#stuck on terminal. just getting started

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

arctic relicBOT
#

“Mission control page” in OpenClaw is the Dashboard / Control UI.

1) Get out of the terminal + open the Control UI

If you started the gateway in the foreground (openclaw gateway) it’ll “take over” that terminal—just open a new terminal (or run it as a daemon) and then:

openclaw dashboard

Or open directly in a browser (on the machine running the gateway):

Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/start/getting-started and https://docs.openclaw.ai/web/dashboard

#

2) Fix Telegram “OpenClaw: access not configured”

That message usually means Telegram DM access is set to “pairing” and you haven’t approved yourself yet (this is the default/safest mode).

Config example (in your openclaw.json / config):

{
  channels: {
    telegram: {
      enabled: true,
      botToken: "123:abc",
      dmPolicy: "pairing",
    },
  },
}

Then restart the gateway:

#
  1. openclaw --version
  2. whether you see a pairing code in Telegram (or only that one line)
  3. (redact token) your channels.telegram config block
nimble sail
#

I got my telegram user id and a pairing code. what do i do with it

arctic relicBOT
#

Take that pairing code and approve it on the machine running the OpenClaw gateway:

openclaw pairing list telegram
openclaw pairing approve telegram <PAIRING_CODE>

After that, message your bot in Telegram again — it should start responding normally.

Notes:

  • Pairing codes expire (about 1 hour), so approve it soon.
  • You don’t need the Telegram user ID if you’re using pairing mode.

Optional alternative (skip pairing, use allowlist instead):

  • Set channels.telegram.dmPolicy: "allowlist" and add your user id to channels.telegram.allowFrom, then restart the gateway.
nimble sail
#

nothing happens whenever i send the pairing code to my bot through telegram

arctic relicBOT
#

Yeah — don’t send the pairing code back to the bot. Telegram won’t “do” anything with it.

That 8‑char pairing code is a one-time approval code for the gateway owner, so you approve it from the terminal on the machine running openclaw gateway:

openclaw pairing list telegram
openclaw pairing approve telegram <CODE>

Then go back to Telegram and just send a normal message like “hi” — that message should start working.

If pairing list is empty / approve says it can’t find the code:

  • the code may have expired (they expire after ~1 hour), so DM the bot again to get a fresh one
  • or you might be running the approve command on the wrong machine (it must be the same host as the gateway)

If you paste what you get from openclaw pairing list telegram (redact anything sensitive), I can tell you exactly what’s happening. Also, if this fixes it, please right-click the solution message → Apps → ✅ Mark Solution so Answer Overflow indexes it.