Running OpenClaw Inside Ollama's Docker Container for Simpler Networking

One r/openclaw user shared a setup that puts OpenClaw inside the same Docker container as Ollama, eliminating the need for host.docker.internal or container hostnames. The approach is straightforward: start from the official ollama/ollama image, install OpenClaw inside it, and have OpenClaw talk to Ollama on 127.0.0.1:11434. This avoids common networking friction but comes with heavy RAM usage.

Key setup steps

Launch the container with GPU support, persistent model storage, and ports 11434 and 18789 (for OpenClaw's gateway):

docker run -d \
  --name ollamaopenclaw \
  --gpus=all \
  -v ollama_docker:/root/.ollama \
  -p 11434:11434 \
  -p 18789:18789 \
  ollama/ollama

To bind ports only to localhost:

docker run -d \
  --name ollamaopenclaw \
  --gpus=all \
  -v ollama_docker:/root/.ollama \
  -p 127.0.0.1:11434:11434 \
  -p 127.0.0.1:18789:18789 \
  ollama/ollama

Open a shell in the container and install OpenClaw:

docker exec -it ollamaopenclaw sh
apt-get update && apt-get install -y curl git bash ca-certificates
curl -fsSL --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 https://openclaw.ai/install-cli.sh | bash
export PATH="$HOME/.openclaw/bin:$PATH"
openclaw --version

Pull models (tested with small Qwen variants):

ollama pull qwen3.5:0.8b
ollama pull qwen3.5:2b
ollama pull qwen3.5:4b
ollama list

Configure OpenClaw's gateway:

export OLLAMA_API_KEY="ollama-local"
openclaw config set gateway.bind lan
openclaw config set gateway.port 18789
openclaw config set gateway.controlUi.allowedOrigins '["http://localhost:18789","http://127.0.0.1:18789"]' --strict-json

Start the gateway (keep the terminal open):

openclaw gateway run --bind lan --port 18789 --allow-unconfigured

In a second terminal, exec into the container again and run OpenClaw:

docker exec -it ollamaopenclaw sh
export PATH="$HOME/.openclaw/bin:$PATH"
export OLLAMA_API_KEY="ollama-local"
# Then run openclaw commands

Results and trade-offs

The setup works: OpenClaw uses 127.0.0.1:11434 for Ollama, no extra networking config needed. Ports and storage stay isolated. However, RAM usage is heavy—large prompts overwhelm small local models (0.8B to 4B tested). The user notes this is not a lightweight solution but is cleaner from a container isolation perspective.

Who it's for

Developers who want to run OpenClaw and Ollama in a single Docker container to avoid host networking and host.docker.internal headaches, especially for local or CI-bound LLM toolchains.