Delete openclaw | Friends of the Crustacean 🦞🤝 | Page 1

astral kettle Apr 20, 2026, 8:03 PM

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show me how totally delete openclaw

quartz bayBOT Apr 20, 2026, 8:03 PM

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

grand micaBOT Apr 20, 2026, 8:03 PM

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peak novaBOT Apr 20, 2026, 8:04 PM

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If you want the full nuke, this is the clean path:

openclaw uninstall --all --yes --non-interactive

That removes the gateway service, state/config, workspace, and macOS app if present, but it does not remove the CLI package itself.

Then also remove the CLI install:

pnpm remove -g openclaw
# or, if you installed with npm:
npm rm -g openclaw

If you ran OpenClaw from a git clone/source checkout, delete that repo folder too.

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A few gotchas:

Default state dir is ~/.openclaw
If you used profiles, also remove ~/.openclaw-<profile>
If you set a custom OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH, delete that file too
If you used remote mode, do the cleanup on the gateway host

If openclaw is already gone but the service is still running, use the manual uninstall steps here:

If you want, tell me your OS and how you installed it, and I’ll give you the exact one-shot commands.

astral kettle Apr 20, 2026, 8:56 PM

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◇ Gateway service installed.
Health check failed: gateway closed (1008): unauthorized: gateway token mismatch (provide gateway auth token)

peak novaBOT Apr 20, 2026, 8:57 PM

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That error is token drift, not “can’t uninstall”.

It means the running gateway has a different auth token than the client is using. For deleting OpenClaw, you can usually ignore that and just uninstall directly:

openclaw uninstall --all --yes --non-interactive
pnpm remove -g openclaw
# or, if you installed with npm:
npm rm -g openclaw

If that still leaves the service behind, remove it manually.

Linux

systemctl --user disable --now openclaw-gateway.service

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rm -f ~/.config/systemd/user/openclaw-gateway.service
systemctl --user daemon-reload
rm -rf ~/.openclaw ~/.openclaw-*

macOS

launchctl bootout gui/$UID/ai.openclaw.gateway
rm -f ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ai.openclaw.gateway.plist
rm -rf ~/.openclaw ~/.openclaw-* /Applications/OpenClaw.app

If you cloned the repo and ran from source, delete that repo folder too.

Docs:

https://docs.openclaw.ai/install/uninstall

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https://docs.openclaw.ai/cli/uninstall

If you want, paste:

openclaw --version
uname -a

and I’ll give you the exact commands for your machine.

astral kettle Apr 21, 2026, 12:41 AM

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missing gateway token and how fix

peak novaBOT Apr 21, 2026, 12:42 AM

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If the error is “missing gateway token” / “provide gateway auth token”, it usually means:

the gateway is in token auth mode, and
your client / Control UI did not send the token.

Try this:

openclaw --version
openclaw config get gateway.auth.mode
openclaw config get gateway.auth.token

If `gateway.auth.token` is empty

Generate one, then restart:

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openclaw config set gateway.auth.mode token
openclaw doctor --generate-gateway-token
openclaw gateway restart

If a token exists

Use that exact token in the client / Control UI.

For the dashboard, the auth box is in:

Control → Overview → Gateway Access

Paste it into Gateway Token, then connect.

If it says token mismatch

That means the client has an old/stale token. Re-copy the current one:

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openclaw config get gateway.auth.token

If you’re on macOS and it keeps using an old token, also check for old launchctl env overrides:

launchctl getenv OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN
launchctl unsetenv OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN
launchctl unsetenv OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_PASSWORD
openclaw gateway restart

Docs:

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If you paste the output of:

openclaw --version
openclaw config get gateway.auth.mode
openclaw config get gateway.auth.token

I can tell you the exact next step.

astral kettle Apr 21, 2026, 12:44 AM

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openclaw --version
openclaw config get gateway.auth.mode
openclaw config get gateway.auth.token

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OpenClaw 2026.4.15 (041266a)
Config (/Users/ryanclone/.openclaw/openclaw.json): missing env var "OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN" at gateway.auth.token - feature using this value will be unavailable
Config (/Users/ryanclone/.openclaw/openclaw.json): missing env var "TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN" at channels.telegram.botToken - feature using this value will be unavailable

🦞 OpenClaw 2026.4.15 (041266a)
More integrations than your therapist's intake form.

token
Config (/Users/ryanclone/.openclaw/openclaw.json): missing env var "OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN" at gateway.auth.token - feature using this value will be unavailable
Config (/Users/ryanclone/.openclaw/openclaw.json): missing env var "TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN" at channels.telegram.botToken - feature using this value will be unavailable

peak novaBOT Apr 21, 2026, 12:45 AM

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Yep, run those, but do not paste the token value here. That third command prints a secret.

Please paste only:

openclaw --version
openclaw config get gateway.auth.mode

For this one:

openclaw config get gateway.auth.token

just tell me one of these:

it prints a token

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it’s blank
it errors

If your goal is still just to remove OpenClaw, you can skip token debugging and run:

openclaw uninstall --all --yes --non-interactive

Then remove the CLI too:

pnpm remove -g openclaw
# or npm rm -g openclaw

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Nice, that explains it.

Your config is set to:

gateway.auth.mode = token
gateway.auth.token = env(OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN)

…but that env var is not set, so the gateway has no token to use.

Also, the TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN warning is separate and unrelated.

If you only want to delete OpenClaw

You do not need to fix the token first. Just run:

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openclaw uninstall --all --yes --non-interactive
pnpm remove -g openclaw
# or npm rm -g openclaw

If you want to fix the gateway token

Easiest fix, store a real token in config

openclaw config set gateway.auth.mode token
openclaw config set gateway.auth.token "$(openssl rand -hex 32)"
openclaw gateway restart

Then use that token in the Control UI.

#Delete openclaw

If gateway.auth.token is empty