Error after updating

[willow hollow]

Im getting a protocol mismatch when opening my UI

[storm remnant]

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[torn storm]

Protocol mismatch usually means the UI/client and the running Gateway are from different OpenClaw builds, or the bundled Control UI assets are stale after an update.

First check/share:

openclaw --version
openclaw status

Then try the normal repair path:

openclaw update
openclaw doctor
openclaw gateway restart

openclaw doctor can detect stale UI assets and offer to rebuild them. If you’re running from source, also run this from the repo checkout:

[torn storm]

pnpm install
pnpm build
pnpm ui:build
openclaw gateway restart

Then reopen the dashboard with:

openclaw dashboard

Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/help/faq and https://docs.openclaw.ai/install/updating

If it still shows protocol mismatch, paste the openclaw --version output plus whether you installed via npm, source/git, or the macOS app.

[willow hollow]

Overview
┌──────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Item │ Value │
├──────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ OS │ linux 6.17.0-23-generic (x64) · node 24.14.0 │
│ Dashboard │ http://192.168.1.63:18789/ │
│ Tailscale exposure │ off │
│ Channel │ stable (default) │
│ Update │ pnpm · up to date · npm latest 2026.5.12 │
│ Gateway │ local · ws://127.0.0.1:18789 (local loopback) · reachable 74ms · auth token · jai (192.168.1. │
│ │ 63) app 2026.5.12 linux 6.17.0-23-generic │
│ Gateway self │ jai (192.168.1.63) app 2026.5.12 linux 6.17.0-23-generic │
│ Gateway service │ systemd user installed · enabled · running (pid 1727, state active) │
│ Node service │ systemd user not installed │
│ Agents │ 2 · no bootstrap files · sessions 73 · default main active 8m ago │
│ Memory │ enabled (plugin memory-core) · not checked │
│ Plugin compatibility │ none │
│ Probes │ skipped (use --deep) │
│ Events │ none │
│ Tasks │ 0 active · 0 queued · 0 running · 6 issues · audit clean · 81 tracked │
│ Heartbeat │ 30m (main), disabled (voice-local) │
│ Sessions │ 73 active · default gpt-5.4 (160k ctx) · 2 stores │
└──────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

[torn storm]

That status says the running Gateway is healthy and on 2026.5.12, so this is probably stale Control UI assets/browser cache rather than the Gateway being down.

Try this on the gateway machine:

openclaw doctor --fix
openclaw gateway restart
openclaw dashboard

Then open the dashboard from the URL openclaw dashboard prints, preferably http://127.0.0.1:18789/ on the same machine. Also do a hard refresh / clear site data for the dashboard, or test in a private browser window, because an old cached UI bundle can keep speaking the wrong protocol.

If you’re running from a git/source install, rebuild the UI explicitly:

cd ~/openclaw
pnpm install
pnpm build

[torn storm]

pnpm ui:build
openclaw gateway restart

Small note: your status shows http://192.168.1.63:18789/. That LAN URL can add extra browser/device-origin rules; use localhost first to confirm the protocol mismatch is gone. Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/web/dashboard https://docs.openclaw.ai/web/control-ui

[willow hollow]

it was working for awhile now im getting protol mismatch again

[torn storm]

If it worked and then came back, we need to identify which client is sending the old protocol. The Gateway logs include that in the mismatch line.

Please run this, then reload the UI until it errors:

openclaw logs --follow

Look for a line like:

protocol mismatch ... client=... mode ... v...

Paste that line here. It should tell us whether the stale client is the browser Control UI, macOS/mobile app, TUI, or another background client.

While checking, use a clean local browser path: