openclaw-ops

name	openclaw-ops
version	1.2.1
description	Use when diagnosing, repairing, or maintaining an OpenClaw Gateway on the same machine. Designed for rescue agents to fix a down gateway or check operational health. Supports Linux (systemd) and macOS (launchd).
repository	https://github.com/dinstein/openclaw-ops-skill
requirements	["Shell access on the same machine as the OpenClaw Gateway","Read/write access to ~/.openclaw/ (config, agents, sessions)","Read access to systemd user service config (Linux) or LaunchAgents (macOS)","Node.js 18+ and npm (for openclaw CLI)",{"Optional":"Tailscale CLI (for reverse proxy troubleshooting)"}]
security_notes	["This skill instructs the agent to read and modify OpenClaw config files","The agent will access env files containing tokens (but is instructed never to print them)","Config edits are always preceded by timestamped backups","Destructive operations require user confirmation"]

OpenClaw Operations

Design Philosophy

This skill serves two core scenarios and nothing else:

1. Rescue — The main OpenClaw Gateway is down or broken. You (the rescue agent) need to diagnose the root cause, fix it, and bring the gateway back online.
2. Health Check — The main OpenClaw Gateway is running. You need to verify its operational health, clean up resources, or perform maintenance tasks like upgrades.

What this skill is NOT for:

• Day-to-day business configuration (adding channels, configuring agents, setting up integrations)
• Application-level issues (agent behavior, prompt tuning, skill management)
• Initial deployment or first-time setup (use openclaw daemon install and openclaw configure)

Principle: Diagnose → Judge → Act → Verify. Never skip steps.

Platform Detection

Detect the platform first — commands differ between Linux (systemd) and macOS (launchd):

OS=$(uname -s)  # "Linux" or "Darwin"
echo "Platform: $OS"

Port Detection

Do NOT assume port 18789. Detect the actual configured port first:

PORT=$(openclaw config get gateway.port 2>/dev/null | grep -oE '[0-9]+')
PORT=${PORT:-18789}  # fallback to default only if config unavailable
echo "Gateway port: $PORT"

Use $PORT in all port-related commands throughout this guide.

---

Scenario A: Rescue (Gateway Down)

Follow these sections in order when the main gateway is not running.

A1. Assess the Situation

# Is the service running at all?
# Linux:
systemctl --user status openclaw-gateway
# macOS:
launchctl list | grep openclaw

# Is the process alive?
pgrep -af openclaw

# Is the port listening?
# Linux:
ss -tlnp | grep $PORT
# macOS:
lsof -iTCP:$PORT -sTCP:LISTEN

A2. Check Logs for Root Cause

Linux:

journalctl --user -u openclaw-gateway --since "1 hour ago" --no-pager | grep -iE "error|crash|fatal|SIGTERM|OOM"

# Last 50 lines for context
journalctl --user -u openclaw-gateway -n 50 --no-pager

macOS:

LOG_DIR="$HOME/.openclaw/logs"
grep -iE "error|crash|fatal" "$LOG_DIR/gateway.log" | tail -20
tail -50 "$LOG_DIR/gateway.log"

# Also check unified log
log show --predicate 'process == "node"' --last 1h | grep -iE "error|crash|fatal"

Common crash patterns

Log pattern	Meaning	Fix
EADDRINUSE	Port already in use	Find conflicting process: ss -tlnp | grep $PORT (Linux) or lsof -iTCP:$PORT (macOS), kill it or change port
ENOMEM / JavaScript heap	Out of memory	Check free -h (Linux) / vm_stat (macOS), kill memory hogs or increase Node heap
SyntaxError in config	Bad JSON in openclaw.json	See A3 Config Repair
MODULE_NOT_FOUND	Missing dependency	cd $(npm root -g)/openclaw && npm install --production
Invalid token / 401 / 403	Auth failure	Check tokens in env file or systemd drop-in
ECONNREFUSED	Upstream unreachable	Check network, Tailscale, API endpoints

A3. Config Repair

Always backup first:

cp ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json.bak.$(date +%s)

JSON syntax validation:

python3 -c "import json; json.load(open('$HOME/.openclaw/openclaw.json'))"

Common JSON issues: trailing comma, missing quotes, unescaped characters. The error message shows line/position.

Config schema validation:

openclaw config get gateway  # check gateway config section
openclaw config get channels  # check channels config section

Common config errors:

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
"device identity mismatch"	Service env token ≠ config token	Sync tokens between env file and openclaw.json
Agent not routing	bindings misconfigured	Bindings go at top-level, not inside agents.list[].routing

After fixing, validate:

python3 -c "import json; json.load(open('$HOME/.openclaw/openclaw.json')); print('JSON OK')"
openclaw status

A4. Check Resources

# Disk space
df -h ~

# Memory (Linux)
free -h
# Memory (macOS)
vm_stat | head -5

# Node.js available?
node -v
which openclaw
openclaw --version

A5. Restart and Verify

Only restart after identifying and fixing the root cause.

Linux:

systemctl --user restart openclaw-gateway
sleep 3
systemctl --user status openclaw-gateway
journalctl --user -u openclaw-gateway -n 20 --no-pager

macOS:

launchctl kickstart -k "gui/$(id -u)/com.openclaw.gateway"
sleep 3
launchctl list | grep openclaw
tail -20 ~/.openclaw/logs/gateway.log

If service won't start at all:

# Manual foreground start for better error output
openclaw gateway start

Final verification:

openclaw status
openclaw doctor --non-interactive

---

Scenario B: Health Check (Gateway Running)

Follow these sections for routine operational checks on a running gateway.

