Configuration

Each channel has its own config section under channels.<provider>. See the dedicated channel page for setup steps:

• WhatsApp - channels.whatsapp
• Telegram - channels.telegram
• Discord - channels.discord
• Feishu - channels.feishu
• Google Chat - channels.googlechat
• Microsoft Teams - channels.msteams
• Slack - channels.slack
• Signal - channels.signal
• iMessage - channels.imessage
• Mattermost - channels.mattermost

All channels share the same DM policy pattern:

{
  channels: {
    telegram: {
      enabled: true,
      botToken: "123:abc",
      dmPolicy: "pairing",   // pairing | allowlist | open | disabled
      allowFrom: ["tg:123"], // only for allowlist/open
    },
  },
}

Set the primary model and optional fallbacks:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: {
        primary: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
        fallbacks: ["openai/gpt-5.4"],
      },
      models: {
        "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6": { alias: "Sonnet" },
        "openai/gpt-5.4": { alias: "GPT" },
      },
    },
  },
}

• agents.defaults.models defines the model catalog and acts as the allowlist for /model.
• Use openclaw config set agents.defaults.models '<json>' --strict-json --merge to add allowlist entries without removing existing models. Plain replacements that would remove entries are rejected unless you pass --replace.
• Model refs use provider/model format (e.g. anthropic/claude-opus-4-6).
• agents.defaults.imageMaxDimensionPx controls transcript/tool image downscaling (default 1200); lower values usually reduce vision-token usage on screenshot-heavy runs.
• See Models CLI for switching models in chat and Model Failover for auth rotation and fallback behavior.
• For custom/self-hosted providers, see Custom providers in the reference.

DM access is controlled per channel via dmPolicy:

• "pairing" (default): unknown senders get a one-time pairing code to approve
• "allowlist": only senders in allowFrom (or the paired allow store)
• "open": allow all inbound DMs (requires allowFrom: ["*"])
• "disabled": ignore all DMs

For groups, use groupPolicy + groupAllowFrom or channel-specific allowlists.

See the full reference for per-channel details.

Group messages default to require mention. Configure trigger patterns per agent, and keep visible room replies on the default message-tool path unless you intentionally want legacy automatic final replies:

{
  messages: {
    visibleReplies: "automatic", // set "message_tool" to require message-tool sends everywhere
    groupChat: {
      visibleReplies: "message_tool", // default; use "automatic" for legacy room replies
    },
  },
  agents: {
    list: [
      {
        id: "main",
        groupChat: {
          mentionPatterns: ["@openclaw", "openclaw"],
        },
      },
    ],
  },
  channels: {
    whatsapp: {
      groups: { "*": { requireMention: true } },
    },
  },
}

• Metadata mentions: native @-mentions (WhatsApp tap-to-mention, Telegram @bot, etc.)
• Text patterns: safe regex patterns in mentionPatterns
• Visible replies: messages.visibleReplies can require message-tool sends globally; messages.groupChat.visibleReplies overrides that for groups/channels.
• See full reference for visible reply modes, per-channel overrides, and self-chat mode.

Use agents.defaults.skills for a shared baseline, then override specific agents with agents.list[].skills:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      skills: ["github", "weather"],
    },
    list: [
      { id: "writer" }, // inherits github, weather
      { id: "docs", skills: ["docs-search"] }, // replaces defaults
      { id: "locked-down", skills: [] }, // no skills
    ],
  },
}

• Omit agents.defaults.skills for unrestricted skills by default.
• Omit agents.list[].skills to inherit the defaults.
• Set agents.list[].skills: [] for no skills.
• See Skills, Skills config, and the Configuration Reference.

