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 Clawdbot misbehaves, here's how to fix it.

Start with the FAQ’s First 60 seconds if you just want a quick triage recipe. This page goes deeper on runtime failures and diagnostics.

Provider-specific shortcuts: /channels/troubleshooting

Status & Diagnostics

Quick triage commands (in order):

Command	What it tells you	When to use it
clawdbot status	Local summary: OS + update, gateway reachability/mode, daemon, agents/sessions, provider config state	First check, quick overview
clawdbot status --all	Full local diagnosis (read-only, pasteable, safe-ish) incl. log tail	When you need to share a debug report
clawdbot status --deep	Runs gateway health checks (incl. provider probes; requires reachable gateway)	When “configured” doesn’t mean “working”
clawdbot gateway status	Gateway discovery + reachability (local + remote targets)	When you suspect you’re probing the wrong gateway
clawdbot channels status --probe	Asks the running gateway for channel status (and optionally probes)	When gateway is reachable but channels misbehave
clawdbot daemon status	Supervisor state (launchd/systemd/schtasks), runtime PID/exit, last gateway error	When the daemon “looks loaded” but nothing runs
clawdbot logs --follow	Live logs (best signal for runtime issues)	When you need the actual failure reason

Sharing output: prefer clawdbot status --all (it redacts tokens). If you paste clawdbot status, consider setting CLAWDBOT_SHOW_SECRETS=0 first (token previews).

See also: Health checks and Logging.

Common Issues

CI Secrets Scan Failed

This means detect-secrets found new candidates not yet in the baseline. Follow Secret scanning.

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:

• Preferred: clawdbot logs --follow
• File logs (always): /tmp/clawdbot/clawdbot-YYYY-MM-DD.log (or your configured logging.file)
• macOS LaunchAgent (if installed): $CLAWDBOT_STATE_DIR/logs/gateway.log and gateway.err.log
• Linux systemd (if installed): journalctl --user -u clawdbot-gateway[-<profile>].service -n 200 --no-pager
• Windows: schtasks /Query /TN "Clawdbot Gateway (<profile>)" /V /FO LIST

Enable more logging:

• Bump file log detail (persisted JSONL):

  { "logging": { "level": "debug" } }
  

• Bump console verbosity (TTY output only):

  { "logging": { "consoleLevel": "debug", "consoleStyle": "pretty" } }
  

• Quick tip: --verbose affects console output only. File logs remain controlled by logging.level.

See /logging for a full overview of formats, config, and access.

Service Environment (PATH + runtime)

The gateway daemon runs with a minimal PATH to avoid shell/manager cruft:

• macOS: /opt/homebrew/bin, /usr/local/bin, /usr/bin, /bin
• Linux: /usr/local/bin, /usr/bin, /bin

This intentionally excludes version managers (nvm/fnm/volta/asdf) and package managers (pnpm/npm) because the daemon does not load your shell init. Runtime variables like DISPLAY should live in ~/.clawdbot/.env (loaded early by the gateway). Exec runs on host=gateway merge your login-shell PATH into the exec environment, so missing tools usually mean your shell init isn’t exporting them (or set tools.exec.pathPrepend). See /tools/exec.

WhatsApp + Telegram channels require Node; Bun is unsupported. If your service was installed with Bun or a version-managed Node path, run clawdbot doctor to migrate to a system Node install.

Skill missing API key in sandbox

Symptom: Skill works on host but fails in sandbox with missing API key.

Why: sandboxed exec runs inside Docker and does not inherit host process.env.

Fix:

• set agents.defaults.sandbox.docker.env (or per-agent agents.list[].sandbox.docker.env)
• or bake the key into your custom sandbox image
• then run clawdbot sandbox recreate --agent <id> (or --all)

Service Running but Port Not Listening

If the service reports running but nothing is listening on the gateway port, the Gateway likely refused to bind.

What "running" means here

• Runtime: running means your supervisor (launchd/systemd/schtasks) thinks the process is alive.
• RPC probe means the CLI could actually connect to the gateway WebSocket and call status.
• Always trust Probe target: + Config (daemon): as the “what did we actually try?” lines.

Check:

• gateway.mode must be local for clawdbot gateway and the daemon.
• If you set gateway.mode=remote, the CLI defaults to a remote URL. The daemon can still be running locally, but your CLI may be probing the wrong place. Use clawdbot daemon status to see the daemon’s resolved port + probe target (or pass --url).
• clawdbot daemon status and clawdbot doctor surface the last gateway error from logs when the service looks running but the port is closed.
• Non-loopback binds (lan/tailnet/auto) require auth: gateway.auth.token (or CLAWDBOT_GATEWAY_TOKEN).
• gateway.remote.token is for remote CLI calls only; it does not enable local auth.
• gateway.token is ignored; use gateway.auth.token.

If clawdbot daemon status shows a config mismatch

• Config (cli): ... and Config (daemon): ... should normally match.
• If they don’t, you’re almost certainly editing one config while the daemon is running another.
• Fix: rerun clawdbot daemon install --force from the same --profile / CLAWDBOT_STATE_DIR you want the daemon to use.

If clawdbot daemon status reports service config issues

• The supervisor config (launchd/systemd/schtasks) is missing current defaults.
• Fix: run clawdbot doctor to update it (or clawdbot daemon install --force for a full rewrite).

If Last gateway error: mentions “refusing to bind … without auth”

• You set gateway.bind to a non-loopback mode (lan/tailnet/auto) but left auth off.
• Fix: set gateway.auth.mode + gateway.auth.token (or export CLAWDBOT_GATEWAY_TOKEN) and restart the daemon.

If clawdbot daemon status says bind=tailnet but no tailnet interface was found

• The gateway tried to bind to a Tailscale IP (100.64.0.0/10) but none were detected on the host.
• Fix: bring up Tailscale on that machine (or change gateway.bind to loopback/lan).

If Probe note: says the probe uses loopback

• That’s expected for bind=lan: the gateway listens on 0.0.0.0 (all interfaces), and loopback should still connect locally.
• For remote clients, use a real LAN IP (not 0.0.0.0) plus the port, and ensure auth is configured.

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.

Extra Workspace Folders Detected

If you upgraded from older installs, you might still have ~/clawdbot on disk. Multiple workspace directories can cause confusing auth or state drift because only one workspace is active.

Fix: keep a single active workspace and archive/remove the rest. See Agent workspace.

Main chat running in a sandbox workspace

Symptoms: pwd or file tools show ~/.clawdbot/sandboxes/... even though you expected the host workspace.

Why: agents.defaults.sandbox.mode: "non-main" keys off session.mainKey (default "main"). Group/channel sessions use their own keys, so they are treated as non-main and get sandbox workspaces.

Fix options:

• If you want host workspaces for an agent: set agents.list[].sandbox.mode: "off".
• If you want host workspace access inside sandbox: set workspaceAccess: "rw" for that agent.

"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.

"Agent failed before reply: Unknown model: anthropic/claude-haiku-3-5"

Clawdbot intentionally rejects older/insecure models (especially those more vulnerable to prompt injection). If you see this error, the model name is no longer supported.

Fix:

• Pick a latest model for the provider and update your config or model alias.
• If you’re unsure which models are available, run clawdbot models list or clawdbot models scan and choose a supported one.
• Check gateway logs for the detailed failure reason.

See also: Models CLI and Model providers.

Messages Not Triggering

Check 1: Is the sender allowlisted?

clawdbot status

Look for AllowFrom: ... in the output.

Check 2: For group chats, is mention required?

# The message must match mentionPatterns or explicit mentions; defaults live in channel groups/guilds.
# Multi-agent: `agents.list[].groupChat.mentionPatterns` overrides global patterns.
grep -n "agents\\|groupChat\\|mentionPatterns\\|channels\\.whatsapp\\.groups\\|channels\\.telegram\\.groups\\|channels\\.imessage\\.groups\\|channels\\.discord\\.guilds" \
  "${CLAWDBOT_CONFIG_PATH:-$HOME/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json}"

Check 3: Check the logs

clawdbot logs --follow
# or if you want quick filters:
tail -f "$(ls -t /tmp/clawdbot/clawdbot-*.log | head -1)" | grep "blocked\\|skip\\|unauthorized"

Pairing Code Not Arriving

If dmPolicy is pairing, unknown senders should receive a code and their message is ignored until approved.

