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The Gateway

The Gateway is OpenClaw's core — a single long-running Node.js process that manages all communication, orchestration, and execution.

Starting the Gateway​

# Foreground (for development)
openclaw gateway

# As a daemon (for production)
openclaw gateway --daemon

# With custom port
openclaw gateway --port 19000

WebSocket Control Plane​

The Gateway exposes a WebSocket server (default: ws://localhost:18789) that serves as the control plane for:

  • CLI communication — openclaw chat and other commands connect here
  • Channel bridges — Messaging platforms send/receive through WebSocket
  • Health monitoring — Status checks and metrics
  • Skill execution — Skills communicate results back through the control plane

Connecting to the Control Plane​

const ws = new WebSocket('ws://localhost:18789');

ws.on('message', (data) => {
  const msg = JSON.parse(data);
  console.log(msg.type, msg.payload);
});

ws.send(JSON.stringify({
  type: 'chat',
  payload: { text: 'Hello from my custom client' }
}));

Daemon Mode​

When installed as a daemon (openclaw onboard --install-daemon), the Gateway:

  • Starts on system boot
  • Restarts on crash
  • Logs to ~/.openclaw/logs/gateway.log
  • Manages PID file at ~/.openclaw/gateway.pid

Daemon Management​

# Check status
openclaw status

# View logs
openclaw logs

# Restart
openclaw gateway restart

# Stop
openclaw gateway stop

Process Lifecycle​

On shutdown, the Gateway:

  1. Sends disconnect to all channels
  2. Saves pending memory updates
  3. Closes WebSocket connections
  4. Writes final log entry

Configuration​

Gateway settings in ~/.openclaw/config.yml:

gateway:
  port: 18789
  host: "127.0.0.1"  # Bind to localhost only
  max_connections: 10
  log_level: "info"   # debug, info, warn, error
  pid_file: "~/.openclaw/gateway.pid"
danger

Never bind the Gateway to 0.0.0.0 or a public interface. This exposes the control plane to the network. Security researchers found 40,000+ exposed instances doing exactly this.

See Also​