OAuth migration causing endless rate limit cooldowns - should I start fresh?

[kind nimbus]

Been trying to migrate from API keys to OAuth for the past 18 hours. Keep hitting this cycle:

Change auth config from api_key to token mode
Add Claude Pro session token (sk-ant-sid02-...)
Test → Context overflow (auth works!)
Restart to reduce context
Rate limit cooldown triggered
Wait for cooldown to expire
Try again → Another cooldown

Currently stuck with a 3-agent fleet (Docker containers, custom dashboard) that I can't use because of constant cooldowns.
Question: Is migrating API→OAuth even supported? Should I just:

Uninstall completely
Fresh install with OAuth from day 1
Restore workspace files

Or is there a way to clear these cooldowns and make the migration work?
Running on Ubuntu VPS, already nuked the agent directory once but cooldowns persist.
Thanks! 🦞

[river mural]

To help others find answers, you can mark your question as solved via Right click solution message -> Apps -> ✅ Mark Solution

[snow rover]

Context overflow: prompt too large for the model. Try again with less input or a larger-context model.

[kind nimbus]

Thanks for the reply! Here's the full troubleshooting journey:

What I have tried:

1. Initial migration attempt:

Changed main config (clawdbot.json) from "mode": "api_key" to "mode": "oauth"
Ran claude setup-token on Windows machine → got sk-ant-oat01-... token
Added to auth-profiles.json
Result: HTTP 401: authentication_error: invalid x-api-key

2. Switched to browser session token:

Got session token from claude.ai cookie (sessionKey) → sk-ant-sid02-...
Replaced the oat01 token with sid02 token
Result: Context overflow! (Auth worked, just too much loaded)

3. Fought context overflow:

Deleted memory files, moved workspace files out
Every restart triggered new rate limit cooldowns
Cooldowns kept stacking (5 min → 30 min → 60 min)

4. Nuclear option:

Ran clawdbot uninstall (removed gateway, state, workspace)
Fresh install with npm install -g clawdbot@latest
Currently in clawdbot onboard wizard

Key findings:
sk-ant-oat01- tokens from claude setup-token = 401 auth errors
sk-ant-sid02- tokens from browser cookies = Auth works, context overflow
Migration API→OAuth seems to corrupt the auth system
Fresh install appears to be the only clean path

Current state:

At the OAuth token paste step in fresh onboard
Have working sid02 session token
Question: Should I paste the browser session token (sid02) or try claude setup-token again in the fresh install?

[snow rover]

Paste the claude setup-token token (sk-ant-oat01-…), not the browser cookie session token (sk-ant-sid02-…).

Reason: in OpenClaw, Anthropic “subscription auth” is supported via setup-token. The sid02 cookie/session tokens are not a supported auth mechanism (they’re short-lived/fragile and you’ll keep getting weird failures).

Docs:

• Anthropic setup-token: https://docs.openclaw.ai/providers/anthropic
• Auth overview: https://docs.openclaw.ai/gateway/authentication

A couple important gotchas given your history:

1. Don’t hand-edit auth-profiles.json / config “mode” fields for this. Let the wizard (or openclaw models auth paste-token --provider anthropic) write the profile in the expected format. Manual edits are a common way to end up with “invalid x-api-key” / wrong profile mode.

2. If a freshly generated sk-ant-oat01-… still returns 401 on the fresh install, then either:

   • the token didn’t paste cleanly (extra whitespace/newlines), or
   • Anthropic is rejecting that credential type for non-Claude-Code API usage on your account
     (in that case: you’ll need an Anthropic API key for a 24/7 multi-agent fleet).

If you want, paste (no secrets) the outputs of:

openclaw --version
claude --version
openclaw models status

…and the exact 401 error text you get with the oat01 token on the fresh install. That’ll make it obvious whether this is “token format/profile stored wrong” vs “token not allowed for this API”.

[kind nimbus]

Thanks bro testing it out now and will lyk if i run into any more issues

[snow rover]

Sounds good — if the oat01 setup-token works on the fresh onboard, you should be in the “supported” lane again.

If you hit issues, the two fastest signals to paste (redacts are fine):

openclaw models status
openclaw models status --json

And if this ends up fixing it, please right-click the solution message → Apps → ✅ Mark Solution so Answer Overflow indexes it for the next person.

[kind nimbus]

awesome, up and running again! With my multi agent system am I able to run the same OAUTH key on the other 2 agents I have life?

[snow rover]

Yep — if you’re now using the supported Anthropic OAuth flow (the oat01... setup token), you can onboard your other 2 agents with the same setup token.

A few important caveats:

• Each agent/container should run its own onboard/login and store its own refresh token locally. Don’t bother copying auth dirs around; just repeat the OAuth setup on each box/container.
• Limits/cooldowns are effectively tied to the underlying Anthropic account/subscription, not the machine. So running 3 agents in parallel can hit rate limits faster (you’re sharing the same bucket).
• Treat the oat01... token like a password: use Docker secrets / env injection, don’t bake it into images, and don’t paste it in Discord logs.

(And just to be explicit: the old “Claude Pro session token” style sk-ant-sid02-... isn’t the supported lane — the oat01... OAuth is.)

If this thread’s fully solved now, please right-click the solution message → Apps → ✅ Mark Solution so Answer Overflow indexes it for the next person.

[kind nimbus]

1. Best practice for sharing OAuth across Docker containers:
   "I have CLU and Cortana running in Docker containers (separate from this main agent). Should I:

Run clawdbot onboard inside each container and paste the same oat01 token?
Or copy the auth config files from this working setup into the containers?
Any gotchas with Docker + OAuth?"

2. Context management for 24/7 multi-agent fleet:
   "All 3 agents will be running 24/7. What's the best way to prevent context overflow long-term?

ChromaDB integration?
Regular session resets?
Specific workspace file management?"

3. Cost expectations:
   "Running 3 agents on one Claude Pro OAuth ($20/month) - realistically, will we hit rate limits with:

Jarvis on Opus (coordinator)
CLU on Haiku (dev work)
Cortana on Haiku (content)?"

[snow rover]

Context overflow: prompt too large for the model. Try again with less input or a larger-context model.

[kind nimbus]

Quick questions for multi-agent OAuth setup:

Docker + OAuth: Should I run clawdbot onboard inside each container with the same oat01 token, or copy auth files from the working setup?
Context overflow prevention: Best practices for 24/7 agents? ChromaDB? Regular session resets?
Rate limits: Will 3 agents (Jarvis-Opus, CLU-Haiku, Cortana-Haiku) on one Claude Pro OAuth actually stay under rate limits, or should I expect issues?

[snow rover]

Context overflow: prompt too large for the model. Try again with less input or a larger-context model.

[kind nimbus]

Docker + OAuth: Should I run clawdbot onboard inside each container with the same oat01 token, or copy auth files from the working setup?

[snow rover]

Run openclaw onboard inside each container and paste the same oat01… setup-token each time.

Don’t copy auth files unless you’re forced to — it’s brittle (agent IDs / profiles / paths differ) and easy to paste the wrong thing into the wrong container.

One Docker must-do: mount a persistent volume for $OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR (default ~/.openclaw). That’s where the auth profile gets saved (…/auth-profiles.json). Without that volume, the container will forget auth on redeploy and you’ll be re-onboarding forever.

Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/help/faq#where-does-openclaw-store-its-data

[kind nimbus]

Context overflow prevention: Best practices for 24/7 agents? ChromaDB? Regular session resets?

[snow rover]

Context overflow: prompt too large for the model. Try again with less input or a larger-context model.