clawdbot/docs/gateway/troubleshooting.md

summary, read_when

summary	read_when
Quick troubleshooting guide for common Clawdbot failures	Investigating runtime issues or failures

Troubleshooting 🔧

When your CLAWDBOT misbehaves, here's how to fix it.

Common Issues

Service Installed but Nothing is Running

If the gateway service is installed but the process exits immediately, the daemon can appear “loaded” while nothing is running.

Check:

clawdbot daemon status
clawdbot doctor

Doctor/daemon will show runtime state (PID/last exit) and log hints.

Logs:

• macOS: ~/.clawdbot/logs/gateway.log and gateway.err.log
• Linux: journalctl --user -u clawdbot-gateway.service -n 200 --no-pager
• Windows: schtasks /Query /TN "Clawdbot Gateway" /V /FO LIST

Address Already in Use (Port 18789)

This means something is already listening on the gateway port.

Check:

clawdbot daemon status

It will show the listener(s) and likely causes (gateway already running, SSH tunnel). If needed, stop the service or pick a different port.

"Agent was aborted"

The agent was interrupted mid-response.

Causes:

• User sent stop, abort, esc, wait, or exit
• Timeout exceeded
• Process crashed

Fix: Just send another message. The session continues.

Messages Not Triggering

Check 1: Is the sender in whatsapp.allowFrom?

cat ~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json | jq '.whatsapp.allowFrom'

Check 2: For group chats, is mention required?

# The message must match mentionPatterns or explicit mentions; defaults live in provider groups/guilds.
cat ~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json | jq '.routing.groupChat, .whatsapp.groups, .telegram.groups, .imessage.groups, .discord.guilds'

Check 3: Check the logs

tail -f "$(ls -t /tmp/clawdbot/clawdbot-*.log | head -1)" | grep "blocked\\|skip\\|unauthorized"

Image + Mention Not Working

Known issue: When you send an image with ONLY a mention (no other text), WhatsApp sometimes doesn't include the mention metadata.

Workaround: Add some text with the mention:

• ❌ @clawd + image
• ✅ @clawd check this + image

Session Not Resuming

Check 1: Is the session file there?

ls -la ~/.clawdbot/agents/<agentId>/sessions/

Check 2: Is idleMinutes too short?

{
  "session": {
    "idleMinutes": 10080  // 7 days
  }
}

Check 3: Did someone send /new, /reset, or a reset trigger?

Agent Timing Out

Default timeout is 30 minutes. For long tasks:

{
  "reply": {
    "timeoutSeconds": 3600  // 1 hour
  }
}

Or use the process tool to background long commands.

WhatsApp Disconnected

# Check local status (creds, sessions, queued events)
clawdbot status
# Probe the running gateway + providers (WA connect + Telegram + Discord APIs)
clawdbot status --deep

# View recent connection events
tail -100 /tmp/clawdbot/clawdbot-*.log | grep "connection\\|disconnect\\|logout"

Fix: Usually reconnects automatically once the Gateway is running. If you’re stuck, restart the Gateway process (however you supervise it), or run it manually with verbose output:

clawdbot gateway --verbose

If you’re logged out / unlinked:

clawdbot logout
trash ~/.clawdbot/credentials # if logout can't cleanly remove everything
clawdbot login --verbose       # re-scan QR

Media Send Failing

Check 1: Is the file path valid?

ls -la /path/to/your/image.jpg

Check 2: Is it too large?

• Images: max 6MB
• Audio/Video: max 16MB
• Documents: max 100MB

Check 3: Check media logs

grep "media\\|fetch\\|download" "$(ls -t /tmp/clawdbot/clawdbot-*.log | head -1)" | tail -20

High Memory Usage

CLAWDBOT keeps conversation history in memory.

Fix: Restart periodically or set session limits:

{
  "session": {
    "historyLimit": 100  // Max messages to keep
  }
}

macOS Specific Issues

App Crashes when Granting Permissions (Speech/Mic)

If the app disappears or shows "Abort trap 6" when you click "Allow" on a privacy prompt:

Fix 1: Reset TCC Cache

tccutil reset All com.clawdbot.mac.debug

Fix 2: Force New Bundle ID If resetting doesn't work, change the BUNDLE_ID in scripts/package-mac-app.sh (e.g., add a .test suffix) and rebuild. This forces macOS to treat it as a new app.

Gateway stuck on "Starting..."

The app connects to a local gateway on port 18789. If it stays stuck:

Fix 1: Kill Zombie Processes Another process might be holding the port.

lsof -nP -i :18789
# Kill any matching PIDs
kill -9 <PID>

If the gateway is supervised by launchd, killing the PID will just respawn it. Stop the supervisor instead:

clawdbot gateway stop
# Or: launchctl bootout gui/$UID/com.clawdbot.gateway

Fix 2: Check embedded gateway Ensure the gateway relay was properly bundled. Run ./scripts/package-mac-app.sh and ensure bun is installed.

Debug Mode

Get verbose logging:

# Turn on trace logging in config:
#   ~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json -> { logging: { level: "trace" } }
#
# Then run verbose commands to mirror debug output to stdout:
clawdbot gateway --verbose
clawdbot login --verbose

Log Locations

Log	Location
Main logs (default)	/tmp/clawdbot/clawdbot-YYYY-MM-DD.log
Session files	~/.clawdbot/agents/<agentId>/sessions/
Media cache	~/.clawdbot/media/
Credentials	~/.clawdbot/credentials/

Health Check

# Is the gateway reachable?
clawdbot health --json

# Is something listening on the default port?
lsof -nP -iTCP:18789 -sTCP:LISTEN

# Recent activity
tail -20 /tmp/clawdbot/clawdbot-*.log

Reset Everything

Nuclear option:

trash ~/.clawdbot
clawdbot login         # re-pair WhatsApp
clawdbot gateway        # start the Gateway again

⚠️ This loses all sessions and requires re-pairing WhatsApp.

Getting Help

1. Check logs first: /tmp/clawdbot/ (default: clawdbot-YYYY-MM-DD.log, or your configured logging.file)
2. Search existing issues on GitHub
3. Open a new issue with:
   • CLAWDBOT version
   • Relevant log snippets
   • Steps to reproduce
   • Your config (redact secrets!)

---

"Have you tried turning it off and on again?" — Every IT person ever

🦞🔧

Browser Not Starting (Linux)

If you see "Failed to start Chrome CDP on port 18800":

Most likely cause: Snap-packaged Chromium on Ubuntu.

Quick fix: Install Google Chrome instead:

wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

Then set in config:

{
  "browser": {
    "executablePath": "/usr/bin/google-chrome-stable"
  }
}

Full guide: See browser-linux-troubleshooting