* refactor(sessions): migrate runtime storage to sqlite * test(sessions): fix sqlite CI regressions * test(sessions): align remaining sqlite fixtures * fix(codex): require sqlite trajectory recorder * test(sessions): align orphan recovery sqlite fixture * test(sessions): align sqlite rebase fixtures * fix(sessions): finish current-main integration of the sqlite flip Resolve the whole-store SDK removal across its owner boundary: drop the loadSessionStore re-export and the registry whole-store wrappers, wire hasTrackedActiveSessionRun into gateway chat, complete the preserveLockedHarnessIds cleanup contract, flip the codex thread-history import to storePath targets, and port remaining main-side tests from file-store helpers to session accessor reads. * chore: drop committed pebbles log, revert plugin-inspector bump, refresh generated docs Remove the 1.8k-line .pebbles/events.jsonl work log from the branch, restore the plugin-inspector advisory lane to main's pinned 0.3.10 so the supply-chain bump gets its own review, and regenerate docs_map, the plugin SDK API baseline, and the export-surface ratchet for the merged tree. * feat(sessions): keep archived transcripts by default with zstd cold storage Codex-style retention: deleting or resetting a session archives its transcript as a zstd-compressed JSONL artifact (plain when the runtime lacks node:zlib zstd) and keeps it until the disk budget evicts oldest first. resetArchiveRetention now governs both deleted and reset archives and defaults to keep; maxDiskBytes defaults to 2gb so retention stays bounded, with archives evicted before live sessions. The cron reaper follows the same knob instead of deleting archives on its own timer. * fix(state): converge agent DB migration lineages and bound database growth Merge coherence: run both structure-gated legacy memory-schema repairs (flip-lineage drop, main-lineage identity rebuild) before the flip migration so pre-flip v1/v2 and pre-merge flip v1/v4 databases all converge, and hoist foreign_keys=OFF outside the schema transaction where the pragma was silently ignored and the v1 sessions rebuild cascade-deleted session_entries. Growth guards: fresh agent DBs enable auto_vacuum=INCREMENTAL, WAL maintenance releases freed pages in bounded passes (never a blocking full VACUUM), and doctor reports state/agent DB bloat from freelist stats. * fix(codex): resolve the store path for thread-history import via the SDK The supervision catalog passed the legacy sessionFile locator to the storePath-targeted transcript mirror; resolve the agent store path with the session-store SDK helper instead of a runtime-object seam so test fakes and headless callers need no extra surface. Drop the obsolete missing-session-id preprocessing case: sessions rows are NOT NULL on session_id and upsert repairs id-less patches at write time. * fix(sessions): fail safe on malformed disk-budget config and doctor stat errors A malformed explicit maxDiskBytes disables the budget instead of falling back to the destructive 2gb default the user never chose, and the doctor bloat check skips databases whose paths stat-fail instead of aborting doctor. * fix(sessions): complete sqlite conflict translations * test(sqlite): align hardening checks with maintenance * test(sessions): inspect compressed transcript archives * fix(tests): await session seeds and drop unused helpers flagged by CI lint The five unawaited writeSessionStoreSeed calls raced their SQLite seeds against the assertions, failing compact shards; the bloat probe drops a useless initializer and the merged tests drop now-unused helpers. * test(sessions): type legacy proof events directly * test(sessions): align hardening contracts * perf(sessions): read usage transcript sizes from SQL aggregates Usage/cost scans walked every session and materialized every transcript event just to re-stringify it for a byte estimate — the #86718 stall class reborn on the DB. readTranscriptStatsSync sums stored JSON bytes in SQLite without loading a single row. * fix(sessions): re-root foreign-root transcript paths onto the current sessions dir Restored backups, moved OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR, and rehearsal copies carry absolute sessionFile paths from the old root; the containment fallback kept those foreign paths, so migration read (and would archive) files in the original root and reported local copies missing. Re-root the canonical agents/<id>/sessions suffix onto the current dir when the file exists there; genuine cross-root layouts still fall through unchanged. * test(agents): seed harness admission through sqlite * fix(sqlite): close agent db on pragma setup failure * fix(doctor): compact and retrofit incremental auto-vacuum after session import The migration is the sanctioned offline window: post-import compact reclaims import churn and applies auto_vacuum=INCREMENTAL to databases created before the fresh-DB pragma existed, so runtime maintenance can release pages in bounded passes on every install. --------- Co-authored-by: Peter Steinberger <steipete@gmail.com>
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summary, read_when, title
| summary | read_when | title | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced setup and development workflows for OpenClaw |
|
Setup |
TL;DR
Pick a setup workflow based on how often you want updates and whether you want to run the Gateway yourself:
- Tailoring lives outside the repo: keep your config and workspace in
~/.openclaw/openclaw.jsonand~/.openclaw/workspace/so repo updates don't touch them. - Stable workflow (recommended for most): install the macOS app and let it run the bundled Gateway.
- Bleeding edge workflow (dev): run the Gateway yourself via
pnpm gateway:watch, then let the macOS app attach in Local mode.
