How to use heartbeat checks with local models | Friends of the Crustacean 🦞🤝 | Page 1

serene wedge Apr 18, 2026, 6:14 PM

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I want to use a local model to do the heartbeat checks so that I don't burn tokens. How do I configure that?

brazen vaultBOT Apr 18, 2026, 6:14 PM

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unkempt oarBOT Apr 18, 2026, 6:14 PM

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bright wadiBOT Apr 18, 2026, 6:17 PM

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Yep, use the heartbeat-specific model override:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6" }, // normal chats
      heartbeat: {
        every: "30m",
        model: "ollama/llama3.3", // or lmstudio/..., vllm/..., etc.
        lightContext: true,
        isolatedSession: true
      }
    }
  }
}

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CLI version:

openclaw config set agents.defaults.heartbeat.model "ollama/llama3.3"
openclaw config set agents.defaults.heartbeat.lightContext true --strict-json
openclaw config set agents.defaults.heartbeat.isolatedSession true --strict-json

A couple gotchas:

If you use an allowlist in agents.defaults.models, add the local model there too.

For Ollama local-only, make sure Ollama is enabled and the model exists, e.g.:

export OLLAMA_API_KEY="ollama-local"
ollama pull llama3.3
openclaw models list --provider ollama

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isolatedSession: true + lightContext: true is the big token saver, even beyond switching models.

Docs:

One honest caveat: local models are usually fine for simple heartbeat checks, but tool-heavy heartbeat workflows can get flaky. If you want, tell me whether you’re using Ollama or LM Studio and I’ll paste the exact config block for that setup.

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serene wedge Apr 18, 2026, 6:22 PM

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I'm using ollama. Do I need to do this for each agent? or does this setting apply to all?

bright wadiBOT Apr 18, 2026, 6:23 PM

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If you set it under agents.defaults.heartbeat.model, it applies to all heartbeat runs by default.

Use per-agent only if you want an override:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      heartbeat: {
        model: "ollama/llama3.3"
      }
    },
    list: [
      {
        id: "research",
        heartbeat: {

#

          model: "ollama/qwen3:14b"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Important gotcha:

agents.defaults.heartbeat = global default
agents.list[].heartbeat = per-agent override
If any agent has a heartbeat block, only those agents run heartbeats

So if you just want “all heartbeats use Ollama”, set it once in agents.defaults.heartbeat.model.

#How to use heartbeat checks with local models