Qwen3.x models fail silently in OpenClaw due to streaming output format mismatch

The Problem

When running Qwen3.x models locally with OpenClaw in streaming mode, the models output their responses to the reasoning field instead of the expected content field. OpenClaw interprets empty content as a failure and silently falls through to the next model in your fallback chain without throwing an error. This results in the wrong model answering queries.

The Solution

The fix involves implementing a small proxy that sits between OpenClaw and Ollama. This proxy performs two key functions:

• Translates the API format between the two systems
• Injects think: false into the appropriate location

Once correctly configured, Qwen3.x models pass full tool-call evaluation with perfect scores (15/15), including execution, file reading, web search, Sheets integration, Slack integration, and memory operations.

Implementation Details

The source provides a comprehensive write-up covering:

• Proxy setup instructions
• Six specific configuration settings that must all be correct
• Monitoring approaches
• What doesn't work (common pitfalls to avoid)

The full technical details, including code snippets and configuration examples, are available in the linked gist.