openclaw/docs/cli/audit.md

summary, read_when, title

summary	read_when	title
CLI reference for metadata-only run, tool, and message lifecycle audit records	You need to answer who ran an agent or tool, when it ran, and how it ended You need content-free inbound or outbound message lifecycle metadata You need a bounded, redaction-safe activity export	Audit records

openclaw audit

Query the Gateway's metadata-only audit ledger for agent runs, tool actions, and opt-in message lifecycle records.

The ledger is on by default for run and tool events. Set audit.enabled: false and restart the Gateway to stop all new event records. Message records are separately disabled by default; set audit.messages to direct or all and restart the Gateway to record them. Existing records stay queryable until they expire (30 days).

The ledger is separate from conversation transcripts: it records identity, ordering, provenance, action, status, and normalized outcome codes, but never stores content, and message identifiers appear only as installation-local keyed pseudonyms. Audit history owns the full data model, privacy semantics, storage/retention bounds, and coverage limits; this page covers the command surface.

openclaw audit
openclaw audit --agent main --status failed
openclaw audit --session "agent:main:main" --after 2026-07-01T00:00:00Z
openclaw audit --run 8c69f72e-8b11-4c54-98d5-1a3dd67450c3
openclaw audit --kind tool_action --limit 50 --json
openclaw audit --kind message --direction outbound --channel telegram --json

Filters

• --agent <id>: exact agent id
• --session <key>: exact session key
• --run <id>: exact run id
• --kind <kind>: agent_run, tool_action, or message
• --status <status>: started, succeeded, failed, cancelled, timed_out, blocked, or unknown
• --direction <direction>: message direction, inbound or outbound
• --channel <channel>: exact message channel
• --after <timestamp> / --before <timestamp>: inclusive ISO timestamp or Unix milliseconds
• --limit <count>: page size from 1 to 500; default 100
• --cursor <sequence>: continue a previous newest-first query
• --json: print the bounded page as JSON

The CLI queries the versioned activity RPC so one command shows the complete configured ledger. Text output shows time, kind, direction, channel, status, agent, run, and action. Missing message provenance renders as -; OpenClaw does not invent agent or run ids. Tool actions also show the tool name. JSON output includes nextCursor when another page exists. Pass that value to --cursor to continue without reordering records that arrive during paging.

These exports remain sensitive operational metadata even though message bodies and raw message identity fields are absent. Agent, session, and run ids, timing, channels, outcomes, and stable HMAC references can correlate activity. Protect them with the same access controls and retention practices as other operator records.

Recorded events

The Gateway projects trusted lifecycle streams into six actions:

• agent.run.started
• agent.run.finished
• tool.action.started
• tool.action.finished
• message.inbound.processed
• message.outbound.finished

Every returned record has a stable event id, a monotonically increasing ledger sequence, a lifecycle timestamp, actor, action, status, a schemaVersion: 1 marker, source sequence, and redaction: "metadata_only". Agent/session/run provenance and event-specific fields are present only when the trusted source provides them. Message records intentionally omit sessionKey and sessionId, so --session filters run and tool records only.

Terminal run and tool records distinguish success, failure, cancellation, timeout, and policy blocks with closed status and error codes. unknown is an explicit non-success result when an upstream runtime does not expose an authoritative terminal outcome. Tool call ids are exported only as stable fingerprints. Tool names must match the compact model-facing name contract; other values become unknown.

Message records add direction, channel, conversation kind, outcome, and optional delivery kind, failure stage, duration, result count, normalized reason code, and keyed account/conversation/message/target pseudonyms. The current inbound boundary covers accepted messages that reach core dispatch, including core duplicate and terminal processing outcomes. The outbound boundary writes one terminal row per original logical reply payload that reaches shared durable delivery; chunking and adapter fan-out are aggregated in resultCount. Queued retryable or ambiguous sends are recorded only after an acknowledgement, dead letter, or reconciliation makes the outcome terminal. Plugin-local and direct-send paths that bypass those shared boundaries are not yet covered; absence of a row does not prove that no message existed.

The audit ledger does not replace transcripts, task history, cron run history, or logs. It provides a small cross-run index for operator questions without copying conversation content into another store.

For inbound rows, durationMs measures core dispatch and resultCount counts finalized queued tool, block, and reply payloads. For outbound rows, durationMs includes delivery ownership through its terminal (and therefore queued wait time), while resultCount counts identified physical platform sends. deliveryKind, when present, describes the effective post-hook, post-render payload; suppressed and crash-ambiguous rows omit it.

Gateway RPC

audit.activity.list requires operator.read and accepts the same filters. It returns the named V1 activity event union, including run, tool, inbound-message, and outbound-message records.

openclaw gateway call audit.activity.list --params '{"channel":"telegram","limit":50}'

The result is { "events": AuditActivityEventV1[], "nextCursor"?: string }. Results are newest first and limited to 500 records per request.

The shipped audit.list RPC remains unchanged for older run/tool clients. When audit.activity.list is unavailable on an older Gateway, the CLI retries audit.list only if every requested filter is supported by that legacy method. --kind message, --direction, and --channel fail with an upgrade message on an older Gateway instead of being silently discarded.

Related

• Audit history
• Gateway protocol
• Sessions
• Tasks
• Cron jobs