Control how aggressively the gateway restarts channels that look stale:

{
  gateway: {
    channelHealthCheckMinutes: 5,
    channelStaleEventThresholdMinutes: 30,
    channelMaxRestartsPerHour: 10,
  },
  channels: {
    telegram: {
      healthMonitor: { enabled: false },
      accounts: {
        alerts: {
          healthMonitor: { enabled: true },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

• Set gateway.channelHealthCheckMinutes: 0 to disable health-monitor restarts globally.
• channelStaleEventThresholdMinutes should be greater than or equal to the check interval.
• Use channels.<provider>.healthMonitor.enabled or channels.<provider>.accounts.<id>.healthMonitor.enabled to disable auto-restarts for one channel or account without disabling the global monitor.
• See Health Checks for operational debugging and the full reference for all fields.

Give local clients more time to complete the pre-auth WebSocket handshake on loaded or low-powered hosts:

{
  gateway: {
    handshakeTimeoutMs: 30000,
  },
}

• Default is 15000 milliseconds.
• OPENCLAW_HANDSHAKE_TIMEOUT_MS still takes precedence for one-off service or shell overrides.
• Prefer fixing startup/event-loop stalls first; this knob is for hosts that are healthy but slow during warmup.

Sessions control conversation continuity and isolation:

{
  session: {
    dmScope: "per-channel-peer",  // recommended for multi-user
    threadBindings: {
      enabled: true,
      idleHours: 24,
      maxAgeHours: 0,
    },
    reset: {
      mode: "daily",
      atHour: 4,
      idleMinutes: 120,
    },
  },
}

• dmScope: main (shared) | per-peer | per-channel-peer | per-account-channel-peer
• threadBindings: global defaults for thread-bound session routing (Discord supports /focus, /unfocus, /agents, /session idle, and /session max-age).
• See Session Management for scoping, identity links, and send policy.
• See full reference for all fields.

Run agent sessions in isolated sandbox runtimes:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      sandbox: {
        mode: "non-main",  // off | non-main | all
        scope: "agent",    // session | agent | shared
      },
    },
  },
}

Build the image first - from a source checkout run scripts/sandbox-setup.sh, or from an npm install see the inline docker build command in Sandboxing § Images and setup.

See Sandboxing for the full guide and full reference for all options.

Relay-backed push is configured in openclaw.json.

Set this in gateway config:

{
  gateway: {
    push: {
      apns: {
        relay: {
          baseUrl: "https://relay.example.com",
          // Optional. Default: 10000
          timeoutMs: 10000,
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

CLI equivalent:

openclaw config set gateway.push.apns.relay.baseUrl https://relay.example.com

What this does:

• Lets the gateway send push.test, wake nudges, and reconnect wakes through the external relay.
• Uses a registration-scoped send grant forwarded by the paired iOS app. The gateway does not need a deployment-wide relay token.
• Binds each relay-backed registration to the gateway identity that the iOS app paired with, so another gateway cannot reuse the stored registration.
• Keeps local/manual iOS builds on direct APNs. Relay-backed sends apply only to official distributed builds that registered through the relay.
• Must match the relay base URL baked into the official/TestFlight iOS build, so registration and send traffic reach the same relay deployment.

End-to-end flow:

1. Install an official/TestFlight iOS build that was compiled with the same relay base URL.
2. Configure gateway.push.apns.relay.baseUrl on the gateway.
3. Pair the iOS app to the gateway and let both node and operator sessions connect.
4. The iOS app fetches the gateway identity, registers with the relay using App Attest plus the app receipt, and then publishes the relay-backed push.apns.register payload to the paired gateway.
5. The gateway stores the relay handle and send grant, then uses them for push.test, wake nudges, and reconnect wakes.

Operational notes:

• If you switch the iOS app to a different gateway, reconnect the app so it can publish a new relay registration bound to that gateway.
• If you ship a new iOS build that points at a different relay deployment, the app refreshes its cached relay registration instead of reusing the old relay origin.

Compatibility note:

• OPENCLAW_APNS_RELAY_BASE_URL and OPENCLAW_APNS_RELAY_TIMEOUT_MS still work as temporary env overrides.
• OPENCLAW_APNS_RELAY_ALLOW_HTTP=true remains a loopback-only development escape hatch; do not persist HTTP relay URLs in config.

