Lmstudio Model Switch

Switch AI models on-the-fly between local LM Studio and cloud Kimi API in OpenClaw with simple commands and automatic gateway restart.

Fast model switching between LM Studio local and Kimi API for OpenClaw.

Switch your agent's AI model on-the-fly between local (LM Studio) and cloud (Kimi API) providers with a single command.

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Installation

# Clone to your OpenClaw skills directory
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/lmstudio-model-switch \
  ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/lmstudio-model-switch

# Or manually copy
cp -r lmstudio-model-switch ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/

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Usage

Commands

Command	Description
/switch-model status	Show current model and available providers
/switch-model local	Switch to LM Studio (Qwen 3.5 9B default)
/switch-model local <model>	Switch to specific local model
/switch-model api	Switch to Kimi K2.5 API
/switch-model kimi	Alias for /switch-model api

Examples

# Check current status
/switch-model status

# Switch to local LM Studio
/switch-model local

# Switch to specific model
/switch-model local mistral-small-24b

# Switch to Kimi API
/switch-model api

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Configuration

Add to your openclaw.json:

{
  "skills": {
    "lmstudio-model-switch": {
      "enabled": true,
      "config": {
        "local": {
          "baseUrl": "http://127.0.0.1:1234/v1",
          "defaultModel": "qwen/qwen3.5-9b"
        },
        "api": {
          "provider": "kimi-coding",
          "model": "k2p5"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

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How It Works

1. Backup: Creates timestamped backup of openclaw.json
2. Edit: Modifies "primary" model in agents.defaults
3. Verify: Validates JSON syntax
4. Restart: Restarts OpenClaw gateway service
5. Confirm: Reports new active model

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Use Cases

Privacy-First Work

Use local when handling:

• Authentication tokens
• Passwords or credentials
• Sensitive personal data
• Proprietary code

Quality-First Work

Use API when needing:

• Maximum reasoning capability
• Very long contexts (>100k tokens)
• Best-in-class performance
• Cloud reliability

VRAM Management

Switch to API when:

• GPU memory is low (<6GB free)
• Running other GPU-intensive tasks
• LM Studio is restarting

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Requirements

• OpenClaw ≥ 2026.3.12
• LM Studio running on port 1234 (for local mode)
• Kimi API key configured (for API mode)
• systemd (for service restart)

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Troubleshooting

"LM Studio not responding"

# Check if LM Studio is running
curl http://127.0.0.1:1234/api/v0/models

# Restart LM Studio if needed
killall lmstudio; sleep 2; lmstudio &

"Switch failed"

• Check JSON syntax: python3 -m json.tool ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
• Restore from backup: cp ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json.bak.* ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json

"Gateway won't restart"

# Check service status
systemctl --user status openclaw-gateway

# Manual restart
systemctl --user restart openclaw-gateway

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Author

WarMech - OpenClaw Community

License

MIT

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Changelog

2026-03-14 - v1.0.0

• Initial release
• Support for local/API switching
• Backup/restore functionality
• systemd integration