Prereqs (from source)
- Node 24 recommended (Node 22 LTS, currently
22.19+, still supported) pnpmrequired for source checkouts. OpenClaw loads bundled plugins from theextensions/*pnpm workspace packages in dev mode, so rootnpm installdoes not prepare the full source tree.- Docker (optional; only for containerized setup/e2e - see Docker)
Tailoring strategy (so updates do not hurt)
If you want "100% tailored to me" and easy updates, keep your customization in:
- Config:
~/.openclaw/openclaw.json(JSON/JSON5-ish) - Workspace:
~/.openclaw/workspace(skills, prompts, memories; make it a private git repo)
Bootstrap the config/workspace folders once, without running the full onboarding wizard:
openclaw setup --baseline
No global install yet? Run it from this repo instead:
pnpm openclaw setup --baseline
(Bare openclaw setup, without --baseline, is an alias for openclaw onboard and runs the full interactive wizard.)
Run the Gateway from this repo
After pnpm build, you can run the packaged CLI directly:
node openclaw.mjs gateway --port 18789 --verbose
Stable workflow (macOS app first)
- Install + launch OpenClaw.app (menu bar).
- Complete the onboarding/permissions checklist (TCC prompts).
- Ensure Gateway is Local and running (the app manages it).
- Link surfaces (example: WhatsApp):
openclaw channels login
- Sanity check:
openclaw health
If onboarding is not available in your build:
- Run
openclaw setup, thenopenclaw channels login, then start the Gateway manually (openclaw gateway).
Bleeding edge workflow (Gateway in a terminal)
Goal: work on the TypeScript Gateway, get hot reload, keep the macOS app UI attached.
0) (Optional) Run the macOS app from source too
If you also want the macOS app on the bleeding edge:
./scripts/restart-mac.sh
1) Start the dev Gateway
pnpm install
# First run only (or after resetting local OpenClaw config/workspace)
pnpm openclaw setup
pnpm gateway:watch
gateway:watch starts or restarts the Gateway watch process in a named tmux
session (openclaw-gateway-watch-main) and auto-attaches from interactive
terminals. Non-interactive shells stay detached and print
tmux attach -t openclaw-gateway-watch-main; use
OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_WATCH_ATTACH=0 pnpm gateway:watch to keep an interactive run
detached, or pnpm gateway:watch:raw for foreground watch mode. The watcher
reloads on relevant source, config, and bundled-plugin metadata changes. If the
watched Gateway exits during startup, gateway:watch runs
openclaw doctor --fix --non-interactive once and retries; set
OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_WATCH_AUTO_DOCTOR=0 to disable that dev-only repair pass.
pnpm gateway:watch does not rebuild dist/control-ui, so rerun pnpm ui:build after ui/ changes or use pnpm ui:dev while developing the Control UI.
2) Point the macOS app at your running Gateway
In OpenClaw.app:
- Connection Mode: Local The app will attach to the running gateway on the configured port.
3) Verify
- In-app Gateway status should read "Using existing gateway …"
- Or via CLI:
openclaw health
Common footguns
- Wrong port: Gateway WS defaults to
ws://127.0.0.1:18789; keep app + CLI on the same port. - Where state lives:
- Channel/provider state:
~/.openclaw/credentials/ - Model auth profiles:
~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/agent/auth-profiles.json - Sessions and transcripts:
~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/agent/openclaw-agent.sqlite - Legacy/archive session artifacts:
~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/sessions/ - Logs:
/tmp/openclaw/
- Channel/provider state:
Credential storage map
Use this when debugging auth or deciding what to back up:
- WhatsApp:
~/.openclaw/credentials/whatsapp/<accountId>/creds.json - Telegram bot token: config/env or
channels.telegram.tokenFile(regular file only; symlinks rejected) - Discord bot token: config/env or SecretRef (env/file/exec providers)
- Slack tokens: config/env (
channels.slack.*) - Pairing allowlists:
~/.openclaw/credentials/<channel>-allowFrom.json(default account)~/.openclaw/credentials/<channel>-<accountId>-allowFrom.json(non-default accounts)
- Model auth profiles:
~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/agent/auth-profiles.json - File-backed secrets payload (optional):
~/.openclaw/secrets.json - Legacy OAuth import:
~/.openclaw/credentials/oauth.jsonMore detail: Security.
Updating (without wrecking your setup)
- Keep
~/.openclaw/workspaceand~/.openclaw/as "your stuff"; don't put personal prompts/config into theopenclawrepo. - Updating source:
git pull+pnpm install+ keep usingpnpm gateway:watch.
Linux (systemd user service)
Linux installs use a systemd user service. By default, systemd stops user services on logout/idle, which kills the Gateway. Onboarding attempts to enable lingering for you (may prompt for sudo). If it's still off, run:
sudo loginctl enable-linger $USER
For always-on or multi-user servers, consider a system service instead of a user service (no lingering needed). See Gateway runbook for the systemd notes.
Related docs
- Gateway runbook (flags, supervision, ports)
- Gateway configuration (config schema + examples)
- Discord and Telegram (reply tags + replyToMode settings)
- OpenClaw assistant setup
- macOS app (gateway lifecycle)