#Gateway not running

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

dusty anvil
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enriquemurillo@MiamiMacStudio ~ % openclaw gateway

🦞 OpenClaw 2026.4.15 (041266a)
I'm basically a Swiss Army knife, but with more opinions and fewer sharp edges.

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22:10:19 [gateway] loading configuration…
22:10:19 [gateway] resolving authentication…
22:10:19 Gateway start blocked: existing config is missing gateway.mode. Treat this as suspicious or clobbered config. Re-run openclaw onboard --mode local or openclaw setup, set gateway.mode=local manually, or pass --allow-unconfigured.
22:10:19 Config write audit: /Users/enriquemurillo/.openclaw/logs/config-audit.jsonl
enriquemurillo@MiamiMacStudio ~ %

tropic escarpBOT
dusty anvil
#

enriquemurillo@MiamiMacStudio ~ % openclaw gateway

🦞 OpenClaw 2026.4.15 (041266a)
I'm basically a Swiss Army knife, but with more opinions and fewer sharp edges.

│
â—‡
22:10:19 [gateway] loading configuration…
22:10:19 [gateway] resolving authentication…
22:10:19 Gateway start blocked: existing config is missing gateway.mode. Treat this as suspicious or clobbered config. Re-run openclaw onboard --mode local or openclaw setup, set gateway.mode=local manually, or pass --allow-unconfigured.
22:10:19 Config write audit: /Users/enriquemurillo/.openclaw/logs/config-audit.jsonl
enriquemurillo@MiamiMacStudio ~ %

the gateawy wont start

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enriquemurillo@MiamiMacStudio ~ % openclaw gateway

🦞 OpenClaw 2026.4.15 (041266a)
I'm basically a Swiss Army knife, but with more opinions and fewer sharp edges.

│
â—‡
22:10:19 [gateway] loading configuration…
22:10:19 [gateway] resolving authentication…
22:10:19 Gateway start blocked: existing config is missing gateway.mode. Treat this as suspicious or clobbered config. Re-run openclaw onboard --mode local or openclaw setup, set gateway.mode=local manually, or pass --allow-unconfigured.
22:10:19 Config write audit: /Users/enriquemurillo/.openclaw/logs/config-audit.jsonl
enriquemurillo@MiamiMacStudio ~ %

the gateaway wont start

tame quarryBOT
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Yep, this one is pretty specific, your config exists, but it lost gateway.mode, so the gateway refuses to guess.

For a normal local Mac setup, try:

openclaw config set gateway.mode local
openclaw gateway

If you want to confirm first:

openclaw config get gateway.mode

A few notes:

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  • --allow-unconfigured is only a temporary bypass, not the real fix.
  • If you actually intended to use a remote gateway, set gateway.mode remote instead.
  • Your config file is usually here: ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json

If setting it to local still doesn’t start, send these next:

openclaw gateway status --deep
openclaw doctor

Docs:

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

dusty anvil
#

enriquemurillo@MiamiMacStudio ~ % openclaw config set gateway.mode local

🦞 OpenClaw 2026.4.15 (041266a)
Your AI assistant, now without the $3,499 headset.

Config overwrite: /Users/enriquemurillo/.openclaw/openclaw.json (sha256 b1105bddd2777de4ac9ce8eda65dfb48d7958b72cba447cc22fbe42537a027b3 -> 39221d7a2b4ad41d0154a3179b3d002a7cb8603440a75b873f5820dd8a63ef25, backup=/Users/enriquemurillo/.openclaw/openclaw.json.bak)
Updated gateway.mode. Restart the gateway to apply.
enriquemurillo@MiamiMacStudio ~ % openclaw gateway

🦞 OpenClaw 2026.4.15 (041266a)
I read logs so you can keep pretending you don't have to.

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22:15:05 [gateway] loading configuration…
22:15:05 [gateway] resolving authentication…
22:15:05 [gateway] starting...
22:15:07 [gateway] starting HTTP server...
22:15:07 [canvas] host mounted at http://127.0.0.1:18789/__openclaw__/canvas/ (root /Users/enriquemurillo/.openclaw/canvas)
22:15:09 Gateway failed to start: another gateway instance is already listening on ws://127.0.0.1:18789 | listen EADDRINUSE: address already in use 127.0.0.1:18789
If the gateway is supervised, stop it with: openclaw gateway stop
22:15:09 Port 18789 is already in use.
22:15:09 - pid 3250 enriquemurillo: openclaw-gateway (127.0.0.1:18789)
22:15:09 - Gateway already running locally. Stop it (openclaw gateway stop) or use a different port.
22:15:09 Gateway service appears loaded. Stop it first.
22:15:09 Tip: openclaw gateway stop
22:15:09 Or: launchctl bootout gui/$UID/ai.openclaw.gateway
enriquemurillo@MiamiMacStudio ~ %

tame quarryBOT
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Nice, that means the first problem is fixed 🎉

This new error is different: the gateway is already running on 127.0.0.1:18789.

So at this point you have 2 options:

If you just want to use it

openclaw gateway status
openclaw dashboard

If you want to restart it manually in the terminal

openclaw gateway stop
openclaw gateway