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Clawboo itself is free. What costs money is the AI model your agents use, and an API key bills you for every token. Two paths need no API key: a local model that runs on your own computer through Ollama, and your ChatGPT plan through the Codex runtime. This recipe sets up either one and says what to expect from it. What you’ll build: a team that runs on a local Ollama model or on your ChatGPT plan, and optionally an OpenClaw Gateway on the same local model. Time: about 15 minutes, plus the time to download a model for Ollama.

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Choose a path

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Before you begin

  • Clawboo is installed. See Install Clawboo.
  • If you have not finished onboarding yet, you do the connect step during onboarding. If you have, you do it in Settings. Both ways are below.

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Set it up

1

Install and start Ollama

Download Ollama from ollama.com/download and open it. Ollama keeps running in the background. From a terminal, ollama serve starts it too.
2

Pull a model that can use tools

llama3.2 is the model Clawboo suggests. Any chat model works if Ollama reports that it can use tools: agents call tools on almost every turn (memory, the board, handing work to teammates). Clawboo’s model menus mark the others (can’t use tools). Embedding models such as nomic-embed-text never appear in those menus, because they cannot answer a chat.
3

Connect Ollama to Clawboo

  • During onboarding: on Connect your AI provider, click Ollama (Local · no key needed). Pick your model under Model and click Continue.
  • After onboarding: open Settings (Cmd/Ctrl + ,), then Runtimes. Expand Clawboo Native (its button reads Connect or Manage). Under LLM providers, find Ollama and click Use.
You should see onboarding move on to Add more runtimes, or, in Settings, Ollama listed among the connected providers. To make Ollama the provider new agents use, expand its row and click Make default.
4

Deploy a team

In onboarding, Choose your first team puts every member on Clawboo Native with your Ollama model. From the Marketplace, check that each member’s runtime reads Clawboo Native in Customize team, then click Deploy team.Every agent, the lead and the specialists alike, uses the same Ollama model. One model means your computer does not reload a different one at each hand-off.
5

Let team memory search by meaning (optional)

When Ollama on this computer has nomic-embed-text, Clawboo’s team memory uses it to find facts by meaning, without sending them anywhere. Without it, and with no OpenAI key connected, memory search matches keywords. Clawboo looks for it at http://localhost:11434 only.
To change the model later, open Settings > Runtimes > Clawboo Native > Manage, expand the Ollama row and pick a Default model. Boo Zero switches to it at once, and agents you create afterwards get it. An existing agent keeps its model until you change it on the agent’s page.

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Check that it worked

  1. In the team’s General chat, ask for something small, for example “List three names for a weekly newsletter.”
  2. Boo Zero replies, or hands the work to a teammate as a task card.
  3. Open the finished task in the Tasks card. Its detail names the runtime that ran it: Clawboo Native for Ollama, Codex for your ChatGPT plan.

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Limits to know

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Local models

  • Every agent needs tool use. A model without it fails with ”… can’t use tools, and this agent needs them.” Pick one Ollama reports as tool-capable.
  • Quality depends on your computer. A model small enough for a laptop makes more mistakes than a hosted one, most often when it hands work to teammates. If tasks go wrong, try the largest tool-capable model your computer runs comfortably.
  • Costs read free. A run on a model your own Ollama serves is recorded at $0, shows as “free” on task cards and charges no budget. Ollama’s cloud models (a -cloud tag) run on ollama.com instead, so Clawboo estimates them at a default rate, marks them “est.” and counts them toward budgets. See Budgets and spend.

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ChatGPT plan

  • One plan, shared limits. Codex, and OpenClaw or Hermes if you sign them in too, all use your one ChatGPT plan. They share its usage limits with each other and with your own Codex use.
  • Costs show as estimates. Codex reports tokens but not dollars, so Clawboo estimates a cost and marks it “est.”. Your plan is a flat fee, so the estimate is not your bill, but it counts toward budgets like any other cost.
  • Coding agent, full access. Codex works with your account’s permissions and its approval prompts off (see the warning above).

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Run OpenClaw on your local Ollama (optional)

OpenClaw agents can run on the same local model. Do the Ollama path above first, so Clawboo knows you chose Ollama. OpenClaw also needs a Node.js version it accepts: 24.22.1 or a later 24.x, or 26.12.1 or newer.
1

Start the OpenClaw setup

Open Settings > Runtimes. On the OpenClaw row, click Set up, then Set up OpenClaw. Clawboo installs OpenClaw if it is missing, points it at your local Ollama, starts the Gateway and connects.
2

Approve this device

When OpenClaw asks, click Approve this device.You should see the OpenClaw row read Connected.
Set up OpenClaw reuses the first credential it finds, in this order: a provider API key you connected, OpenClaw’s own ChatGPT sign-in, an offer to sign OpenClaw in with ChatGPT (when Codex is signed in), and then your local Ollama. So OpenClaw runs on Ollama only when no API key and no ChatGPT sign-in are connected. For Ollama, Clawboo adds the line OLLAMA_API_KEY=ollama-local to ~/.openclaw/.env. It is a marker OpenClaw needs, not a secret. If OpenClaw’s default model is not pulled, the setup stops with the ollama pull command and a Check again button. An OpenClaw agent whose model is an ollama/ one is recorded at $0, like Clawboo Native on Ollama. More on OpenClaw: OpenClaw.

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Variations

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Troubleshooting

What it means: Ollama answered, but it has no model that can hold a chat. Embedding models do not count.Fix: run ollama pull llama3.2, then click Check again.
What it means: the agent’s model is not pulled on this computer.Fix: run the ollama pull command the message shows, or pick a model you have pulled in the agent’s model menu on its page.
What it means: the model cannot call tools, and every agent uses tools.Fix: pick a tool-capable model on the agent’s page, or pull one with ollama pull llama3.2.
What it means: Clawboo could not reach Ollama at its address (http://localhost:11434 unless you set OLLAMA_BASE_URL).Fix: open Ollama, or run ollama serve, then try again. If you don’t have it, install it from ollama.com/download.
What it means: the members were deployed on Clawboo Native or OpenClaw, which need an API key, Ollama or a Gateway.Fix: delete the team with Delete with agents and deploy it again with every member set to Codex in Customize team.
What it means: the browser sign-in was closed or failed. For Hermes, your ChatGPT account may not allow sign-in with a one-time code.Fix: click Sign in with ChatGPT again. For Hermes, turn on device code sign-in under Settings > Security in ChatGPT, then retry. If the button keeps failing, run the command the card shows in a terminal, then click Re-check.

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Next steps

Last modified on October 31, 2026