Config hot reload
The Gateway watches~/.openclaw/openclaw.json and applies changes automatically - no manual restart needed for most settings.
Direct file edits are treated as untrusted until they validate. The watcher waits
for editor temp-write/rename churn to settle, reads the final file, and rejects
invalid external edits without rewriting openclaw.json. OpenClaw-owned config
writes use the same schema gate before writing (see Strict validation
for the clobber/rollback rules that apply to every write).
If you see config reload skipped (invalid config) or startup reports Invalid config, inspect the config, run openclaw config validate, then run openclaw doctor --fix for repair. See Gateway troubleshooting
for the checklist.
A live change that selects a workspace with retired setup state is also rejected,
with an openclaw doctor --fix hint. The Gateway keeps its last-good runtime.
Gateway-managed writes, including config.set, reject the candidate before
persistence; hand edits and writes from a separate CLI process can remain on disk
even though the watcher refuses to activate them. Stop the Gateway and, if the
write was rejected before persistence, save the intended workspace path while
it is stopped. Then run openclaw doctor --fix and restart.
Reload never migrates workspace state.
Reload modes
hot and restart modes are retired; openclaw doctor --fix maps both to hybrid. Reload debounce is no longer configurable and runs behind a built-in default.
What hot-applies vs what needs a restart
Reload planning classifies each changed path as one of three outcomes:- Gateway restart (
restart): restart the Gateway process. - Hot reload (
hot): apply the change while keeping the Gateway process running. This can include restarting the owning subsystem, such as a channel, cron, or heartbeat. - No reload action (
none): update the runtime config snapshot without scheduling a reload action for that path. Consumers that read the current config can observe the new value on a later read.
hybrid mode, Gateway restarts happen automatically when required. The longest
matching config prefix determines the outcome. Rules supplied by a plugin apply
only while that plugin is loaded; a path that matches no rule defaults to a
Gateway restart.
By default, changing agents.defaults.mediaMaxMb restarts channel runtimes so their inherited
attachment limits take effect together. Automatic reloads preserve manually
stopped accounts; use an explicit channel start to resume those accounts.
Model runtime selection keeps your authored settings separate from catalog defaults.
Hot reload and secrets reload preserve that distinction: catalog compatibility
metadata does not become a custom request override that switches a native runtime
back to OpenClaw.
Channel plugins declare which settings restart their channel
(
reload.configPrefixes) and which need no reload action (reload.noopPrefixes).
For example, with WhatsApp loaded, channels.whatsapp.enabled restarts the
WhatsApp channel, while channels.whatsapp.replyToMode matches its broader
no-action prefix.
Changes to channels.defaults, channels.modelByChannel, commands,
accessGroups, tts, surfaces, acp.stream, and diagnostics.flags refresh
loaded channel runtimes that capture those policies. Manually stopped accounts
stay stopped, and the Gateway keeps running.
Inbound debounce settings apply at the
next inbound admission without reconnecting supported channels.
messages.ackReactionScope applies to subsequent turns without reconnecting
Discord, Matrix, Signal, Slack, Telegram, or WhatsApp. Other channel plugins
refresh unless they declare that they read the policy live. Per-channel and
per-account overrides still take precedence; admitted turns retain their policy.
diagnostics.enabled updates diagnostic dispatch and heartbeat ownership live.
With diagnostics-otel loaded, diagnostics.otel restarts only its exporter service,
flushing the old generation before starting the new one. Externally preloaded
OpenTelemetry providers retain their transport and shutdown ownership.
Operation settings apply at their next use; they do not restart in-flight runs
or recreate provisioned workers. Approval expiry changes affect newly issued
grants. Attachment retention changes apply on the next cleanup sweep, including
files already older than the new limit.
Update and telemetry settings apply at the next scheduled check. A pending
automatic-update countdown rechecks enablement and channel selection before
starting; an update already applying keeps its admitted target. Changing these
settings does not force an update. Telemetry consent is read again before the
next update-check request.
Internal-hook changes prepare a complete replacement before publishing it. A
load failure keeps the previous handlers; events already running finish with
their original handlers. Workspace changes reload directory hooks from the
newly selected workspace. Reload does not replay gateway:startup.
Under gateway.controlUi, the enabled, environment, github,
sessionObserver, embedSandbox, allowExternalEmbedUrls, and
automaticallyFetchFavicons settings hot-apply. Reload open Control UI pages to
pick up the environment label, CLI agent picker, embed preferences, and favicon
display preference; the Gateway process keeps running. allowedOrigins and
dangerouslyAllowHostHeaderOriginFallback also hot-apply: pending handshakes
recheck the new policy, and browser connections it no longer allows close.
