When starting openclaw it does not start the web gui | Friends of the Crustacean 🦞🤝 | Page 1

upbeat bobcat Apr 18, 2026, 2:05 AM

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C:\Users\ultra>openclaw gateway
Config warnings:\n- plugins.entries.diff: plugin not found: diff (stale config entry ignored; remove it from plugins config)

plugins.entries.lobsters: plugin not found: lobsters (stale config entry ignored; remove it from plugins config)

🦞 OpenClaw 2026.4.12 (1c0672b) — Greetings, Professor Falken

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o Config warnings -----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| - plugins.entries.diff: plugin not found: diff (stale config entry ignored; remove it |
| from plugins config) |
| - plugins.entries.lobsters: plugin not found: lobsters (stale config entry ignored; |
| remove it from plugins config) |
| |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|
o
21:04:15 [gateway] loading configuration…
21:04:15 Config warnings:\n- plugins.entries.diff: plugin not found: diff (stale config entry ignored; remove it from plugins config)

plugins.entries.lobsters: plugin not found: lobsters (stale config entry ignored; remove it from plugins config)
21:04:15 [gateway] resolving authentication…
21:04:15 [gateway] starting...
21:04:38 [gateway] [plugins] plugin register returned a promise; async registration is ignored (plugin=webhooks, source=C:\Users\ultra\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\openclaw\dist\extensions\webhooks\index.js)
21:04:38 [gateway] starting HTTP server...
21:04:38 [canvas] host mounted at http://127.0.0.1:18789/__openclaw__/canvas/ (root C:\Users\ultra.openclaw\canvas)
21:04:38 [health-monitor] started (interval: 300s, startup-grace: 60s, channel-connect-

fluid kiteBOT Apr 18, 2026, 2:05 AM

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foggy questBOT Apr 18, 2026, 2:06 AM

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It looks like the gateway did start the web UI server. This line is the key:

starting HTTP server...

and the Control UI should be at:

http://127.0.0.1:18789/

A couple important bits:

openclaw gateway starts the gateway, it does not necessarily open the browser for you
if you want it to print/copy/open the UI URL, run:

openclaw dashboard

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If the page opens but says unauthorized, paste your gateway token/password into the Control UI → Gateway Access card. Docs:

If http://127.0.0.1:18789/ does not load at all, please paste:

openclaw gateway status
openclaw status --all

Also, those diff / lobsters warnings are just stale plugin config entries, not the reason the UI is missing.

upbeat bobcat Apr 18, 2026, 2:06 AM

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21:06:36 [ws] unauthorized conn=184a263a-3a13-471f-b7c2-36b9cd003f3e peer=127.0.0.1:64186->127.0.0.1:18789 remote=127.0.0.1 client=openclaw-control-ui webchat v2026.4.12 role=operator scopes=5 auth=token device=yes platform=Win32 instance=c29ea995-2c03-4dd3-b666-d18e303bbeca host=127.0.0.1:18789 origin=http://127.0.0.1:18789 ua=Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/147.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 reason=token_mismatch
21:06:36 [ws] closed before connect conn=184a263a-3a13-471f-b7c2-36b9cd003f3e peer=127.0.0.1:64186->127.0.0.1:18789 remote=127.0.0.1 fwd=n/a origin=http://127.0.0.1:18789 host=127.0.0.1:18789 ua=Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/147.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 code=1008 reason=unauthorized: gateway token mismatch (open the dashboard URL and paste the token in Control UI settings)

foggy questBOT Apr 18, 2026, 2:07 AM

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Yep, that narrows it down nicely, the UI is loading, but the browser has the wrong gateway token cached.

The important bit is:

reason=token_mismatch

Try this:

openclaw dashboard

Then in the Control UI, paste the current gateway token.

If you need to see the token directly:

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openclaw config get gateway.auth.token

A couple gotchas:

the Control UI keeps the token in browser tab session storage, so a normal refresh may keep reusing the bad one
if it keeps looping, open a new tab/incognito window or clear site data for 127.0.0.1:18789, then paste the token again

If you somehow don't have a token set yet:

openclaw doctor --generate-gateway-token

Docs:

https://docs.openclaw.ai/help/faq

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If that fixes it, please right-click the solution message → Apps → ✅ Mark Solution so Answer Overflow can index it.

upbeat bobcat Apr 18, 2026, 2:29 AM

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o Gateway ----------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| gateway.mode is unset; gateway start will be blocked. |
| Fix: run openclaw configure and set Gateway mode (local/remote). |
| Or set directly: openclaw config set gateway.mode local |
| Missing config: run openclaw setup first. |
| |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|
o Gateway auth ----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Gateway auth is off or missing a token. Token auth is now the recommended default |
| (including loopback). |
| |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|
o State integrity ---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| - CRITICAL: state directory missing (~.openclaw). Sessions, credentials, logs, and |
| config are stored there. |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|
o Security ---------------------------------+

foggy questBOT Apr 18, 2026, 2:29 AM

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Ah, this is the real blocker.

Your install currently looks not fully initialized:

gateway.mode is unset
gateway auth token is missing
~\.openclaw state dir is missing

So the simplest fix is to run setup again:

openclaw setup

If you want the full onboarding wizard instead, this is also valid:

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openclaw onboard --mode local

That should recreate ~\.openclaw, set gateway.mode properly, and configure local gateway auth.

After that:

openclaw gateway
openclaw dashboard

If you want the minimal manual fix instead, it would be:

#When starting openclaw it does not start the web gui