clawdbot/docs/platforms/macos.md

summary, read_when

summary	read_when
Clawdbot macOS companion app (menu bar + gateway broker)	Implementing macOS app features Changing gateway lifecycle or node bridging on macOS

Clawdbot macOS Companion (menu bar + gateway broker)

The macOS app is the menu‑bar companion for Clawdbot. It owns permissions, manages the Gateway locally, and exposes macOS capabilities to the agent as a node.

What it does

• Shows native notifications and status in the menu bar.
• Owns TCC prompts (Notifications, Accessibility, Screen Recording, Microphone, Speech Recognition, Automation/AppleScript).
• Runs or connects to the Gateway (local or remote).
• Exposes macOS‑only tools (Canvas, Camera, Screen Recording, system.run).
• Optionally hosts PeekabooBridge for UI automation.
• Installs the global CLI (clawdbot) via npm/pnpm on request (bun not recommended for the Gateway runtime).

Local vs remote mode

• Local (default): the app ensures a local Gateway is running via launchd.
• Remote: the app connects to a Gateway over SSH/Tailscale and never starts a local process.
• Attach‑only (debug): the app connects to an already‑running local Gateway and never spawns its own.

Launchd control

The app manages a per‑user LaunchAgent labeled com.clawdbot.gateway (or com.clawdbot.<profile> when using --profile/CLAWDBOT_PROFILE).

launchctl kickstart -k gui/$UID/com.clawdbot.gateway
launchctl bootout gui/$UID/com.clawdbot.gateway

Replace the label with com.clawdbot.<profile> when running a named profile.

If the LaunchAgent isn’t installed, enable it from the app or run clawdbot daemon install.

Node capabilities (mac)

The macOS app presents itself as a node. Common commands:

• Canvas: canvas.present, canvas.navigate, canvas.eval, canvas.snapshot, canvas.a2ui.*
• Camera: camera.snap, camera.clip
• Screen: screen.record
• System: system.run, system.notify

The node reports a permissions map so agents can decide what’s allowed.

Node run policy + allowlist

system.run is controlled by the macOS app Node Run Commands policy:

• Always Ask: prompt per command (default).
• Always Allow: run without prompts.
• Never: disable system.run (tool not advertised).

The policy + allowlist live on the Mac in:

~/.clawdbot/macos-node.json

Schema:

{
  "systemRun": {
    "policy": "ask",
    "allowlist": [
      "[\"/bin/echo\",\"hello\"]"
    ]
  }
}

Notes:

• allowlist entries are JSON-encoded argv arrays.
• Choosing “Always Allow” in the prompt adds that command to the allowlist.
• Allowlisted runs ignore PATH overrides; other env vars are merged with the app’s environment.

Deep links

The app registers the clawdbot:// URL scheme for local actions.

clawdbot://agent

Triggers a Gateway agent request.

open 'clawdbot://agent?message=Hello%20from%20deep%20link'

Query parameters:

• message (required)
• sessionKey (optional)
• thinking (optional)
• deliver / to / channel (optional)
• timeoutSeconds (optional)
• key (optional unattended mode key)

Safety:

• Without key, the app prompts for confirmation.
• With a valid key, the run is unattended (intended for personal automations).

Onboarding flow (typical)

1. Install and launch Clawdbot.app.
2. Complete the permissions checklist (TCC prompts).
3. Ensure Local mode is active and the Gateway is running.
4. Install the CLI if you want terminal access.

Build & dev workflow (native)

• cd apps/macos && swift build
• swift run Clawdbot (or Xcode)
• Package app: scripts/package-mac-app.sh

Debug gateway discovery (macOS CLI)

Use the debug CLI to exercise the same Bonjour + wide‑area discovery code that the macOS app uses, without launching the app.

cd apps/macos
swift run clawdbot-mac-discovery --timeout 3000 --json

Options:

• --include-local: include gateways that would be filtered as “local”
• --timeout <ms>: overall discovery window (default 2000)
• --json: structured output for diffing

Tip: compare against pnpm clawdbot gateway discover --json to see whether the macOS app’s discovery pipeline (NWBrowser + tailnet DNS‑SD fallback) differs from the Node CLI’s dns-sd based discovery.

Remote connection plumbing (SSH tunnels)

When the macOS app runs in Remote mode, it opens SSH tunnels so local UI components can talk to a remote Gateway as if it were on localhost. There are two independent tunnels:

Control tunnel (Gateway control/WebSocket port)

• Purpose: health checks, status, Web Chat, config, and other control-plane calls.
• Local port: the Gateway port (default 18789), always stable.
• Remote port: the same Gateway port on the remote host.
• Behavior: no random local port; the app reuses an existing healthy tunnel or restarts it if needed.
• SSH shape: ssh -N -L <local>:127.0.0.1:<remote> with BatchMode + ExitOnForwardFailure + keepalive options.

Node bridge tunnel (macOS node mode)

• Purpose: connect the macOS node to the Gateway Bridge protocol (TCP JSONL).
• Remote port: gatewayPort + 1 (default 18790), derived from the Gateway port.
• Local port preference: CLAWDBOT_BRIDGE_PORT or the default 18790.
• Behavior: prefer the default bridge port for consistency; fall back to a random local port if the preferred one is busy. The node then connects to the resolved local port.

For setup steps, see macOS remote access. For protocol details, see Bridge protocol.

Related docs

• Gateway runbook
• Gateway (macOS)
• macOS permissions
• Canvas