Disabling the Control UI stops serving dashboard pages and assets and cancels
pending asset preparation. Existing Gateway connections and agent runs continue.
Re-enabling prepares missing dashboard assets in the background; requests return
503 until they are ready. Control UI serving paths still require a Gateway restart.
Node command policy updates connected nodes immediately. Disabling node-published
tools or skills withdraws them; re-enabling restores the last publication within
the node’s existing pairing approval. Reload never grants an unapproved command.
Revoking a command cancels its active invocations and rejects later input and
results. Revoking desktop streaming also closes its observer transports. Browser
node routing applies to subsequent operations. Node pairing policy
(gateway.nodes.pairing) also hot-applies: pending automatic approvals recheck
the current policy before granting access, including after SSH probes. Existing
paired devices remain paired. Terminal shell changes apply to newly opened
terminals; active terminals keep their original shell. Detached-session timeout
changes recalculate deadlines from each terminal’s original disconnect time.
Already-expired sessions close immediately; attached terminals keep running.
Terminal enablement also hot-applies. Disabling terminals closes attached,
detached, and conversation-owned sessions and cancels pending opens. Re-enabling
allows fresh sessions; closed sessions do not return. Reload open Control UI
pages to pick up the terminal’s content security policy.
An unrelated deferred restart does not delay a committed terminal enable or shell
change. A pending restart can still keep earlier terminal or sandbox restrictions
in force until that restart completes or its rejected changes are reverted.
Browser default-profile changes apply on the next request. Launch-setting
changes replace affected managed browser processes when next used; externally
attached browsers stay running. Browser enablement, evaluation, SSRF policy,
and extension relay remain restart-owned. Snapshot defaults apply to the next
snapshot, and tab-cleanup settings apply on the next sweep.
Authentication rate-limit changes retain recorded failures, earned lockout
deadlines, and pending loopback delays. New limits and loopback exemptions apply
to subsequent attempts; tightening the attempt limit can lock a client based on
its retained failures. Removing gateway.auth.rateLimit restores the defaults.
Browser-origin and node-reapproval budgets remain nonexempt.
Discovery mode changes replace the current advertisements without interrupting
Gateway connections. Switching from full to minimal removes extra TXT hints
from LAN advertisements and any configured wide-area DNS-SD zone. off stops
LAN advertisements while configured wide-area discovery remains enabled. The
Bonjour plugin must already be enabled, and environment overrides still apply.
The Gateway accepts its configured secret whether the client sends it as a token or a password; gateway.auth.mode still decides which config value is the secret.
Local onboarding generates a Gateway secret by default (gateway.auth.mode: "token")
without asking you to choose an auth mechanism. Existing password-mode configs
are preserved. To choose your own password explicitly, use
openclaw onboard --gateway-password <value> or --gateway-auth password.
Remote onboarding asks for one Gateway secret and stores it as gateway.remote.token.
See Onboard for storage choices and connecting without a shared secret.
Token and password rotation hot-applies only when the effective auth mode stays
the same. Existing clients using the old shared credential must reconnect with
the new credential; independently paired device-token clients remain connected.
Browser device tokens derived from the old shared credential are revoked too.
For SecretRef credentials, set gateway.auth.mode explicitly to make rotation
eligible for hot reload. Auth-mode changes still restart the Gateway.
Changing
gateway.reload or gateway.remote also does not trigger a restart.hybrid schedules that restart, while off leaves it to you.
Changing an agent’s workspace also does not discover plugins in the new
directory until restart. See Plugin metadata snapshots.
During channel or plugin hot reload, Gateway-hosted channel webhook routes return
503 with Retry-After: 1 until replacement ingress registers. Senders must honor
retry responses; this does not acknowledge delivery. Disabled or removed accounts,
manual stops, and cancelled replacement lifetimes release those temporary routes.
When replacement ingress reports ready, old paths it did not reclaim are removed.
Reload planning
When you edit a source file that is referenced through$include, OpenClaw plans
the reload from the source-authored layout, not the flattened in-memory view.
That keeps hot-reload decisions (hot-apply vs restart) predictable even when a
single top-level section lives in its own included file such as
plugins: { $include: "./plugins.json5" }. Reload planning fails closed if the
source layout is ambiguous.