Gateway: CLI/UI is probing the wrong machine (local vs remote mode mismatch)

Symptoms

• The gateway is running, but openclaw status --deep or the Control UI can’t connect.
• You suspect you’re connecting to one machine, but the CLI is probing a different URL.

Cause

OpenClaw can run in local or remote mode. If you set gateway.mode=remote, your CLI defaults to using gateway.remote.url. Meanwhile your gateway service may still be running locally (or under a different profile/state dir), which creates “it’s running but unreachable” confusion.

Fix

1) Ask OpenClaw what it is actually probing

Run:

openclaw gateway status

Check the printed probe target / URL and confirm it matches where your gateway is running.

2) If you want to use the local gateway

Set the gateway mode back to local (in config), then restart the gateway.

3) If you want to use a remote gateway

Ensure gateway.remote.url is correct and reachable from your machine, and that the remote gateway auth token/password matches what your client uses.

4) Avoid profile/state-dir mismatch

If you run multiple profiles or moved your state directory, ensure both your service and your CLI are using the same profile/state dir. Rewriting the service can help:

openclaw gateway install --force

Verify

• openclaw status --deep succeeds against the expected gateway.
• Opening the Control UI reaches the intended gateway host.