See iOS App for the end-to-end flow and Authentication and trust flow for the relay security model.

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      heartbeat: {
        every: "30m",
        target: "last",
      },
    },
  },
}

• every: duration string (30m, 2h). Set 0m to disable.
• target: last | none | <channel-id> (for example discord, matrix, telegram, or whatsapp)
• directPolicy: allow (default) or block for DM-style heartbeat targets
• See Heartbeat for the full guide.

{
  cron: {
    enabled: true,
    maxConcurrentRuns: 2, // cron dispatch + isolated cron agent-turn execution
    sessionRetention: "24h",
    runLog: {
      maxBytes: "2mb",
      keepLines: 2000,
    },
  },
}

• sessionRetention: prune completed isolated run sessions from sessions.json (default 24h; set false to disable).
• runLog: prune cron/runs/<jobId>.jsonl by size and retained lines.
• See Cron jobs for feature overview and CLI examples.

Enable HTTP webhook endpoints on the Gateway:

{
  hooks: {
    enabled: true,
    token: "shared-secret",
    path: "/hooks",
    defaultSessionKey: "hook:ingress",
    allowRequestSessionKey: false,
    allowedSessionKeyPrefixes: ["hook:"],
    mappings: [
      {
        match: { path: "gmail" },
        action: "agent",
        agentId: "main",
        deliver: true,
      },
    ],
  },
}

Security note:

• Treat all hook/webhook payload content as untrusted input.
• Use a dedicated hooks.token; do not reuse the shared Gateway token.
• Hook auth is header-only (Authorization: Bearer ... or x-openclaw-token); query-string tokens are rejected.
• hooks.path cannot be /; keep webhook ingress on a dedicated subpath such as /hooks.
• Keep unsafe-content bypass flags disabled (hooks.gmail.allowUnsafeExternalContent, hooks.mappings[].allowUnsafeExternalContent) unless doing tightly scoped debugging.
• If you enable hooks.allowRequestSessionKey, also set hooks.allowedSessionKeyPrefixes to bound caller-selected session keys.
• For hook-driven agents, prefer strong modern model tiers and strict tool policy (for example messaging-only plus sandboxing where possible).

See full reference for all mapping options and Gmail integration.

Run multiple isolated agents with separate workspaces and sessions:

{
  agents: {
    list: [
      { id: "home", default: true, workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-home" },
      { id: "work", workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace-work" },
    ],
  },
  bindings: [
    { agentId: "home", match: { channel: "whatsapp", accountId: "personal" } },
    { agentId: "work", match: { channel: "whatsapp", accountId: "biz" } },
  ],
}

See Multi-Agent and full reference for binding rules and per-agent access profiles.

Use $include to organize large configs:

// ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
{
  gateway: { port: 18789 },
  agents: { $include: "./agents.json5" },
  broadcast: {
    $include: ["./clients/a.json5", "./clients/b.json5"],
  },
}

• Single file: replaces the containing object
• Array of files: deep-merged in order (later wins)
• Sibling keys: merged after includes (override included values)
• Nested includes: supported up to 10 levels deep
• Relative paths: resolved relative to the including file
• OpenClaw-owned writes: when a write changes only one top-level section backed by a single-file include such as plugins: { $include: "./plugins.json5" }, OpenClaw updates that included file and leaves openclaw.json intact
• Unsupported write-through: root includes, include arrays, and includes with sibling overrides fail closed for OpenClaw-owned writes instead of flattening the config
• Confinement: $include paths must resolve under the directory holding openclaw.json. To share a tree across machines or users, set OPENCLAW_INCLUDE_ROOTS to a path-list (: on POSIX, ; on Windows) of additional directories that includes may reference. Symlinks are resolved and re-checked, so a path that lexically lives in a config dir but whose real target escapes every allowed root is still rejected.
• Error handling: clear errors for missing files, parse errors, and circular includes