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Operations30 min readBeginner to Intermediate

Troubleshooting Guide

Diagnose and fix common OpenClaw issues with a structured process for installation, configuration, connectivity, and performance.

Published March 21, 2026Updated March 23, 2026
OpenClaw troubleshootingOpenClaw errorsOpenClaw fix

Complete OpenClaw Troubleshooting Guide

Target keywords: OpenClaw troubleshooting, OpenClaw errors, OpenClaw not working, OpenClaw fix

Introduction

Running into issues? This guide covers the most common OpenClaw problems and fixes so you can get back up and running quickly.

What you will learn:

  • How to troubleshoot installation issues
  • How to fix configuration errors
  • How to optimize performance problems
  • How to solve connectivity issues
  • How to analyze logs effectively

Estimated time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Beginner to intermediate

Quick Diagnosis

Health Check Commands

# 1. Check the version
openclaw --version

# 2. Check the configuration
openclaw config validate

# 3. Check service status
openclaw status

# 4. Test connectivity
openclaw health

# 5. View logs
openclaw logs --tail=50

Installation Issues

Issue 1: Command not found

Symptom:

$ openclaw --version
zsh: command not found: openclaw

Causes:

  • OpenClaw was not installed correctly
  • Environment variables were not configured
  • The install path is not in PATH

Solution:

# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install openclaw
# OR
brew reinstall openclaw

# Add to `PATH`
echo 'export PATH="/opt/homebrew/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

# Linux
export PATH="$HOME/.openclaw/bin:$PATH"
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.openclaw/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

# Verify
which openclaw
openclaw --version

Issue 2: Permission errors

Symptom:

Error: EACCES: permission denied

Solution:

# macOS
sudo chown -R $(whoami) $(brew --prefix)/*

# Linux
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER ~/.openclaw

# Or reinstall to the user directory
curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash

Issue 3: Installation script failed

Symptom:

curl: (6) Could not resolve host

Solution:

# Check the network
ping openclaw.ai

# Use a proxy (if needed)
export HTTPS_PROXY=http://proxy.example.com:8080
curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash

# Or download and install manually
wget https://openclaw.ai/download/latest/openclaw-linux-amd64.tar.gz
tar -xzf openclaw-linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo mv openclaw /usr/local/bin/

Startup Issues

Issue 4: Port already in use

Symptom:

Error: listen EADDRINUSE: address already in use :::8080

Solution:

# Find the process using the port
sudo lsof -i :8080
# OR
sudo netstat -tulpn | grep 8080

# Terminate the process
kill -9 <PID>

# Or change the OpenClaw port
openclaw config edit
# Change to:
server:
  port: 8081

Issue 5: Invalid config file

Symptom:

Error: YAML parse error

Solution:

# Validate the configuration
openclaw config validate

# View detailed errors
openclaw config validate --verbose

# Back up and restore the default configuration
mv ~/.openclaw/config.yaml ~/.openclaw/config.yaml.bak
openclaw init

# Or use a YAML validation tool
pip install yamllint
yamllint ~/.openclaw/config.yaml

Issue 6: Exits immediately after startup

Symptom:

$ openclaw start
$  # Returns immediately with no output

Troubleshooting steps:

# 1. Run in the foreground to view errors
openclaw start --foreground

# 2. Check logs
openclaw logs

# 3. Check permissions
ls -la ~/.openclaw/

# 4. Check disk space
df -h

# 5. Reset the configuration
openclaw reset --config

Connectivity Issues

Issue 7: Cannot connect to the OpenAI API

Symptom:

Error: 401 Unauthorized
Error: Connection timeout

Solution:

# 1. Verify the API key
echo $OPENAI_API_KEY

# 2. Test the API connection
curl https://api.openai.com/v1/models \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY"

# 3. Check proxy settings
unset HTTP_PROXY
unset HTTPS_PROXY

# 4. Check the firewall
telnet api.openai.com 443

# 5. Update the configuration
openclaw config edit
# Make sure:
models:
  openai:
    api_key: "${OPENAI_API_KEY}"

Issue 8: Webhook receive failure

Symptom:

Error: webhook verification failed

Solution:

# 1. Check URL accessibility
curl -I https://your-domain.com/webhook/whatsapp

# 2. Check the SSL certificate
openssl s_client -connect your-domain.com:443

# 3. Verify the token
echo $WEBHOOK_VERIFY_TOKEN

# 4. Check the firewall/security group
sudo ufw status

# 5. View webhook logs
openclaw logs | grep webhook

Issue 9: Database connection failed

Symptom:

Error: connection refused
Error: authentication failed

Solution:

# 1. Check the database service
sudo systemctl status postgresql
# OR
docker ps | grep postgres

# 2. Verify the connection string
openclaw config get database.url

# 3. Test the connection
psql $DATABASE_URL -c "SELECT 1"

# 4. Check permissions
psql -c "\du"

# 5. Use SQLite (development environment)
openclaw config edit
# Change to:
database:
  type: sqlite
  path: ~/.openclaw/data.db

Agent Issues

Issue 10: Agent does not respond

Symptoms:

  • Messages get no reply
  • Agent status shows offline

Troubleshooting steps:

