Gateway Health Monitor

Monitor and auto-fix OpenClaw gateway stability issues. Diagnoses launchd throttling, plugin restart loops, hung shutdowns, and macOS power management interference. Use when the gateway keeps disconnecting, restarting, or staying down for long periods. Triggers on "gateway down", "gateway keeps restarting", "disconnected", "gateway unstable", "launchd throttling", "gateway won't start".

Diagnose and fix OpenClaw gateway stability issues on macOS. Covers the most common failure modes that cause extended downtime.

Quick Diagnosis

Run the diagnostic script:

bash scripts/diagnose.sh

This checks: process state, launchd classification, restart count, plist config, power management, and plugin resolve loops.

Common Failure Modes

1. Plugin Restart Loop (most common)

Symptoms: Gateway restarts every 5-7 minutes. Log shows restartReason=config.patch with plugins.installs.*.resolvedAt.

Cause: Plugins re-resolve on every boot → write new timestamps to openclaw.json → config watcher detects "change" → triggers deferred restart → SIGTERM → repeat.

Fix: Set gateway.reload.mode to "hot":

openclaw config set gateway.reload.mode '"hot"'

In hot mode, safe changes hot-apply instantly. Critical changes (like plugin timestamps) only log a warning — no auto-restart. This breaks the loop.

Verify: grep "reload" ~/.openclaw/logs/gateway.log | tail -5 should show config change applied (dynamic reads) instead of restart.

2. macOS Throttling ("inefficient" classification)

Symptoms: Gateway goes down and stays down for 30-60+ minutes. launchctl print shows immediate reason = inefficient.

Cause: After many restarts (10+/day), macOS marks the job as low-priority and delays restarts via App Nap / Power Nap logic.

Fix: Add these keys to the launchd plist (~/Library/LaunchAgents/ai.openclaw.gateway.plist):

<key>ProcessType</key>
<string>Interactive</string>
<key>LowPriorityBackgroundIO</key>
<false/>

Then reload:

launchctl bootout gui/$(id -u)/ai.openclaw.gateway
launchctl bootstrap gui/$(id -u) ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ai.openclaw.gateway.plist

Note: openclaw gateway start overwrites the plist. Use the patcher script (below) to auto-reapply.

3. Hung Shutdown

Symptoms: Gateway receives SIGTERM but doesn't exit. launchd can't restart because old PID still alive.

Fix: Set ExitTimeOut in the plist:

<key>ExitTimeOut</key>
<integer>10</integer>

After 10 seconds, launchd sends SIGKILL.

4. Power Nap Interference

Symptoms: Gateway goes down during Mac sleep/wake cycles.

Check: pmset -g | grep powernap

Fix: sudo pmset -a powernap 0

Plist Auto-Patcher

Since openclaw gateway start overwrites the plist, use scripts/patch-plist.sh as a launchd WatchPaths agent:

# Install the patcher
bash scripts/install-patcher.sh

This creates a launchd agent that watches the gateway plist and re-adds ExitTimeOut, ProcessType, and LowPriorityBackgroundIO within seconds of any overwrite.

Monitoring

One-liner health check

bash scripts/health-check.sh

Returns exit code 0 if healthy, 1 if issues detected. Suitable for cron or heartbeat integration.

Continuous monitoring (cron integration)

Add to your OpenClaw cron:

Check gateway health: bash ~/path/to/scripts/health-check.sh && echo "Gateway healthy" || echo "ALERT: Gateway issues detected"

Recommended Configuration

For maximum stability on macOS:

{
  gateway: {
    reload: { mode: "hot" },
  },
}

Plus plist keys: ExitTimeOut=10, ProcessType=Interactive, LowPriorityBackgroundIO=false, ThrottleInterval=1, KeepAlive=true.

Troubleshooting Reference

Symptom	Check	Fix
Restarts every 5-7 min	grep restartReason gateway.log	reload.mode = "hot"
Down 30-60+ min	launchctl print → "inefficient"	ProcessType=Interactive
Won't exit on SIGTERM	ps -p PID after SIGTERM	ExitTimeOut=10
Down after sleep	pmset -g | grep powernap	pmset -a powernap 0
Plugin timestamps changing	grep resolvedAt openclaw.json	reload.mode = "hot"