OpenClaw API Budget Drain: Settings to Change Immediately
OpenClaw's default settings may be causing unexpected API budget drain through the Heartbeat feature. This feature checks tasks every 30 minutes by default, and each check loads the full context files, memory, and chat history, sending tens of thousands of tokens to the API for basic status checks.
Settings to Change Immediately
- Set Active Hours: Restrict Heartbeat to your actual working hours in settings to stop overnight token drain.
- Change Your Default Base Model: Use cheaper models like Gemini Flash or DeepSeek for basic agent tasks instead of premium models like Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Opus.
- Only Call Big Models When Needed: Manually switch to premium models only when you need heavy reasoning or complex coding.
- Use the /new Command: Type
/newto hard-reset sessions after big tasks to avoid dragging dead context into your next prompt.
The source notes that using premium models for everything can cause costs to add up quickly, and context builds up rapidly as OpenClaw drags your entire chat history forward by default.
📖 Read the full source: r/openclaw
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