OpenClaw Model Timeout: How to Diagnose It

Compare a small direct provider probe with the failing agent turn. If both time out, investigate the provider, local server, credential route, or network. If only the agent turn fails, inspect context size, tools, and backend compatibility.

Collect one failing trace

openclaw models status
openclaw status --all
openclaw logs --follow

Record the exact provider/model, elapsed time, context size, tool count, and whether a local inference server was already loaded. Do not repeatedly launch the same long request while collecting evidence.

Reduce one variable

Create a fresh session and send a short text prompt. Then add the required tool set. For a local model, watch RAM/VRAM pressure and server logs. For a remote provider, check service status, network proxy, account limits, and configured request timeout.

If small requests work but normal sessions fail, reduce context or test a model with a larger supported window. If the request enters repeated tool calls, stop the loop rather than increasing the timeout.

Expected result

• A small provider probe completes.
• Logs show whether delay occurs before response, during streaming, or inside a tool loop.
• The corrected context, backend, or timeout completes one normal turn.
• Retry and fallback behavior does not create duplicate work.

Publish the exact backend and model tag with any timeout recommendation; latency differs substantially by provider and hardware.