openclaw/docs/help/troubleshooting.md

summary, read_when, title

summary	read_when	title
Troubleshooting hub: symptoms → checks → fixes	You see an error and want the fix path The installer says “success” but the CLI doesn’t work	Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting

First 60 seconds

Run these in order:

openclaw status
openclaw status --all
openclaw gateway probe
openclaw logs --follow
openclaw doctor

If the gateway is reachable, deep probes:

openclaw status --deep

Common “it broke” cases

openclaw: command not found

Almost always a Node/npm PATH issue. Start here:

• Install (Node/npm PATH sanity)

Installer fails (or you need full logs)

Re-run the installer in verbose mode to see the full trace and npm output:

curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash -s -- --verbose

For beta installs:

curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash -s -- --beta --verbose

You can also set OPENCLAW_VERBOSE=1 instead of the flag.

Gateway “unauthorized”, can’t connect, or keeps reconnecting

• Gateway troubleshooting
• Gateway authentication

Control UI fails on HTTP (device identity required)

• Gateway troubleshooting
• Control UI

docs.openclaw.ai shows an SSL error (Comcast/Xfinity)

Some Comcast/Xfinity connections block docs.openclaw.ai via Xfinity Advanced Security. Disable Advanced Security or add docs.openclaw.ai to the allowlist, then retry.

• Xfinity Advanced Security help: https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/using-xfinity-xfi-advanced-security
• Quick sanity checks: try a mobile hotspot or VPN to confirm it’s ISP-level filtering

Service says running, but RPC probe fails

• Gateway troubleshooting
• Background process / service

Model/auth failures (rate limit, billing, “all models failed”)

• Models
• OAuth / auth concepts

/model says model not allowed

This usually means agents.defaults.models is configured as an allowlist. When it’s non-empty, only those provider/model keys can be selected.

• Check the allowlist: openclaw config get agents.defaults.models
• Add the model you want (or clear the allowlist) and retry /model
• Use /models to browse the allowed providers/models

When filing an issue

Paste a safe report:

openclaw status --all

If you can, include the relevant log tail from openclaw logs --follow.