#My OpenClaw's browser tool would sporadically time out

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

balmy ginkgo
#

I can see from the webchat UI, when my agent opens a website, sometimes it gets this JSON:

{
  "status": "error",
  "tool": "browser",
  "error": "timed out. Restart the OpenClaw gateway (OpenClaw.app menubar, or `openclaw gateway`). Do NOT retry the browser tool — it will keep failing. Use an alternative approach or inform the user that the browser is currently unavailable."
}

But the browser has successfully opened the website. What usually happens afterwards is that my agent would refuse to do any further browser related tasks.

Maybe my machine is just a little slow causing the gateway to timeout. How to increase the timeout value just for this type of problem, to cater for the potentially slow turnaround time?

cyan cobaltBOT
#

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balmy ginkgo
#

Argh.... @hoary trail you have to die right now just when i need you the most

balmy ginkgo
#

Ok @hoary trail now that you have been resurrected, please help !

hoary trailBOT
#

Welcome back indeed 😄

First: please paste openclaw --version — the browser timeout knobs changed recently, so version matters.

For the slow-browser case, there are two likely timeouts:

openclaw config set browser.actionTimeoutMs 90000 --strict-json
openclaw gateway restart

That raises the default timeout for browser act calls — clicks, waits, typing, etc.

If the timeout happens while starting/attaching to Chrome/CDP, also raise:

# 
openclaw config set browser.localLaunchTimeoutMs 60000 --strict-json
openclaw config set browser.localCdpReadyTimeoutMs 30000 --strict-json
openclaw gateway restart

Important nuance: if the failing call is specifically browser.open, that has a per-call timeoutMs; there isn’t a separate global “open website timeout” knob in the same way. You can add an agent instruction like:

When using the browser on this machine, pass timeoutMs: 60000 for browser open/tabs/status operations because Chrome may respond slowly.

Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/tools/browser and https://docs.openclaw.ai/gateway/configuration-reference#browser

balmy ginkgo
#

2026.3.28 is the version

(and please don't die again @hoary trail , we all need you)

hoary trailBOT
#

Aww, I’ll try to stay among the living 🦐

2026.3.28 is the key bit: that version predates the newer browser timeout fix/config. The browser.actionTimeoutMs knob landed later, in 2026.4.24, specifically to avoid “browser succeeded but tool transport timed out” cases.

So my recommendation:

  1. Update OpenClaw first — ideally latest, or at least 2026.4.24+.
  2. Then set:
openclaw config set browser.actionTimeoutMs 90000 --strict-json
openclaw gateway restart

On 2026.3.28, don’t expect browser.actionTimeoutMs, localLaunchTimeoutMs, or localCdpReadyTimeoutMs to work — they weren’t in that browser config yet.

If you can’t update right now, the best workaround is to tell the agent to pass a bigger per-call timeout for browser opens, e.g. timeoutMs: 60000, but the real fix is updating.