Check 1: Is a pending request already waiting?

clawdbot pairing list <channel>

Pending DM pairing requests are capped at 3 per channel by default. If the list is full, new requests won’t generate a code until one is approved or expires.

Check 2: Did the request get created but no reply was sent?

clawdbot logs --follow | grep "pairing request"

Check 3: Confirm dmPolicy isn’t open/allowlist for that channel.

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 the reset window too short?

{
  "session": {
    "reset": {
      "mode": "daily",
      "atHour": 4,
      "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 + channels (WA connect + Telegram + Discord APIs)
clawdbot status --deep

# View recent connection events
clawdbot logs --limit 200 | 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 channels logout
trash "${CLAWDBOT_STATE_DIR:-$HOME/.clawdbot}/credentials" # if logout can't cleanly remove everything
clawdbot channels 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
  }
}

Common troubleshooting

“Gateway won’t start — configuration invalid”

Clawdbot now refuses to start when the config contains unknown keys, malformed values, or invalid types. This is intentional for safety.

Fix it with Doctor:

clawdbot doctor
clawdbot doctor --fix

Notes:

• clawdbot doctor reports every invalid entry.
• clawdbot doctor --fix applies migrations/repairs and rewrites the config.
• Diagnostic commands like clawdbot logs, clawdbot health, clawdbot status, and clawdbot service still run even if the config is invalid.

“All models failed” — what should I check first?

• Credentials present for the provider(s) being tried (auth profiles + env vars).
• Model routing: confirm agents.defaults.model.primary and fallbacks are models you can access.
• Gateway logs in /tmp/clawdbot/… for the exact provider error.
• Model status: use /model status (chat) or clawdbot models status (CLI).

I’m running on my personal WhatsApp number — why is self-chat weird?

Enable self-chat mode and allowlist your own number:

{
  channels: {
    whatsapp: {
      selfChatMode: true,
      dmPolicy: "allowlist",
      allowFrom: ["+15555550123"]
    }
  }
}

See WhatsApp setup.

WhatsApp logged me out. How do I re‑auth?

Run the login command again and scan the QR code:

clawdbot channels login

Build errors on main — what’s the standard fix path?

1. git pull origin main && pnpm install
2. clawdbot doctor
3. Check GitHub issues or Discord
4. Temporary workaround: check out an older commit

npm install fails (allow-build-scripts / missing tar or yargs). What now?

If you’re running from source, use the repo’s package manager: pnpm (preferred). The repo declares packageManager: "pnpm@…".

Typical recovery:

git status   # ensure you’re in the repo root
pnpm install
pnpm build
clawdbot doctor
clawdbot daemon restart

Why: pnpm is the configured package manager for this repo.

How do I switch between git installs and npm installs?

Use the website installer and select the install method with a flag. It upgrades in place and rewrites the gateway service to point at the new install.

Switch to git install:

curl -fsSL https://clawd.bot/install.sh | bash -s -- --install-method git --no-onboard

Switch to npm global:

curl -fsSL https://clawd.bot/install.sh | bash

Notes:

• The git flow only rebases if the repo is clean. Commit or stash changes first.
• After switching, run:

  clawdbot doctor
  clawdbot daemon restart
  

Telegram block streaming isn’t splitting text between tool calls. Why?

Block streaming only sends completed text blocks. Common reasons you see a single message:

• agents.defaults.blockStreamingDefault is still "off".
• channels.telegram.blockStreaming is set to false.
• channels.telegram.streamMode is partial or block and draft streaming is active (private chat + topics). Draft streaming disables block streaming in that case.
• Your minChars / coalesce settings are too high, so chunks get merged.
• The model emits one large text block (no mid‑reply flush points).

Fix checklist:

1. Put block streaming settings under agents.defaults, not the root.
2. Set channels.telegram.streamMode: "off" if you want real multi‑message block replies.
3. Use smaller chunk/coalesce thresholds while debugging.

