#WhatsApp QR pairing broken — issue #33961

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

acoustic flint
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We're on OpenClaw 2026.3.13. WhatsApp QR login appears to succeed ("✅ Linked! Credentials saved") but the gateway never loads the session as active. Every send attempt fails with "No active WhatsApp Web listener."

We found issue #33961 and PR #37801 which describes our exact problem (getStatusCode doesn't unwrap the Baileys v7 lastDisconnect wrapper, 515 restart path is dead code).

Two questions:

  1. Is #37801 merged into any release yet? If so, which version?
  2. Is there a workaround for 2026.3.13 while we wait for the fix?

Affects all WhatsApp accounts (3 different numbers, same behavior). macOS arm64, Node v25.8.1.

normal parrotBOT
#

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

honest spireBOT
#

You’re absolutely on the right track.

  1. Is #37801 in a release?
  • No. #37801 is still open (not merged), so it’s in no release.

What actually landed for this bug report path is:

  • PR #27910 (merged to main, closes #33961)
  • It is currently listed under Unreleased, not in 2026.3.13.
  1. Workaround on 2026.3.13?
    For this one, there isn’t a reliable “stay on 2026.3.13 and fully fix it” workaround.
    The practical workaround is to run a build that includes the merged fixes from main:
openclaw update --channel dev
openclaw gateway restart
# 
openclaw channels logout
openclaw channels login --verbose

(Repeat login flow for each WhatsApp account.)

Also important: your exact error text “No active WhatsApp Web listener” matches additional WhatsApp listener fixes that were also merged after 2026.3.13 (#47433, #50418), so upgrading off 2026.3.13 is the right move anyway.

Docs:

OpenClaw
Updating - OpenClaw
OpenClaw
Release Channels - OpenClaw
OpenClaw
WhatsApp - OpenClaw
acoustic flint
#

Thank you so much, I’m going to try it

honest spireBOT
#

Awesome — fingers crossed 🤞

If it still fails after upgrading, paste these and I’ll help you pinpoint it fast:

openclaw --version
openclaw status --all
openclaw logs --follow

If it works, please mark the solution in the thread (right-click → Apps → ✅ Mark Solution) so Answer Overflow can index it for the next person 🙌

acoustic flint
#

Ok I’ll try it in one hour and a half that I’m back home

honest spireBOT
#

Perfect, no rush at all 👍

When you’re back, run the upgrade + relink steps, and if anything still looks off just drop the outputs here — I’ll help you debug it quickly.

acoustic flint
#

The upgrading didn’t work:

Error: OPENCLAW_GIT_DIR points at a non-git directory: /Users/alfredo/.openclaw. Set OPENCLAW_GIT_DIR to an empty folder or an openclaw checkout.
alfredo@Alfredos-Mac-mini ~ % npm install -g openclaw@dev
npm error code ETARGET
npm error notarget No matching version found for openclaw@dev.
npm error notarget In most cases you or one of your dependencies are requesting
npm error notarget a package version that doesn't exist.
npm error A complete log of this run can be found in: /Users/alfredo/.npm/_logs/2026-03-22T22_57_21_974Z-debug-0.log
alfredo@Alfredos-Mac-mini ~ % pnpm install -g openclaw@dev
zsh: command not found: pnpm
alfredo@Alfredos-Mac-mini ~ % openclaw update --channel dev openclaw gateway restart
error: too many arguments for 'update'. Expected 0 arguments but got 3.

honest spireBOT
#

Yep — this is just command/env weirdness, not you 👍
You hit 3 separate issues:

  1. OPENCLAW_GIT_DIR is set to a non-git folder (~/.openclaw)
  2. openclaw@dev npm tag doesn’t exist (so npm install -g openclaw@dev fails)
  3. You combined two commands into one line (openclaw update ... openclaw gateway restart)

Run these exactly, one per line:

openclaw --version
echo "$OPENCLAW_GIT_DIR"
unset OPENCLAW_GIT_DIR
openclaw update --channel dev
openclaw gateway restart
openclaw channels logout
# 
openclaw channels login --verbose

If step 4 still complains, do the git install path instead:

curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash -s -- --install-method git
openclaw gateway restart

Then re-login WhatsApp again.

If it still fails after that, paste:

openclaw --version
acoustic flint
acoustic flint
honest spireBOT
#

Got it — that usually means the shell interpreted install.sh as a local file.

Use this safer 2-step version instead (copy/paste exactly):

unset OPENCLAW_GIT_DIR
curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh -o /tmp/openclaw-install.sh
bash /tmp/openclaw-install.sh --install-method git
openclaw gateway restart

Then relink WhatsApp:

openclaw channels logout
openclaw channels login --verbose
#

If it still errors, paste the exact output of:

echo "$OPENCLAW_GIT_DIR"
openclaw --version

(If OPENCLAW_GIT_DIR keeps coming back, we’ll remove it from your ~/.zshrc.)

#

Got it — let’s bypass openclaw.ai/install.sh entirely.

Try this first (no installer script needed):

unset OPENCLAW_GIT_DIR
openclaw update --channel dev
openclaw gateway restart

If that still fails, use the installer directly from GitHub raw:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openclaw/openclaw/main/scripts/install.sh -o /tmp/openclaw-install.sh
bash /tmp/openclaw-install.sh --install-method git
openclaw gateway restart
#

Then:

openclaw channels logout
openclaw channels login --verbose

If any command fails, paste the exact command + exact output and I’ll correct it line-by-line.

acoustic flint
#

No dev version exists on npm. 2026.3.13 IS the latest.

honest spireBOT
#

Yep — you’re 100% right on that point.

openclaw@dev is not an npm dist-tag right now, so npm shows 2026.3.13 as latest stable.
The WhatsApp fixes are on main (unreleased), not on npm latest yet.

So your options are:

  1. Wait for next release, or
  2. Run from source (main) now.

If you want option 2, do this:

corepack enable
corepack prepare pnpm@latest --activate
# 
git clone https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw.git ~/openclaw-main
cd ~/openclaw-main
git checkout main
pnpm install
pnpm build
pnpm ui:build

openclaw doctor
openclaw gateway restart

Then relink WhatsApp:

openclaw channels logout