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OpenClaw has two related but distinct discovery problems:
  1. Operator remote control: the macOS menu bar app controlling a gateway running elsewhere.
  2. Node pairing: iOS/Android (and future nodes) finding a gateway and pairing securely.
All network discovery/advertising lives in the Node Gateway (openclaw gateway); clients (mac app, iOS) are consumers only.

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Terms

  • Gateway: a single long-running process that owns state (sessions, pairing, node registry) and runs channels. Most setups use one per host; isolated multi-gateway setups are possible.
  • Gateway WS (control plane): the WebSocket endpoint on 127.0.0.1:18789 by default; bind it to LAN/tailnet via gateway.bind.
  • Direct WS transport: a LAN/tailnet-facing Gateway WS endpoint (no SSH).
  • SSH transport (fallback): remote control by forwarding 127.0.0.1:18789 over SSH.
  • Legacy TCP bridge (removed): older node transport (see Bridge protocol); no longer advertised for discovery and no longer part of current builds.
Protocol details: Gateway protocol, Bridge protocol (legacy).

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Why direct and SSH both exist

  • Direct WS is the best UX on the same network and within a tailnet: LAN auto-discovery via Bonjour, pairing tokens and ACLs owned by the gateway, and no shell access required.
  • SSH is the universal fallback: works anywhere you have SSH access, even across unrelated networks, survives multicast/mDNS issues, and needs no new inbound port besides SSH.

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Discovery inputs

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1) Bonjour / DNS-SD

Multicast Bonjour is best-effort and does not cross networks. OpenClaw also supports browsing the same gateway beacon via a configured wide-area DNS-SD domain, so discovery can cover both local. on the same LAN and a configured unicast DNS-SD domain for cross-network discovery. The gateway advertises its WS endpoint via Bonjour when the bundled bonjour plugin is enabled; clients browse and show a “pick a gateway” list, then store the chosen endpoint. Troubleshooting and beacon details: Bonjour.

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Service beacon details

  • Service type: _openclaw-gw._tcp (gateway transport beacon).
  • TXT keys (non-secret):
    KeyNotes
    role=gatewayAlways present.
    transport=gatewayAlways present.
    displayName=<name>Operator-configured display name.
    lanHost=<hostname>.localLAN mDNS advertiser only; not written by wide-area DNS-SD.
    gatewayPort=18789Gateway WS + HTTP port.
    gatewayTls=1Only when TLS is enabled.
    gatewayTlsSha256=<sha256>Only when TLS is enabled and a fingerprint is available.
    tailnetDns=<magicdns>Optional hint; auto-detected when Tailscale is available.
    sshPort=<port>Present only when discovery.mdns.mode="full"; omitted (SSH defaults to 22) in the default "minimal" mode, on both the LAN advertiser and wide-area DNS-SD.
    cliPath=<path>Same discovery.mdns.mode="full" gate as sshPort; a remote-install hint for the CLI path.
    A canvasPort TXT key is defined in the plugin discovery contract for a future canvas host port, but no current code path sets a value, so it is never emitted today.
Security notes:
  • Bonjour/mDNS TXT records are unauthenticated. Clients must treat TXT values as UX hints only.
  • Routing (host/port) should prefer the resolved service endpoint (SRV + A/AAAA) over TXT-provided lanHost, tailnetDns, or gatewayPort.
  • TLS pinning must never let an advertised gatewayTlsSha256 override a previously stored pin.
  • iOS/Android nodes should require an explicit “trust this fingerprint” confirmation before storing a first-time pin (out-of-band verification) whenever the chosen route is secure/TLS-based.
Enable, disable, and override:
  • openclaw plugins enable bonjour enables LAN multicast advertising.
  • discovery.mdns.mode in openclaw.json controls mDNS broadcast: "minimal" (default), "full" (adds cliPath/sshPort to both the LAN beacon and any wide-area DNS-SD zone), or "off" (disables mDNS).
  • OPENCLAW_DISABLE_BONJOUR=1 force-disables advertising; discovery.mdns.mode="off" disables it independently. OPENCLAW_DISABLE_BONJOUR=0 is an explicit opt-in that overrides the plugin’s auto-disable inside a detected container (Docker, containerd, Kubernetes, LXC); it does not override discovery.mdns.mode="off". The bundled bonjour plugin auto-starts on macOS hosts (enabledByDefaultOnPlatforms: ["darwin"]) and auto-disables inside detected containers; Linux, Windows, and other containerized deployments need explicit plugins enable bonjour.
  • gateway.bind in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json controls the Gateway bind mode.
  • OPENCLAW_SSH_PORT overrides the advertised SSH port (only takes effect when discovery.mdns.mode="full").
  • OPENCLAW_TAILNET_DNS publishes a tailnetDns hint (MagicDNS).
  • OPENCLAW_CLI_PATH overrides the advertised CLI path.

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2) Tailnet (cross-network)

For gateways on different physical networks, Bonjour will not help. The recommended direct target is a Tailscale MagicDNS name (preferred) or a stable tailnet IP. If the gateway detects it is running under Tailscale, it publishes tailnetDns as an optional hint for clients (including wide-area beacons). The macOS app prefers MagicDNS names over raw Tailscale IPs for gateway discovery, which stays reliable when tailnet IPs change (node restarts, CGNAT reassignment) since MagicDNS resolves to the current IP automatically. For mobile node pairing, discovery hints never relax transport security on tailnet/public routes:
  • iOS/Android still require a secure first-time tailnet/public connect path (wss:// or Tailscale Serve/Funnel).
  • A discovered raw tailnet IP is a routing hint, not permission to use plaintext remote ws://.
  • Private LAN direct-connect ws:// remains supported.
  • For the simplest Tailscale path on mobile nodes, use Tailscale Serve so discovery and setup both resolve to the same secure MagicDNS endpoint.

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3) Manual / SSH target

When there is no direct route (or direct is disabled), clients can always connect via SSH by forwarding the loopback gateway port. See Remote access.

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Transport selection (client policy)

  1. If a paired direct endpoint is configured and reachable, use it.
  2. Else, if discovery finds a gateway on local. or the configured wide-area domain, offer a one-tap “Use this gateway” choice and save it as the direct endpoint.
  3. Else, if a tailnet DNS/IP is configured, try direct. For mobile nodes on tailnet/public routes, direct means a secure endpoint, not plaintext remote ws://.
  4. Else, fall back to SSH.

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Pairing and auth (direct transport)

The gateway is the source of truth for node/client admission:
  • Pairing requests are created/approved/rejected in the gateway (see Gateway pairing).
  • The gateway enforces auth (token/keypair), scopes/ACLs (it is not a raw proxy to every method), and rate limits.

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Responsibilities by component

  • Gateway: advertises discovery beacons, owns pairing decisions, hosts the WS endpoint.
  • macOS app: helps you pick a gateway, shows pairing prompts, uses SSH only as a fallback.
  • iOS/Android nodes: browse Bonjour as a convenience, connect to the paired Gateway WS.