See Streaming.

Discord doesn’t reply in my server even with requireMention: false. Why?

requireMention only controls mention‑gating after the channel passes allowlists. By default channels.discord.groupPolicy is allowlist, so guilds must be explicitly enabled. If you set channels.discord.guilds.<guildId>.channels, only the listed channels are allowed; omit it to allow all channels in the guild.

Fix checklist:

1. Set channels.discord.groupPolicy: "open" or add a guild allowlist entry (and optionally a channel allowlist).
2. Use numeric channel IDs in channels.discord.guilds.<guildId>.channels.
3. Put requireMention: false under channels.discord.guilds (global or per‑channel). Top‑level channels.discord.requireMention is not a supported key.
4. Ensure the bot has Message Content Intent and channel permissions.
5. Run clawdbot channels status --probe for audit hints.

Docs: Discord, Channels troubleshooting.

Cloud Code Assist API error: invalid tool schema (400). What now?

This is almost always a tool schema compatibility issue. The Cloud Code Assist endpoint accepts a strict subset of JSON Schema. Clawdbot scrubs/normalizes tool schemas in current main, but the fix is not in the last release yet (as of January 13, 2026).

Fix checklist:

1. Update Clawdbot:
   • If you can run from source, pull main and restart the gateway.
   • Otherwise, wait for the next release that includes the schema scrubber.
2. Avoid unsupported keywords like anyOf/oneOf/allOf, patternProperties, additionalProperties, minLength, maxLength, format, etc.
3. If you define custom tools, keep the top‑level schema as type: "object" with properties and simple enums.

See Tools and TypeBox schemas.

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: Stop the supervisor (preferred) If the gateway is supervised by launchd, killing the PID will just respawn it. Stop the supervisor first:

clawdbot daemon status
clawdbot daemon stop
# Or: launchctl bootout gui/$UID/com.clawdbot.gateway (replace with com.clawdbot.<profile> if needed)

Fix 2: Port is busy (find the listener)

lsof -nP -iTCP:18789 -sTCP:LISTEN

If it’s an unsupervised process, try a graceful stop first, then escalate:

kill -TERM <PID>
sleep 1
kill -9 <PID> # last resort

Fix 3: Check the CLI install Ensure the global clawdbot CLI is installed and matches the app version:

clawdbot --version
npm install -g clawdbot@<version>

Debug Mode

Get verbose logging:

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

Log Locations

Log	Location
Gateway file logs (structured)	/tmp/clawdbot/clawdbot-YYYY-MM-DD.log (or logging.file)
Gateway service logs (supervisor)	macOS: $CLAWDBOT_STATE_DIR/logs/gateway.log + gateway.err.log (default: ~/.clawdbot/logs/...; profiles use ~/.clawdbot-<profile>/logs/...) Linux: journalctl --user -u clawdbot-gateway[-<profile>].service -n 200 --no-pager Windows: schtasks /Query /TN "Clawdbot Gateway (<profile>)" /V /FO LIST
Session files	$CLAWDBOT_STATE_DIR/agents/<agentId>/sessions/
Media cache	$CLAWDBOT_STATE_DIR/media/
Credentials	$CLAWDBOT_STATE_DIR/credentials/

Health Check

# Supervisor + probe target + config paths
clawdbot daemon status
# Include system-level scans (legacy/extra services, port listeners)
clawdbot daemon status --deep

# Is the gateway reachable?
clawdbot health --json
# If it fails, rerun with connection details:
clawdbot health --verbose

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

# Recent activity (RPC log tail)
clawdbot logs --follow
# Fallback if RPC is down
tail -20 /tmp/clawdbot/clawdbot-*.log

Reset Everything

Nuclear option:

clawdbot daemon stop
# If you installed a service and want a clean install:
# clawdbot daemon uninstall

trash "${CLAWDBOT_STATE_DIR:-$HOME/.clawdbot}"
clawdbot channels login         # re-pair WhatsApp
clawdbot daemon restart           # or: clawdbot gateway

⚠️ 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