Daemon

openclaw daemon

Legacy alias for Gateway service management. openclaw daemon ... maps to the same service-control commands as openclaw gateway .... Prefer openclaw gateway for current docs and examples.

Usage

openclaw daemon status
openclaw daemon install
openclaw daemon start
openclaw daemon stop
openclaw daemon restart
openclaw daemon uninstall

Subcommands and options

Subcommand	Options
status	--url, --port, --token, --password, --timeout, --no-probe, --require-rpc, --deep, --json
install	--port, --runtime <node|bun>, --token, --wrapper <path>, --force, --json
uninstall	--json
start	--json
stop	--force, --json, --disable (launchd only: suppress KeepAlive/RunAtLoad until next start)
restart	--force, --safe, --skip-deferral, --wait <duration>, --json

--json is accepted before or after every subcommand (for example, daemon --json status and daemon status --json).

• status: shows service install state (launchd/systemd/schtasks) and probes Gateway health.
• status --port <port>: selects a local Gateway using the invoking CLI config for auth and TLS. Cannot combine with --url; native service details remain diagnostic-only.
• install: installs the service; --force reinstalls/overwrites an existing install.
• Node is the primary, default, and recommended service runtime. Bun 1.4+ with WAL-reset-safe node:sqlite is available as an explicit opt-in with install --runtime bun.
• restart --safe: asks the running Gateway to preflight active work and schedule one coalesced restart after work drains, bounded to 5 minutes. When that budget expires, the restart is forced anyway. Plain restart normally uses the service manager directly; on Windows, commands launched from a Gateway service automatically use the safe restart path. Explicit lifecycle controls retain their behavior; --force is the immediate override.
• restart --safe --skip-deferral: bypasses only the active-work deferral gate. Shutdown may still wait for pending replies to drain before the Gateway process exits. Requires --safe.

Notes

• status resolves configured auth SecretRefs for probe auth when possible. If a required SecretRef is unresolved, status --json reports rpc.authWarning; pass --token/--password explicitly or resolve the secret source first. Unresolved-auth warnings are suppressed once the probe otherwise succeeds.
• status --deep adds a best-effort system-level scan for other gateway-like services (prints cleanup hints; one Gateway per machine is still the recommendation) and runs config validation in plugin-aware mode, surfacing plugin manifest warnings that the fast default path skips.
• On Linux systemd installs, token-drift checks inspect both Environment= and EnvironmentFile= unit sources.
• Token-drift checks resolve gateway.auth.token SecretRefs using merged runtime env (service command env first, then process env). If token auth is not effectively active (gateway.auth.mode of password/none/trusted-proxy, or unset with password able to win), config token resolution is skipped.
• install validates a SecretRef-managed gateway.auth.token is resolvable but never persists the resolved value into service environment metadata; if it can’t resolve, install fails closed.
• If both gateway.auth.token and gateway.auth.password are configured and gateway.auth.mode is unset, install blocks until you set the mode explicitly.
• On macOS, install keeps LaunchAgent plists and the generated env file/wrapper owner-only (mode 0600/0700) instead of embedding secrets in EnvironmentVariables.
• Running multiple Gateways on one host: isolate ports, config/state, and workspaces. See Multiple gateways.

Related

• CLI reference
• Gateway runbook