# 1. Check agent status
openclaw agent status my-agent

# 2. View agent logs
openclaw agent logs my-agent

# 3. Test a direct call
openclaw agent test my-agent "Hello"

# 4. Check the configuration
openclaw agent config my-agent

# 5. Restart the agent
openclaw agent restart my-agent

Issue 11: Agent responds slowly

Symptoms:

  • Reply latency is greater than 10 seconds
  • Timeout errors

Solution:

# 1. Optimize the model configuration
agent:
  model:
    # Use a faster model
    model: gpt-4o-mini  # Replaces gpt-4o
    
    # Reduce tokens
    max_tokens: 500
    
    # Enable streaming
    stream: true
    
  # Add caching
  cache:
    enabled: true
    ttl: 300

# 2. Check network latency
ping api.openai.com

# 3. Use a local LLM
ollama run llama3.1
# Configure OpenClaw to use Ollama

Issue 12: Agent runs out of memory

Symptom:

Error: JavaScript heap out of memory
Error: Killed (OOM)

Solution:

# 1. Increase Node memory (if using Node.js skills)
export NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=4096"

# 2. Limit concurrency
openclaw config edit
# Add:
limits:
  max_concurrent_agents: 5
  max_memory_per_agent: 512MB

# 3. Restart the service
openclaw restart

# 4. Monitor system resources
htop
# OR
docker stats

Performance Issues

Issue 13: High CPU usage

Symptoms:

  • The system becomes sluggish
  • Fans spin at full speed

Solution:

# 1. View resource usage
openclaw top

# 2. Limit CPU
docker update --cpus=2 openclaw

# 3. Optimize the configuration
openclaw config edit
# Add:
performance:
  max_workers: 4
  enable_compression: true

Issue 14: Disk space is full

Symptom:

Error: ENOSPC: no space left on device

Solution:

# 1. View disk usage
df -h

# 2. Clean logs
openclaw logs clean --keep=7d

# 3. Clean the cache
openclaw cache clean

# 4. Clean Docker (if used)
docker system prune -a

# 5. Set up log rotation
openclaw config edit
logging:
  max_size: 100MB
  max_files: 5

Issue 15: Memory leak

Symptoms:

  • Memory usage keeps increasing
  • The service becomes slower over time

Solution:

# 1. Monitor memory
watch -n 1 'ps aux | grep openclaw'

# 2. Enable garbage collection
export NODE_OPTIONS="--expose-gc"

# 3. Restart periodically (temporary workaround)
# Add to `crontab`
0 3 * * * /usr/local/bin/openclaw restart

# 4. Check for memory leaks
openclaw debug memory --heap-snapshot

Log Analysis

View Logs

# Live logs
openclaw logs -f

# Last 100 lines
openclaw logs --tail=100

# Specific time range
openclaw logs --since="2026-03-01" --until="2026-03-21"

# Filter errors
openclaw logs | grep ERROR

# Filter a specific agent
openclaw logs --agent=my-agent

Log Levels

# Configure the log level
logging:
  level: debug  # debug, info, warn, error
  
  # Set by module
  modules:
    agent: debug
    webhook: info
    database: warn

Export Logs

# Export to a file
openclaw logs --since="1h" > openclaw-issue.log

# Compress before sending
tar czf openclaw-logs.tar.gz ~/.openclaw/logs/

Common Error Codes

Error Code Meaning Fix
EACCES Insufficient permissions Check file permissions
EADDRINUSE Port already in use Change the port or stop the process
ECONNREFUSED Connection refused Check whether the service is running
ETIMEDOUT Connection timeout Check the network or firewall
ENOSPC Disk full Free disk space
ENOTFOUND DNS resolution failed Check the network connection
EAI_AGAIN Temporary DNS error Retry or check DNS

Get Help

Self-Service Resources

  1. Documentation: https://docs.openclaw.ai
  2. GitHub Issues: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/issues
  3. Discord community: https://discord.gg/openclaw
  4. FAQ: https://howtoclaw.xyz/faq

Report an Issue

# Collect diagnostic information
openclaw doctor > diagnostic.txt

# Include:
# - Version information
# - Configuration (redacted)
# - Recent logs
# - System information

Issue template:

**环境:**
- OS: macOS 14.3
- OpenClaw: 2026.3.1
- Node: 20.11.0

**问题描述:**
[清晰描述问题]

**复现步骤:**
1. ...
2. ...

**期望结果:**
[应该发生什么]

**实际结果:**
[实际发生了什么]

**日志:**
[相关日志片段]

Prevention

1. Regular Maintenance

#!/bin/bash
# maintenance.sh

# Run weekly

# Clean logs
openclaw logs clean --keep=30d

# Clean the cache
openclaw cache clean

# Check for updates
openclaw update check

# Back up the configuration
cp -r ~/.openclaw ~/backups/openclaw-$(date +%Y%m%d)

# Health check
openclaw health

2. Monitoring Alerts

monitoring:
  alerts:
    - condition: "memory_usage > 80%"
      action: notify
      
    - condition: "disk_usage > 90%"
      action: notify
      
    - condition: "error_rate > 5%"
      action: pagerduty

3. Backup Strategy

# Automatic backup
crontab -e

# Back up every day at 3:00 AM
0 3 * * * /path/to/backup.sh

Next Steps

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Last updated: March 2026