clawdbot/docs/gateway/index.md

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Runbook for the Gateway daemon, lifecycle, and operations	Running or debugging the gateway process

Gateway (daemon) runbook

Last updated: 2025-12-09

What it is

• The always-on process that owns the single Baileys/Telegram connection and the control/event plane.
• Replaces the legacy gateway command. CLI entry point: clawdbot gateway.
• Runs until stopped; exits non-zero on fatal errors so the supervisor restarts it.

How to run (local)

clawdbot gateway --port 18789
# for full debug/trace logs in stdio:
clawdbot gateway --port 18789 --verbose
# if the port is busy, terminate listeners then start:
clawdbot gateway --force
# dev loop (auto-reload on TS changes):
pnpm gateway:watch

• Config hot reload watches ~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json (or CLAWDBOT_CONFIG_PATH).
  • Default mode: gateway.reload.mode="hybrid" (hot-apply safe changes, restart on critical).
  • Hot reload uses in-process restart via SIGUSR1 when needed.
  • Disable with gateway.reload.mode="off".
• Binds WebSocket control plane to 127.0.0.1:<port> (default 18789).
• The same port also serves HTTP (control UI, hooks, A2UI). Single-port multiplex.
• Starts a Canvas file server by default on canvasHost.port (default 18793), serving http://<gateway-host>:18793/__clawdbot__/canvas/ from ~/clawd/canvas. Disable with canvasHost.enabled=false or CLAWDBOT_SKIP_CANVAS_HOST=1.
• Logs to stdout; use launchd/systemd to keep it alive and rotate logs.
• Pass --verbose to mirror debug logging (handshakes, req/res, events) from the log file into stdio when troubleshooting.
• --force uses lsof to find listeners on the chosen port, sends SIGTERM, logs what it killed, then starts the gateway (fails fast if lsof is missing).
• If you run under a supervisor (launchd/systemd/mac app child-process mode), a stop/restart typically sends SIGTERM; older builds may surface this as pnpm ELIFECYCLE exit code 143 (SIGTERM), which is a normal shutdown, not a crash.
• SIGUSR1 triggers an in-process restart (no external supervisor required). This is what the gateway agent tool uses.
• Optional shared secret: pass --token <value> or set CLAWDBOT_GATEWAY_TOKEN to require clients to send connect.params.auth.token.
• Port precedence: --port > CLAWDBOT_GATEWAY_PORT > gateway.port > default 18789.

Remote access

• Tailscale/VPN preferred; otherwise SSH tunnel:

  ssh -N -L 18789:127.0.0.1:18789 user@host
  

• Clients then connect to ws://127.0.0.1:18789 through the tunnel.
• If a token is configured, clients must include it in connect.params.auth.token even over the tunnel.

Multiple gateways (same host)

Supported if you isolate state + config and use unique ports.

Dev profile (--dev)

Fast path: run a fully-isolated dev instance (config/state/workspace) without touching your primary setup.

clawdbot --dev setup
clawdbot --dev gateway --allow-unconfigured
# then target the dev instance:
clawdbot --dev status
clawdbot --dev health

Defaults (can be overridden via env/flags/config):

• CLAWDBOT_STATE_DIR=~/.clawdbot-dev
• CLAWDBOT_CONFIG_PATH=~/.clawdbot-dev/clawdbot.json
• CLAWDBOT_GATEWAY_PORT=19001 (Gateway WS + HTTP)
• bridge.port=19002 (derived: gateway.port+1)
• browser.controlUrl=http://127.0.0.1:19003 (derived: gateway.port+2)
• canvasHost.port=19005 (derived: gateway.port+4)
• agent.workspace default becomes ~/clawd-dev when you run setup/onboard under --dev.

Derived ports (rules of thumb):

• Base port = gateway.port (or CLAWDBOT_GATEWAY_PORT / --port)
• bridge.port = base + 1 (or CLAWDBOT_BRIDGE_PORT / config override)
• browser.controlUrl port = base + 2 (or CLAWDBOT_BROWSER_CONTROL_URL / config override)
• canvasHost.port = base + 4 (or CLAWDBOT_CANVAS_HOST_PORT / config override)
• Browser profile CDP ports auto-allocate from browser.controlPort + 9 .. + 108 (persisted per profile).

