@wind cliff Do i need to do anything specific when setting up my second ec2 instance for my second openclaw bot?
#Setting up second openclaw bot on vps.
karmic vessel
@wind cliff I keep getting this error when setting openclaw up "◇ How do you want to hatch your bot?
│ Hatch in TUI (recommended)
openclaw tui - ws://127.0.0.1:18789 - agent main - session main
connecting | idle
gateway disconnected: pairing required | idle
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
gateway connect failed: Error: pairing required
disconnected | press ctrl+c again to exit
gateway connect failed: Error: pairing required
gateway connect failed: Error: pairing required
ubuntu@ip-172-31-0-176:~$ "
make me wonder if the ec2 instance isnt setup correctly
wind cliffBOT
Mostly no — a second EC2 instance is just a fresh host. The two things that do matter are:
-
Do you actually need a second VPS?
Usually you can run multiple agents on one Gateway (cheaper + simpler) and route messages per channel/account/peer. FAQ: https://docs.openclaw.ai/help/faq#do-i-need-separate-vpses-for-multiple-agents -
If you do run a second Gateway, don’t reuse the same Discord bot token on both.
If both instances connect to Discord with the sameDISCORD_BOT_TOKEN/channels.discord.token, Discord will constantly kick/replace sessions and you’ll get disconnect loops. Create a second Discord application/bot and use its token on the second EC2. Discord setup doc: https://docs.openclaw.ai/channels/discord
Extra “good hygiene” for the second EC2:
- Use a different Gateway auth token (and don’t expose the dashboard publicly; prefer SSH tunnel or Tailscale). FAQ auth section: https://docs.openclaw.ai/help/faq#how-do-i-authenticate-the-dashboard-token-on-localhost-vs-remote
- If you ever run multiple Gateways on the same host, isolate with profiles + unique ports/state dirs (more here): https://docs.openclaw.ai/gateway/multiple-gateways
If you tell me what “second bot” means for you (second Discord bot in the same server vs “same bot but different personality/agent”), I can point you at the cleanest setup.
That message is Gateway device pairing, not a “bot/channel pairing” thing.
When you connect from a new client (TUI, browser, etc.) the Gateway can require a one-time approval and will show:
disconnected (1008): pairing required
Fix (run on the gateway host / same profile):
openclaw devices list
openclaw devices approve <requestId>
Then re-run:
openclaw tui
If you’re running OpenClaw in Docker/Compose, use the compose wrapper (same idea):
docker compose run --rm openclaw-cli devices list
docker compose run --rm openclaw-cli devices approve <requestId>
If devices list shows nothing pending, you’re usually on the wrong profile/state dir. Quick check:
openclaw gateway status
…and then run the devices commands with the same --profile <name> you used for that gateway instance.
Docs reference (this exact error): https://docs.openclaw.ai/web/control-ui#device-pairing-first-connection