solution gateway high windows

Windows: tools.exec cannot find docker, rg, or gh even though they work in PowerShell

Fix native Windows cases where the Scheduled Task gateway uses a different PATH than your interactive shell, so tools.exec cannot resolve installed CLI tools.

By CoClaw Team • March 8, 2026

Symptoms

In PowerShell, where docker, where rg, or where gh succeeds.
But inside OpenClaw tools.exec, those commands behave like they are missing.
Plugin runtime setup may fail with follow-on errors like:
- npm is required to install plugin-local ... but was not found on PATH
The problem appears only when the gateway runs as a Windows Scheduled Task.

Cause

On native Windows, the gateway service does not necessarily see the same PATH as your interactive shell.

The built-in daemon path launches through a generated wrapper such as:

%USERPROFILE%\.openclaw\gateway.cmd

So you can end up debugging a service-environment PATH mismatch, not a missing installation of docker, rg, gh, or npm.

Fix

1) Reinstall the gateway from the same shell where the commands already work

In the exact shell where these succeed:

where docker
where rg
where gh

reinstall the gateway:

openclaw gateway stop
openclaw gateway uninstall
openclaw gateway install --force --runtime node --port 18789

2) Inspect `gateway.cmd`, but do not treat it as durable configuration

Open:

%USERPROFILE%\.openclaw\gateway.cmd

Use it to confirm what PATH and command the Scheduled Task will actually run.

Important: this file is useful for diagnosis, but updates and reinstalls can regenerate it. Do not rely on hand-edited lines there as your long-term fix.

3) If exec really runs on the gateway, use `tools.exec.pathPrepend` carefully

For gateway-host exec, this can be the right fix:

{
  tools: {
    exec: {
      pathPrepend: [
        "C:\\Program Files\\Docker\\Docker\\resources\\bin",
        "C:\\Users\\<you>\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\WinGet\\Links"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Then restart the gateway:

openclaw gateway restart

4) If enabling `pathPrepend` makes PATH worse, remove it immediately

Some Windows issue reports have shown tools.exec.pathPrepend behaving badly enough to effectively break PATH resolution.

If even powershell or where.exe disappears inside exec after enabling it:

remove tools.exec.pathPrepend from config,
restart the gateway,
fall back to full executable paths,
or run the gateway in the foreground while debugging.

5) Use foreground gateway as the clean control test

openclaw gateway run --port 18789

If the commands work in foreground mode but fail under Scheduled Task, you have confirmed this is a Windows service-environment problem.

Verify

In the same PowerShell used for install, where docker, where rg, or where gh succeeds.
tools.exec can run the same command in a fresh session.
If you used foreground gateway run, the command also works there.

Symptoms

Cause

Fix

1) Reinstall the gateway from the same shell where the commands already work

2) Inspect gateway.cmd, but do not treat it as durable configuration

3) If exec really runs on the gateway, use tools.exec.pathPrepend carefully

4) If enabling pathPrepend makes PATH worse, remove it immediately

5) Use foreground gateway as the clean control test

Verify

Related

Related Resources

2) Inspect `gateway.cmd`, but do not treat it as durable configuration

3) If exec really runs on the gateway, use `tools.exec.pathPrepend` carefully

4) If enabling `pathPrepend` makes PATH worse, remove it immediately