Checklist per instance:

• unique gateway.port
• unique CLAWDBOT_CONFIG_PATH
• unique CLAWDBOT_STATE_DIR
• unique agent.workspace
• separate WhatsApp numbers (if using WA)

Example:

CLAWDBOT_CONFIG_PATH=~/.clawdbot/a.json CLAWDBOT_STATE_DIR=~/.clawdbot-a clawdbot gateway --port 19001
CLAWDBOT_CONFIG_PATH=~/.clawdbot/b.json CLAWDBOT_STATE_DIR=~/.clawdbot-b clawdbot gateway --port 19002

Protocol (operator view)

• Mandatory first frame from client: req {type:"req", id, method:"connect", params:{minProtocol,maxProtocol,client:{name,version,platform,deviceFamily?,modelIdentifier?,mode,instanceId}, caps, auth?, locale?, userAgent? } }.
• Gateway replies res {type:"res", id, ok:true, payload:hello-ok } (or ok:false with an error, then closes).
• After handshake:
  • Requests: {type:"req", id, method, params} → {type:"res", id, ok, payload|error}
  • Events: {type:"event", event, payload, seq?, stateVersion?}
• Structured presence entries: {host, ip, version, platform?, deviceFamily?, modelIdentifier?, mode, lastInputSeconds?, ts, reason?, tags?[], instanceId? }.
• agent responses are two-stage: first res ack {runId,status:"accepted"}, then a final res {runId,status:"ok"|"error",summary} after the run finishes; streamed output arrives as event:"agent".

Methods (initial set)

• health — full health snapshot (same shape as clawdbot health --json).
• status — short summary.
• system-presence — current presence list.
• system-event — post a presence/system note (structured).
• send — send a message via the active provider(s).
• agent — run an agent turn (streams events back on same connection).
• node.list — list paired + currently-connected bridge nodes (includes caps, deviceFamily, modelIdentifier, paired, connected, and advertised commands).
• node.describe — describe a node (capabilities + supported node.invoke commands; works for paired nodes and for currently-connected unpaired nodes).
• node.invoke — invoke a command on a node (e.g. canvas.*, camera.*).
• node.pair.* — pairing lifecycle (request, list, approve, reject, verify).

See also: docs/presence.md for how presence is produced/deduped and why instanceId matters.

Events

• agent — streamed tool/output events from the agent run (seq-tagged).
• presence — presence updates (deltas with stateVersion) pushed to all connected clients.
• tick — periodic keepalive/no-op to confirm liveness.
• shutdown — Gateway is exiting; payload includes reason and optional restartExpectedMs. Clients should reconnect.

WebChat integration

• WebChat is a native SwiftUI UI that talks directly to the Gateway WebSocket for history, sends, abort, and events.
• Remote use goes through the same SSH/Tailscale tunnel; if a gateway token is configured, the client includes it during connect.
• macOS app connects via a single WS (shared connection); it hydrates presence from the initial snapshot and listens for presence events to update the UI.

Typing and validation

• Server validates every inbound frame with AJV against JSON Schema emitted from the protocol definitions.
• Clients (TS/Swift) consume generated types (TS directly; Swift via the repo’s generator).
• Types live in src/gateway/protocol/*.ts; regenerate schemas/models with pnpm protocol:gen (writes dist/protocol.schema.json) and pnpm protocol:gen:swift (writes apps/macos/Sources/ClawdbotProtocol/GatewayModels.swift).

Connection snapshot

• hello-ok includes a snapshot with presence, health, stateVersion, and uptimeMs plus policy {maxPayload,maxBufferedBytes,tickIntervalMs} so clients can render immediately without extra requests.
• health/system-presence remain available for manual refresh, but are not required at connect time.

Error codes (res.error shape)

• Errors use { code, message, details?, retryable?, retryAfterMs? }.
• Standard codes:
  • NOT_LINKED — WhatsApp not authenticated.
  • AGENT_TIMEOUT — agent did not respond within the configured deadline.
  • INVALID_REQUEST — schema/param validation failed.
  • UNAVAILABLE — Gateway is shutting down or a dependency is unavailable.

Keepalive behavior

• tick events (or WS ping/pong) are emitted periodically so clients know the Gateway is alive even when no traffic occurs.
• Send/agent acknowledgements remain separate responses; do not overload ticks for sends.

