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Source-grounded rewrite of 529 published docs pages with per-unit information-loss verification: 1,713 factual corrections cited to src/**, generated surfaces regenerated, frontmatter titles preserved for i18n, release notes pages untouched. All docs gates green. Closes #100141
121 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
121 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
---
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summary: "How OpenClaw presence entries are produced, merged, and displayed"
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read_when:
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- Debugging the Instances tab
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- Investigating duplicate or stale instance rows
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- Changing gateway WS connect or system-event beacons
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title: "Presence"
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---
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OpenClaw "presence" is a lightweight, best-effort view of:
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- the **Gateway** itself, and
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- **clients connected to the Gateway** (mac app, WebChat, CLI, etc.)
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Presence is used primarily to render the macOS app's **Instances** tab and to
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provide quick operator visibility.
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## Presence fields (what shows up)
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Presence entries are structured objects with fields like:
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- `instanceId` (optional but strongly recommended): stable client identity (usually `connect.client.instanceId`)
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- `host`: human-friendly host name
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- `ip`: best-effort IP address
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- `version`: client version string
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- `deviceFamily` / `modelIdentifier`: hardware hints
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- `mode`: `ui`, `webchat`, `cli`, `backend`, `node`, `probe`, `test`
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- `lastInputSeconds`: seconds since last user input, if known
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- `reason`: free-form client-supplied string; the Gateway itself only emits `self`, `connect`, and `disconnect`
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- `deviceId`, `roles`, `scopes`: device identity and role/scope hints from the connect handshake
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- `ts`: last update timestamp (ms since epoch)
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## Producers (where presence comes from)
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Presence entries are produced by multiple sources and **merged**.
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### 1) Gateway self entry
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The Gateway always seeds a "self" entry at startup so UIs show the gateway host
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even before any clients connect.
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### 2) WebSocket connect
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Every WS client begins with a `connect` request. On successful handshake the
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Gateway upserts a presence entry for that connection.
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#### Why one-off CLI commands do not show up
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The CLI often connects for short, one-off commands. To avoid spamming the
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Instances list, `client.mode === "cli"` is **not** turned into a presence entry.
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### 3) `system-event` beacons
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Clients can send richer periodic beacons via the `system-event` method. The mac
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app uses this to report host name, IP, and `lastInputSeconds`.
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### 4) Node connects (role: node)
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When a node connects over the Gateway WebSocket with `role: node`, the Gateway
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upserts a presence entry for that node (same flow as other WS clients).
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## Merge + dedupe rules (why `instanceId` matters)
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Presence entries are stored in a single in-memory map, keyed case-insensitively
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by the first available of, in order: a paired device id, `connect.client.instanceId`,
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or the per-connection id as a last resort.
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CLI clients are excluded from tracking entirely (see above), so their
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connection id never becomes a key. For every other client, the connection id
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fallback means a client that reconnects without a stable `instanceId` shows up
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as a **duplicate** row.
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## TTL and bounded size
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Presence is intentionally ephemeral:
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- **TTL:** entries older than 5 minutes are pruned
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- **Max entries:** 200 (oldest dropped first)
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This keeps the list fresh and avoids unbounded memory growth.
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## Remote/tunnel caveat (loopback IPs)
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When a client connects over an SSH tunnel / local port forward, the Gateway
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may see the remote address as `127.0.0.1`. To avoid recording that tunnel
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address as the client's IP, connect handling omits `ip` entirely for
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detected-local (loopback) clients rather than writing the loopback address
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into the entry.
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## Consumers
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### macOS Instances tab
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The macOS app renders the output of `system-presence` and applies a small status
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indicator (Active/Idle/Stale) based on the age of the last update.
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## Debugging tips
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- To see the raw list, call `system-presence` against the Gateway.
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- If you see duplicates:
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- confirm clients send a stable `client.instanceId` in the handshake
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- confirm periodic beacons use the same `instanceId`
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- check whether the connection-derived entry is missing `instanceId` (duplicates are expected)
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## Related
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<CardGroup cols={2}>
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<Card title="Typing indicators" href="/concepts/typing-indicators" icon="ellipsis">
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When typing indicators are sent and how to tune them.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Streaming and chunking" href="/concepts/streaming" icon="bars-staggered">
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Outbound streaming, chunking, and per-channel formatting.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Gateway architecture" href="/concepts/architecture" icon="diagram-project">
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Gateway components and the WebSocket protocol that drives presence updates.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Gateway protocol" href="/gateway/protocol" icon="plug">
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The wire protocol for `connect`, `system-event`, and `system-presence`.
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</Card>
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</CardGroup>
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