch to a hosted/cloud model first, just to get OpenClaw working reliably.

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Stay local: load a different Jan model with a much larger context window, ideally 32k+, then rerun openclaw configure or openclaw onboard so OpenClaw points to that model instead.

If Jan only gives that model 8192 max, I would not fight it. It’s just not a good fit for OpenClaw.

One other clue: your output also shows:

Missing auth
jan-local openclaw configure

So the onboarding crash may have left the Jan/OpenClaw config a bit half-finished too. I think the main blocker is still the 8k context, but rerunning openclaw configure after picking a better model is a good idea.

Docs:

If you want, next I can help you choose the simplest working path:

cloud model first

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or best local-only option for Jan

onyx crag Apr 18, 2026, 3:57 AM

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best local only option for jan

severe sparrowBOT Apr 18, 2026, 3:58 AM

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Honestly, for Jan-only local, my recommendation is:

not Jan-v3.5-4B-Q4_K_XL
use the largest model Jan can run
make sure it has at least 32k context, preferably more
avoid the tiny / heavily quantized stuff when possible

So the “best local-only option for Jan” is less about one exact model name, and more about these rules:

32k+ context window
bigger than 4B
avoid aggressive Q4/tiny models if you can
after switching models, rerun:

openclaw configure

#New openclaw installation excessive token request