OpenClaw Setup on Ubuntu UTM VM with LLM API and Ollama Access

OpenClaw Sandboxed Setup with Multi-LLM Access

A developer has documented a working configuration for running OpenClaw in a standalone, sandboxed environment. The setup involves running OpenClaw inside an Ubuntu virtual machine using UTM on an M3 Mac, while maintaining connectivity to LLM services both locally and via external APIs.

Key Configuration Details

The solution provides OpenClaw with access only to materials available inside the Ubuntu VM, creating a controlled environment. Meanwhile, Ollama runs natively on macOS and remains accessible to OpenClaw within the Ubuntu VM on the same machine.

OpenClaw in this configuration can utilize multiple LLM APIs including:

• Gemini
• Claude
• DeepSeek

Available Resources

All sample configuration files are available at: https://github.com/parimalbajpai/openclaw/tree/main

OpenClaw-specific tips and solutions are documented in notes.txt, which includes:

• Workarounds for Ubuntu/ARM not having Chrome
• Google Workspace access via gog and gogcli

Additional Ollama configuration tips are available in separate notes.txt.

This type of sandboxed setup is particularly useful for developers who want to test AI coding agents in isolated environments while maintaining access to both local and cloud-based LLM services, allowing for controlled experimentation with different model configurations.