Replay / gaps

• Events are not replayed. Clients detect seq gaps and should refresh (health + system-presence) before continuing. WebChat and macOS clients now auto-refresh on gap.

Supervision (macOS example)

• Use launchd to keep the daemon alive:
  • Program: path to clawdbot
  • Arguments: gateway
  • KeepAlive: true
  • StandardOut/Err: file paths or syslog
• On failure, launchd restarts; fatal misconfig should keep exiting so the operator notices.
• LaunchAgents are per-user and require a logged-in session; for headless setups use a custom LaunchDaemon (not shipped).

Daemon management (CLI)

Use the CLI daemon manager for install/start/stop/restart/status:

clawdbot daemon status
clawdbot daemon install
clawdbot daemon stop
clawdbot daemon restart
clawdbot logs --follow

Notes:

• daemon status probes the Gateway RPC by default (same URL/token defaults as gateway status).
• daemon status --deep adds system-level scans (LaunchDaemons/system units).
• daemon status reports supervisor runtime (launchd/systemd running) separately from RPC reachability (WS connect + status RPC).
• daemon status prints config path + probe target to avoid “localhost vs LAN bind” confusion and profile mismatches.
• logs tails the Gateway file log via RPC (no manual tail/grep needed).
• If other gateway-like services are detected, the CLI warns. We recommend one gateway per machine; one gateway can host multiple agents.
  • Cleanup: clawdbot daemon uninstall (current service) and clawdbot doctor (legacy migrations).

Bundled mac app:

• Clawdbot.app can bundle a bun-compiled gateway binary and install a per-user LaunchAgent labeled com.clawdbot.gateway.
• To stop it cleanly, use clawdbot daemon stop (or launchctl bootout gui/$UID/com.clawdbot.gateway).
• To restart, use clawdbot daemon restart (or launchctl kickstart -k gui/$UID/com.clawdbot.gateway).
  • launchctl only works if the LaunchAgent is installed; otherwise use clawdbot daemon install first.

Supervision (systemd user unit)

Create ~/.config/systemd/user/clawdbot-gateway.service:

[Unit]
Description=Clawdbot Gateway
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/clawdbot gateway --port 18789
Restart=always
RestartSec=5
Environment=CLAWDBOT_GATEWAY_TOKEN=
WorkingDirectory=/home/youruser

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Enable lingering (required so the user service survives logout/idle):

sudo loginctl enable-linger youruser

Onboarding runs this on Linux/WSL2 (may prompt for sudo; writes /var/lib/systemd/linger). Then enable the service:

systemctl --user enable --now clawdbot-gateway.service

Alternative (system service) - for always-on or multi-user servers, you can install a systemd system unit instead of a user unit (no lingering needed). Create /etc/systemd/system/clawdbot-gateway.service (copy the unit above, switch WantedBy=multi-user.target, set User= + WorkingDirectory=), then:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now clawdbot-gateway.service

Windows (WSL2)

Windows installs should use WSL2 and follow the Linux systemd section above.

Operational checks

• Liveness: open WS and send req:connect → expect res with payload.type="hello-ok" (with snapshot).
• Readiness: call health → expect ok: true and web.linked=true.
• Debug: subscribe to tick and presence events; ensure status shows linked/auth age; presence entries show Gateway host and connected clients.

Safety guarantees

• Only one Gateway per host; all sends/agent calls must go through it.
• No fallback to direct Baileys connections; if the Gateway is down, sends fail fast.
• Non-connect first frames or malformed JSON are rejected and the socket is closed.
• Graceful shutdown: emit shutdown event before closing; clients must handle close + reconnect.

CLI helpers

• clawdbot gateway health|status — request health/status over the Gateway WS.
• clawdbot send --to <num> --message "hi" [--media ...] — send via Gateway (idempotent for WhatsApp).
• clawdbot agent --message "hi" --to <num> — run an agent turn (waits for final by default).
• clawdbot gateway call <method> --params '{"k":"v"}' — raw method invoker for debugging.
• clawdbot daemon stop|restart — stop/restart the supervised gateway service (launchd/systemd).
• Gateway helper subcommands assume a running gateway on --url; they no longer auto-spawn one.

Migration guidance

• Retire uses of clawdbot gateway and the legacy TCP control port.
• Update clients to speak the WS protocol with mandatory connect and structured presence.