solution channel high macos linux windows whatsapp

WhatsApp: 'No active WhatsApp Web listener' when sending messages

Fix outbound WhatsApp send failures by ensuring the gateway process is running and owns the WhatsApp Web socket (restart, re-link, and check runtime).

By CoClaw Team •

Symptoms

  • Sending a message fails with: Error: No active WhatsApp Web listener
  • openclaw channels login reports success, but WhatsApp still doesn’t work.
  • QR login may hang with “Timed out waiting for WhatsApp QR”.

Cause

WhatsApp in OpenClaw requires an active gateway process holding a live WhatsApp Web socket. If the gateway is stopped, crashed, or the WhatsApp socket failed to start, outbound sends fail fast.

Common causes:

  • The gateway is not running (or restarted and never reconnected).
  • WhatsApp credentials are logged out/corrupted.
  • Unsupported runtime (WhatsApp requires Node; Bun is unsupported).

Fix

1) Confirm the gateway is running

On the gateway host:

openclaw gateway status
openclaw channels status --probe

2) Restart the gateway (often enough)

openclaw gateway restart

Then re-check:

openclaw channels status --probe
openclaw channels logout
openclaw channels login

4) Ensure the gateway uses Node (not Bun)

If you previously installed/runs the gateway with Bun, run:

openclaw doctor

Then restart the gateway.

Verify

  • openclaw channels status --probe shows WhatsApp linked and active.
  • Outbound sends succeed (no listener error).

Verification & references

  • Reviewed by:CoClaw Code Team
  • Last reviewed:March 14, 2026
  • Verified on: macOS · Linux · Windows

References

Official docs

  1. OpenClaw docs: /channels/whatsapp

Issue threads

  1. OpenClaw GitHub issue #7833
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