OpenClaw troubleshooting

Common problems when running OpenClaw on a computer, and how to check them. Run the commands in the computer's terminal. On a Cue Computer, open it from the web with Files, then More options, then Terminal.

Check that OpenClaw is running

openclaw gateway status
cue openclaw status --json

What you want to see:

Connectivity probe: ok and Listening: 127.0.0.1:18789 from the first command
"connected": true from the second, which means Cue CLI can reach OpenClaw

openclaw gateway status also reports the background service as disabled. That is expected on a computer without a background service manager.

The gateway will not start

Symptom: openclaw gateway says the port is in use or the gateway is already running.

On a Cue Computer with OpenClaw turned on, Cue already runs the gateway on port 18789. openclaw gateway stop and openclaw gateway restart do not stop it, because there is no background service manager. To restart it, start a new gateway with --force, which stops the one on the port first:

nohup openclaw gateway --force > ~/.openclaw/logs/gateway-sandbox.log 2>&1 &
sleep 5
openclaw gateway status

Check for Connectivity probe: ok again.

Model errors

Symptom: No API key found for provider "<provider>".

The default model belongs to a provider OpenClaw has no credentials for. See the current default and the models you can use:

openclaw models status --plain
openclaw models list --plain

Then choose a model from the list, or add credentials with Configure in the agent's settings. See Model auth.

openclaw models set <provider>/<model-id>

Symptom: with Cue managed credentials, a reply fails with an error saying the provider "is currently unavailable through Cue".

Cue could not reach the model provider at that moment. Cue itself may still answer normally. Try again later.

The bot does not reply in a chat app

Symptom: the gateway is running, but no messages arrive from Feishu or Discord.

These checks come from earlier manual setups and were not rechecked for this page. Chat plugins are not installed on current Cue computers; see the note on each channel page.

openclaw channels status --json

Cause	Fix
Feishu: `im.message.receive_v1` event not added	Add it in the developer console, under Events and Callbacks
Feishu: persistent connection mode not turned on	Turn it on in the developer console, under Events and Callbacks, subscription mode
Feishu: app not published	Publish it in the developer console, under version management
Discord: bot not in the server	Invite the bot with its OAuth2 URL
Discord: message content intent turned off	Turn it on in the Discord Developer Portal, under Bot, Privileged Gateway Intents

`cue: command not found`

On a Cue Computer, Cue CLI is installed at ~/.cue/bin/cue. If the terminal cannot find it, add that folder to your PATH:

export PATH="$HOME/.cue/bin:$PATH"
cue --version

To keep it for new terminals:

echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.cue/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc

If Cue CLI is not installed, install it:

curl -fsSL https://cueos.ai/install.sh | bash

Update Cue CLI

cue update

If OpenClaw still behaves as before, restart the gateway as shown above.

Cue itself seems stuck

Check Cue's runtime on the computer:

cue status --runtime

What you want to see: Runtime: healthy, and Issues: none.

Logs

Log	What it holds
`~/.openclaw/logs/gateway-sandbox.log`	OpenClaw gateway and channel events
`/tmp/openclaw/openclaw-<date>.log`	OpenClaw's own file log, as listed by `openclaw gateway status`
`~/.cue/logs/bootstrap.log`	How Cue set up the computer and started the gateway
`~/.cue/logs/debug.log`	Cue CLI runtime
`/tmp/cue-install.log`	Cue CLI install output

OpenClaw troubleshooting

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