Workflow:Openclaw Openclaw Gateway Operations And Diagnostics
| Knowledge Sources | |
|---|---|
| Domains | Gateway_Ops, Monitoring, Diagnostics |
| Last Updated | 2026-02-06 12:00 GMT |
Overview
End-to-end process for monitoring, diagnosing, updating, and maintaining a running OpenClaw gateway, including health checks, log analysis, configuration audits, and version upgrades.
Description
This workflow covers the operational lifecycle of an OpenClaw gateway after initial setup. It includes routine health monitoring, log inspection, the doctor diagnostic command for configuration audits and auto-migration, troubleshooting common failures, updating to new versions, and restarting the gateway cleanly. The gateway exposes health endpoints, structured file logs, and a comprehensive diagnostic tool that detects misconfiguration, stale state, and migration needs.
Key outputs:
- Gateway health status confirmed (channels connected, agent responsive)
- Configuration issues detected and optionally auto-fixed
- Logs analyzed for errors and warnings
- Gateway updated to latest version with safe restart
Usage
Execute this workflow for routine gateway maintenance, when troubleshooting connection issues, when upgrading to a new release, or when the gateway doctor tool flags configuration problems after an update.
Execution Steps
Step 1: Check Gateway Health
Query the gateway health endpoint and channel status to confirm the system is operational. The health check returns gateway uptime, connected channels, active sessions, and memory usage.
Key considerations:
- Basic health: gateway status command or HTTP GET /health
- Deep probe: channels status with probe flag tests each channel connection
- Status output includes channel connection state, agent count, and session count
- All-flag provides a read-only, pasteable summary for support
Step 2: Inspect Logs
Review gateway file logs and console output for errors, warnings, and diagnostic information. Logs rotate daily and include structured entries for message routing, tool execution, provider calls, and channel events.
What happens:
- File logs located at /tmp/openclaw/openclaw-YYYY-MM-DD.log (or configured path)
- Console logs viewed via logs CLI command with follow mode
- macOS unified logs queried via the clawlog helper script
- Diagnostic flags can be enabled for targeted debug output (e.g., session, routing, provider)
Step 3: Run Doctor Diagnostics
Execute the doctor command to perform a comprehensive audit of configuration, state, and environment. The doctor detects risky DM policies, validates channel setup, checks daemon status, and runs pending migrations.
What happens:
- Configuration validated against current schema
- Migration checks run for version-to-version changes
- Risky settings flagged (e.g., open DM policy, missing auth token)
- Auto-fix mode optionally applies safe corrections with user confirmation
- Report summarizes findings with actionable recommendations
Step 4: Update Gateway Version
Upgrade the OpenClaw installation to the latest release using the update command. The update process stops the gateway, installs the new version, runs any pending migrations, and restarts the service.
Key considerations:
- Stable channel: tagged releases only (npm dist-tag latest)
- Beta channel: prerelease versions (npm dist-tag beta)
- Dev channel: main branch HEAD (git checkout)
- macOS app updates via Sparkle auto-updater or manual download
- Docker: rebuild image with new version, recreate container
Step 5: Restart Gateway
Perform a clean gateway restart when needed (after config changes, plugin installation, or version update). The restart process ensures active sessions are preserved and channel connections are re-established.
What happens:
- Running gateway stopped gracefully (active runs complete)
- Lock file released
- Gateway process restarted via init system (launchd, systemd) or manual start
- Channel connections re-established
- Health check confirms successful restart