OpenClaw MeshLLM

Standalone OpenClaw model-provider plugin for the MeshLLM Node SDK.

The plugin has two modes:

• client: join a Mesh and use its advertised models for OpenClaw inference.
• node: do the same while also loading a local model and serving it into the Mesh.

Current SDK constraints

MeshLLM 0.68.0 exposes unary inference.chat() calls. OpenClaw therefore receives each answer as one text chunk rather than token-by-token streaming. The SDK also accepts role/content messages but not native tool definitions. This plugin adds a plain-text tool-call protocol and uses OpenClaw's public tool-call repair wrapper so compatible models can still call OpenClaw tools.

The SDK returns a request ID only after the unary call completes. An OpenClaw abort therefore closes the local response stream promptly, but this SDK version cannot forward that abort to an already-running Mesh request.

The @meshllm/sdk package is not currently published on npm. This checkout uses the sibling source package at ../mesh-llm/sdk/node.

Build

Build the Mesh Node native addon first:

cd ../mesh-llm/sdk/node
npm run build:native

Then build and test the plugin:

cd ../../../openclaw-meshllm
npm install
npm test

Client mode

Add the local plugin to openclaw.json:

{
  plugins: {
    load: {
      paths: ["/absolute/path/to/openclaw-meshllm"],
    },
    entries: {
      meshllm: {
        enabled: true,
        config: {
          mode: "client",
          inviteToken: "your-public-or-private-mesh-invite",
          ownerKeypairHex: "your-stable-owner-keypair-hex",
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

The plugin also understands the Mesh SDK's existing environment variables:

export MESH_SDK_INVITE_TOKEN='...'
export MESH_SDK_OWNER_KEYPAIR_HEX='...'

Restart the Gateway, inspect the plugin, and list Mesh models:

openclaw gateway restart
openclaw plugins inspect meshllm --runtime --json
openclaw models list --provider meshllm

Then set the desired meshllm/<model-id> as the agent's primary model using your normal OpenClaw model configuration flow.

If ownerKeypairHex is omitted, the plugin generates an ephemeral keypair on each Gateway start. Configure a stable keypair for a stable Mesh identity.

Serving-node mode

Node mode resolves a native runtime, starts a serving-enabled Mesh node, optionally downloads the configured model, and loads it:

{
  plugins: {
    load: {
      paths: ["/absolute/path/to/openclaw-meshllm"],
    },
    entries: {
      meshllm: {
        enabled: true,
        config: {
          mode: "node",
          inviteToken: "your-public-or-private-mesh-invite",
          ownerKeypairHex: "your-stable-owner-keypair-hex",
          modelRef: "Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct-Q4_K_M",
          downloadModel: true,
          devicePolicy: "auto",
          nativeRuntime: {
            artifactDir: "/path/to/meshllm-native-runtime-darwin-aarch64-metal",
            allowDownload: false,
          },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

To let the SDK download its recommended native runtime instead:

nativeRuntime: {
  allowDownload: true,
}

The serving instance is drained and unloaded when OpenClaw stops the plugin, then the Mesh node is stopped.

Configuration

Field	Default	Meaning
mode	"client"	Join only, or join and serve
inviteToken	MESH_SDK_INVITE_TOKEN	Public or private Mesh invite
ownerKeypairHex	MESH_SDK_OWNER_KEYPAIR_HEX	Stable Mesh identity; generated ephemerally if omitted
cacheDir	MESH_SDK_CACHE_DIR	Mesh model/cache directory
runtimeDir	MESH_SDK_RUNTIME_DIR	Mesh runtime working directory
modelRef	MESH_SDK_MODEL_REF	Model to download/load in node mode
downloadModel	true	Download the model before loading it
devicePolicy	"auto"	"auto", "cpu", "gpu", or { gpu: string[] }
inferenceTimeoutMs	120000	Mesh SDK chat timeout
contextWindow	32768	Fallback context size when discovery does not report one
maxTokens	8192	OpenClaw catalog output-token limit
unloadDrainTimeoutMs	10000	Node shutdown drain time
nativeRuntime	download disabled	Mesh native-runtime resolver options

MESHLLM_NATIVE_RUNTIME_ARTIFACT_DIR, MESH_SDK_RUNTIME_ALLOW_DOWNLOAD, and MESH_SDK_SKIP_DOWNLOAD are also honored.