B1. Quick Health Check

# Comprehensive check — start here
openclaw doctor

# If issues found, auto-fix safe ones
openclaw doctor --fix

B2. Update & Upgrade

# Check versions
CURRENT=$(openclaw --version)
LATEST=$(npm view openclaw version)
echo "Current: $CURRENT  Latest: $LATEST"

Perform update:

# 1. Save doctor baseline
openclaw doctor --non-interactive 2>&1 | tee /tmp/doctor-before.txt

# 2. Backup config
cp ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json.pre-upgrade.$(date +%s)

# 3. Update
npm update -g openclaw
openclaw --version

# 4. Restart
# Linux:
systemctl --user restart openclaw-gateway
# macOS:
launchctl kickstart -k "gui/$(id -u)/com.openclaw.gateway"

# 5. Compare doctor output
sleep 5
openclaw doctor --non-interactive 2>&1 | tee /tmp/doctor-after.txt
diff /tmp/doctor-before.txt /tmp/doctor-after.txt

Rollback:

npm install -g openclaw@<previous_version>
cp ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json.pre-upgrade.<timestamp> ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
# Restart (platform-appropriate command above)

B3. Session & Disk Cleanup

# Check disk usage per agent
for agent_dir in ~/.openclaw/agents/*/; do
    agent=$(basename "$agent_dir")
    size=$(du -sh "$agent_dir/sessions/" 2>/dev/null | cut -f1)
    count=$(find "$agent_dir/sessions/" -name "*.jsonl" 2>/dev/null | wc -l)
    echo "$agent: $size ($count transcripts)"
done

# Auto-fix orphans
openclaw doctor --fix

# Manual cleanup: old transcripts (>30 days)
find ~/.openclaw/agents/*/sessions/ -name "*.jsonl" -mtime +30 -exec ls -lh {} \;
# Review, then delete if safe:
find ~/.openclaw/agents/*/sessions/ -name "*.jsonl" -mtime +30 -delete

B4. Backup

BACKUP_DIR=~/openclaw-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)
mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"

# Core files
cp ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json "$BACKUP_DIR/"
[ -f ~/.openclaw/env ] && cp ~/.openclaw/env "$BACKUP_DIR/" || echo "No env file (tokens may be in systemd drop-in or plist)"
cp -r ~/.openclaw/agents "$BACKUP_DIR/"
cp -r ~/.openclaw/devices "$BACKUP_DIR/"
cp -r ~/.openclaw/workspace "$BACKUP_DIR/"

# Service config
if [ "$(uname -s)" = "Linux" ]; then
    cp ~/.config/systemd/user/openclaw-gateway.service "$BACKUP_DIR/" 2>/dev/null
    cp -r ~/.config/systemd/user/openclaw-gateway.service.d "$BACKUP_DIR/" 2>/dev/null
elif [ "$(uname -s)" = "Darwin" ]; then
    cp ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.openclaw.gateway.plist "$BACKUP_DIR/" 2>/dev/null
fi

echo "Backup saved to $BACKUP_DIR"

B5. Tailscale Serve Check

If OpenClaw uses Tailscale Serve as reverse proxy:

tailscale status
tailscale serve status
curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" http://localhost:$PORT/healthz || echo "Gateway not reachable on localhost"

Reconfigure if broken:

tailscale serve reset
tailscale serve https / http://localhost:$PORT
tailscale serve status

---

Reference

Troubleshooting Quick Index

Symptom	Path
Gateway won't start	A1 → A2 → A3 → A5
Gateway crashed	A2 (logs) → A4 (resources) → A3 (config) → A5 (restart)
Config broken after edit	A3 → A5
Disk filling up	B3
After upgrade something broke	B2 (rollback)
Tailscale not proxying	B5

openclaw doctor Reference

Flag	Effect
(none)	Interactive health check
--fix	Apply safe repairs (orphan cleanup, stale locks)
--force	Aggressive repairs (may overwrite custom service config)
--deep	Scan system for extra gateway installs
--non-interactive	No prompts, safe migrations only

--fix repairs: orphan transcripts, stale session locks, legacy key migration. --fix does NOT: modify openclaw.json, change service files (unless --force), delete workspace files.

Key Commands

Command	Purpose
openclaw status	Quick status: running, version, basic info
openclaw doctor	Deep health check: state, channels, plugins, skills
openclaw doctor --fix	Health check + auto-repair safe issues
openclaw gateway start	Start gateway in foreground (for debugging)
openclaw daemon install	Install as persistent service (systemd/launchd)
openclaw daemon restart	Restart the service
openclaw config get <path>	Read config value
openclaw config set <path> <value>	Write config value

Safety Rules

1. Always check logs before changing anything — understand the problem first
2. Always backup before editing config — cp with timestamp suffix
3. Always validate JSON after editing — one bad comma kills the service
4. Never print secrets — check env file exists, don't cat it
5. Never delete workspace files — use trash if you must remove something
6. Always verify after restart — status + logs, don't assume it worked
7. Destructive operations require confirmation — ask the user before wiping data

File Layout

~/.openclaw/
├── openclaw.json              # Main config
├── openclaw.json.bak          # Auto-backup
├── env                        # Environment variables (secrets)
├── logs/                      # macOS: launchd log output
├── agents/                    # Per-agent configs
│   └── <agent>/agent/
│       ├── auth-profiles.json
│       └── models.json
├── devices/
│   └── paired.json
├── workspace/                 # Agent workspace
└── sessions/                  # Session logs

# Linux:
~/.config/systemd/user/
├── openclaw-gateway.service
└── openclaw-gateway.service.d/
    └── env.conf

# macOS:
~/Library/LaunchAgents/
└── com.openclaw.gateway.plist