| Inference provider (cloud, NVIDIA Endpoints, local Ollama / vLLM, compatible-endpoint, …) | Rebuild required (openclaw.json is locked at sandbox creation) | nemoclaw <name> rebuild after picking a different provider with nemoclaw inference set |
| Inference model on the current provider | Rebuild required for OpenClaw; hot-reloadable for managed routers | nemoclaw <name> rebuild (OpenClaw) or nemoclaw inference set (router-based) |
| Sub-agent (Hermes / OpenClaw / …) | Re-onboard required (the sub-agent and its workspace are baked at onboard) | nemoclaw onboard --recreate-sandbox |
| Network policy preset (slack, discord, telegram, brave, …) | Runtime. Applies on the next request; rebuild only required if the preset adds bind-mounted secrets | nemoclaw <name> policy-add <preset> / policy-remove <preset> |
| Network allow-list (custom hosts) | Runtime. Picks up at next request | openshell policy set or interactive approval prompt at the gateway |
| Channel tokens (Slack / Discord / Telegram bot credentials) | Rebuild required (tokens are baked into the sandbox image at onboard so they never leave the host clear-text) | nemoclaw <name> channels add <channel> then accept the rebuild prompt |
| Channel enable/disable (turn a configured channel off without removing the token) | Rebuild required (openclaw.json is the source of truth at runtime, see #3453) | nemoclaw <name> channels stop <channel> then rebuild |
| Dashboard forward port | Runtime. Port is re-resolved on next connect | NEMOCLAW_DASHBOARD_PORT=<port> nemoclaw <name> connect |
| Dashboard bind address (loopback compared to all interfaces) | Runtime. Applies on next connect | NEMOCLAW_DASHBOARD_BIND=0.0.0.0 nemoclaw <name> connect (see #3259) |
Default OpenClaw workspace template seed (AGENTS.md, SOUL.md, IDENTITY.md, USER.md, TOOLS.md, HEARTBEAT.md) | Locked at first sandbox boot. Re-onboard required to change the bake-time choice. | Set NEMOCLAW_MINIMAL_BOOTSTRAP=1 before nemoclaw onboard to skip default template seeding for new/pristine workspaces. Does not delete files already present. Partial mitigation for #2598 (cuts ~3k tokens of project-context overhead off OpenClaw’s per-turn bootstrap injection). |
| Web search backend (Brave, Tavily, and so on) | Runtime through web.backend config flag; rebuild only if web.fetchEnabled flips | nemoclaw <name> config set --key web.backend --value tavily |
| Filesystem layout (Landlock zones, read-only mounts, container caps) | Locked at creation. No runtime change | Re-onboard with nemoclaw onboard --recreate-sandbox |
| Sandbox name | Locked at creation | Re-onboard with a different --name |
| GPU passthrough enable / device selector | Locked at creation | Re-onboard with --gpu / --sandbox-gpu-device |
Agents allow-list (agents.list in openclaw.json) | Runtime. OpenClaw hot-reloads on config change | Prefer agent or NemoClaw commands that keep host and sandbox state aligned |
openclaw.json keys (general: model, agents.list, web.backend, channel config, and so on) | Mixed. Individual keys still follow the rebuild rules in the rows above, such as provider switch requiring rebuild even after editing the JSON. | Prefer NemoClaw host commands so the host registry and rebuilt image stay aligned |
