Piramilan Suthesakumaran

Full-Stack & AI Engineer

Published March 14, 2026Updated March 14, 20261 min readBy Piramilan Suthesakumaran

How to Delete a Model from the OpenClaw Fallback Chain

Use the fallback remove command instead of hand-editing the model object when you only want to prune one backup entry.

If the model you want to remove only exists in the fallback list, use the dedicated fallback command. It is safer and clearer than editing nested config manually.

Quick answer

List the fallbacks, remove the exact model ref, and then re-check the chain with openclaw models status.

Command line steps

1. List the current fallback chain

Grab the exact provider/model ref before you remove anything.

Command

BASH

$openclaw models fallbacks list

2. Remove the model you no longer want

This only changes the fallback chain and leaves the primary untouched.

Command

BASH

$openclaw models fallbacks remove <provider/model>

3. Verify the result

Always re-check the chain so you know the gateway and the picker agree with the change.

Command

BASH

$openclaw models fallbacks list
$openclaw models status

What to check if it still fails

  • If the removed model is still showing as primary, you removed the wrong layer. Change the primary separately with openclaw models set.
  • If the chain is now empty and that was not intentional, add the backup back with openclaw models fallbacks add <provider/model>.
  • If failover still looks wrong, probe auth with openclaw models status --probe.

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