Gateway Access - Password not working | Friends of the Crustacean 🦞🤝 | Page 1

bold belfry Feb 9, 2026, 2:25 AM

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When trying to access the gateway with the password stored in the SETUP_PASSWORD environmental variable, I get this error: 'disconnected (1008): pairing required'. I can connect using shell commands, but this is long winded. What am I doing wrong?

red steepleBOT Feb 9, 2026, 2:25 AM

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slender roverBOT Feb 9, 2026, 2:28 AM

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bold belfry When trying to access the gateway with the password stored in the SETUP_PASSWORD...

That error is expected for the Control UI the first time you connect from a new browser/device.

A couple things are getting mixed together:

SETUP_PASSWORD is only for /setup (Railway/Render/etc. web setup wizard). It is not the Gateway’s WebSocket auth password.
The Control UI requires one-time device pairing for remote connections. When the browser connects, the Gateway says:

disconnected (1008): pairing required

until you approve that browser as a “device”.

Fix (recommended)

On the machine/container where the Gateway is running:

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openclaw devices list
openclaw devices approve <requestId>

Then reload the Control UI page.

If you’re using Docker Compose, the docs show it like this:

docker compose run --rm openclaw-cli devices list
docker compose run --rm openclaw-cli devices approve <requestId>

Docs:

Control UI device pairing: https://docs.openclaw.ai/web/control-ui#device-pairing-first-connection
Devices CLI: https://docs.openclaw.ai/cli/devices

#Gateway Access - Password not working

Fix (recommended)