UI page not loading

[compact coral]

i need help on my openclaw setup. i'm running openclaw on a ubuntu server (a computer in my house and dont have graphic interface). i'm access the server with SSH with my laptop and both my laptop and the computer is connected on the same router. i configured tailscale (installed on ubuntu server) and configured openclaw.json, but when i try to access the UI page, the browser says connection refused. what is wrong

here is my openclaw.json

GNU nano 7.2

"agents": {
"defaults": {
"workspace": "/root/.openclaw/workspace"

"gateway": {
"mode": "local"
"auth": {
"mode": "token"
"token": "gagsgsgs",
"allowTailscale": true
},
"port": 18789,
"bind": "loopback",
"tailscale": {
"mode": "serve",
"resetOnExit": true

"controlUi": {
"allowedOrigins": [
"https://ubuntuserver.tail866ca9.ts.net"

"meta": {
"lastTouchedVersion": "2026.4.14",
"lastTouchedAt": "2026-04-19T15:06:02.354Z"

"wizard": {
"lastRunAt": "2026-04-19T15:06:02.318Z",
"lastRunVersion": "2026.4.14",
"lastRunCommand": "configure",
"lastRunMode": "local"

[rain tinsel]

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[viral slate]

Most likely this part is the problem:

"bind": "loopback"

That means OpenClaw only listens on 127.0.0.1 on the server itself. So:

• http://<server-ip>:18789 → refused
• http://<tailscale-ip>:18789 → refused
• https://<your-magicdns-name>/ via Tailscale Serve → this is the one that should work

A couple more things I notice:

• resetOnExit: true means the Tailscale Serve route is removed when the gateway stops, so if the service is down, the URL will refuse.
• The config snippet pasted here looks incomplete / invalid JSON5. If the real file really looks like that, the gateway may not be starting at all.

Please run these on the Ubuntu box and paste the output:

openclaw --version
openclaw gateway status
openclaw status
tailscale serve status
openclaw logs --follow

Quick test, since you already have SSH:

ssh -N -L 18789:127.0.0.1:18789 user@server

Then open on your laptop: