OpenClaw Logs Explained: How to Read Error Logs & Debug Any Issue (2026)

February 22, 2026

When something breaks in OpenClaw, the logs tell you exactly what happened — if you know where to look. This guide teaches you to read OpenClaw logs, recognize common error patterns, and fix issues fast.

How to access OpenClaw logs

# Live tail (most useful for active debugging)
openclaw logs --follow

# Last 100 lines
openclaw logs --limit 100

# Filter by level
openclaw logs --json --limit 500 | grep '"level":"error"'

# Gateway-specific logs
openclaw logs --follow

# System journal (if running as systemd service)
journalctl --user -u openclaw-gateway -n 50 --no-pager

Tip: Always start with openclaw logs --follow in one terminal while reproducing the issue in another.

Understanding log levels

Level	Meaning	Action needed?
`DEBUG`	Internal state, verbose	No — useful for deep dives
`INFO`	Normal operations	No — confirms things work
`WARN`	Non-fatal issues	Maybe — often precedes errors
`ERROR`	Something failed	Yes — investigate
`FATAL`	Process will exit	Yes — immediate fix needed

The 8 most common error patterns

1. ECONNREFUSED — Can’t reach a service

ERROR gateway: ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:3000

What it means: OpenClaw tried to connect to a service (API, local server, or its own gateway) and nothing was listening.

Debug steps:

# Check if the gateway is actually running
openclaw gateway status

# Check what's listening on that port
ss -tlnp | grep 3000

# Restart the gateway
openclaw gateway restart

Common causes:

Gateway crashed silently — restart it
Port number changed in config but gateway wasn’t restarted
Firewall blocking localhost (rare but happens on hardened VPS)

2. EADDRINUSE — Port already taken

FATAL gateway: listen EADDRINUSE :::3000

What it means: Another process is already using the port OpenClaw needs.

Fix:

# Find what's using the port
sudo lsof -i :3000
# or
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 3000

# Kill the old process (replace PID)
kill <PID>

# Or just pick a different port in config
openclaw config set gateway.port 3001
openclaw gateway restart

3. 401 / 403 API errors — Authentication failed

ERROR model: API returned 401 Unauthorized (provider=anthropic)
ERROR model: API returned 403 Forbidden (provider=openai)

What it means: Your API key is wrong, expired, or lacks permissions.

Debug steps:

# Verify your key is set
openclaw config get providers

# Test the key directly
curl -s https://api.anthropic.com/v1/messages \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -H "anthropic-version: 2023-06-01" \
  -d '{"model":"claude-sonnet-4-20250514","max_tokens":10,"messages":[{"role":"user","content":"hi"}]}'

Common causes:

Key has a trailing space or newline (copy-paste issue)
Free-tier key hitting paid-only models
Key revoked on provider dashboard
Using an Anthropic key in the OpenAI provider slot (or vice versa)

4. 429 Rate limit / overloaded

WARN model: 429 Too Many Requests (provider=anthropic, retry_after=30)
ERROR model: 529 API Overloaded

What it means: You’re sending too many requests or the provider is at capacity.

What to do:

OpenClaw auto-retries with backoff — usually resolves itself
If persistent: configure a model fallback strategy so requests route to a backup provider
Check your provider dashboard for rate limit tier

5. Timeout errors — Slow responses

ERROR session: Request timed out after 120000ms (model=claude-opus-4-20250514)
WARN gateway: RPC timeout - agent did not respond within 30s

What it means: The model or a tool took too long to respond.

Possible fixes:

# Increase timeout in config
openclaw config set gateway.rpcTimeout 60000

# For model timeouts, switch to a faster model for routine tasks
# or check your network latency to the API endpoint
curl -o /dev/null -s -w "Time: %{time_total}s\n" https://api.anthropic.com/v1/messages

In China or high-latency regions? Use a proxy or deploy on a VPS closer to the API provider. Recommended VPS providers with good global routing:

Vultr — Tokyo/Singapore nodes with low latency to US APIs
DigitalOcean — reliable and affordable, good for beginners

6. Chrome Relay connection errors

ERROR browser: Chrome relay handshake failed — no tab attached
WARN browser: WebSocket to relay closed unexpectedly (code=1006)

What it means: The Chrome Browser Relay extension isn’t connected or lost connection.

Fix checklist:

Open Chrome and click the OpenClaw Browser Relay toolbar icon (badge should show ON)
Check that the relay WebSocket URL in extension settings matches your gateway
If behind NAT/firewall, ensure the WebSocket port is reachable
Try disabling other extensions that modify network requests

See the full Chrome Relay Troubleshooting Guide for detailed steps.

7. Telegram webhook / polling errors

ERROR telegram: 409 Conflict: terminated by other getUpdates
ERROR telegram: 401 Unauthorized — bot token invalid
WARN telegram: webhook failed: SSL certificate problem

Pattern A — 409 Conflict: Another instance of your bot is running (maybe a previous process didn’t stop cleanly).

# Stop all OpenClaw instances
openclaw gateway stop
# Check for zombies
ps aux | grep openclaw
# Kill any remaining
pkill -f openclaw
# Restart fresh
openclaw gateway start

Pattern B — 401 Unauthorized: Your bot token is wrong. Get a fresh one from @BotFather and update config.

Pattern C — SSL/webhook errors: If you’re using webhook mode, your server needs a valid SSL certificate. Polling mode is simpler for VPS deployments:

openclaw config set channels.telegram.mode polling
openclaw gateway restart

8. Node.js / npm errors during startup

FATAL Error: Cannot find module 'xyz'
SyntaxError: Unexpected token '??='

What it means: Wrong Node.js version or corrupted install.

# Check Node version (need 18+)
node --version

# If too old, update via nvm
nvm install 22
nvm use 22

# Reinstall dependencies
cd ~/.openclaw
rm -rf node_modules
npm install

See our Install Troubleshooting Guide for more install-specific issues.

Pro debugging workflow

When you hit an unknown error, follow this sequence:

1. openclaw logs --json --limit 500 | grep '"level":"error"' | tail -n 20    ← What's the error?
2. openclaw doctor                            ← Automated health check
3. openclaw gateway status                    ← Is gateway alive?
4. openclaw status --all                       ← Config + channel health snapshot
5. Reproduce with --follow                    ← Watch it happen live

Log location on disk

# Default log directory
ls ~/.openclaw/logs/

# Rotate logs to save disk space
# Use system logrotate instead; CLI has no built-in rotate command

On a VPS, set up log rotation to avoid filling your disk:

cat > /etc/logrotate.d/openclaw << 'EOF'
/home/*/.openclaw/logs/*.log {
    daily
    rotate 7
    compress
    missingok
    notifempty
}
EOF

Where to deploy for best reliability

A stable VPS with good connectivity makes debugging much easier — fewer network-related errors, lower latency to API providers, and reliable uptime.

Recommended for OpenClaw hosting:

Tencent Cloud — great for China-based users, competitive pricing on lightweight VPS
Vultr — global locations, hourly billing, easy snapshots for quick recovery
DigitalOcean — excellent documentation and community, $4/mo starter droplets

Still stuck?

Check the OpenClaw GitHub Issues for similar reports
Join the community on Discord or Telegram
Run openclaw doctor --verbose and share the output when asking for help

Silent Message Loss / Replay Troubleshooting (2026)

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