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In Gateway-owned pairing, the Gateway is the source of truth for which nodes may join. UIs (macOS app, future clients) are just frontends that approve or reject pending requests. Important: WS nodes use device pairing (role node) during connect. node.pair.* is a separate, legacy pairing store and does not gate the WS handshake. Only clients that explicitly call node.pair.* use this flow.

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Concepts

  • Pending request: a node asked to join; requires approval.
  • Paired node: approved node with an issued auth token.
  • Transport: the Gateway WS endpoint forwards requests but does not decide membership. Legacy TCP bridge support has been removed.

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How pairing works

  1. A node connects to the Gateway WS and requests pairing.
  2. The Gateway stores a pending request and emits node.pair.requested.
  3. You approve or reject the request (CLI or UI).
  4. On approval, the Gateway issues a new token (tokens rotate on re-pair).
  5. The node reconnects using the token and is now paired.
Pending requests expire automatically 5 minutes after the node’s last retry — an actively reconnecting node keeps its one pending request alive rather than generating a fresh request (and approval prompt) per attempt.

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CLI workflow (headless friendly)

openclaw nodes pending
openclaw nodes approve <requestId>
openclaw nodes reject <requestId>
openclaw nodes status
openclaw nodes remove --node <id|name|ip>
openclaw nodes rename --node <id|name|ip> --name "Living Room iPad"
nodes status shows paired/connected nodes and their capabilities.

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API surface (gateway protocol)

Events:
  • node.pair.requested - emitted when a new pending request is created.
  • node.pair.resolved - emitted when a request is approved, rejected, or expired.
Methods:
  • node.pair.request - create or reuse a pending request.
  • node.pair.list - list pending and paired nodes (operator.pairing).
  • node.pair.approve - approve a pending request (issues a token).
  • node.pair.reject - reject a pending request.
  • node.pair.remove - remove a paired node. For a device-backed pairing, this revokes the device’s node role: it mutates devices/paired.json and invalidates/disconnects that device’s node-role sessions. A mixed-role device (for example one that also holds operator) keeps its row and only loses the node role; a node-only device row is deleted. It also clears any matching legacy gateway-owned node pairing entry. Authz: operator.pairing may remove non-operator node rows; a device-token caller revoking its own node role on a mixed-role device additionally needs operator.admin.
  • node.pair.verify - verify { nodeId, token }.
Notes:
  • node.pair.request is idempotent per node: repeated calls return the same pending request.
  • Repeated requests for the same pending node refresh the stored node metadata and the latest allowlisted declared command snapshot for operator visibility.
  • Approval always generates a fresh token; node.pair.request never returns a token.
  • Operator scope levels and approval-time checks are summarized in Operator scopes.
  • Requests may include silent: true as a hint for auto-approval flows.
  • node.pair.approve uses the pending request’s declared commands to enforce extra approval scopes:
    • commandless request: operator.pairing
    • non-exec command request: operator.pairing + operator.write
    • system.run / system.run.prepare / system.which request: operator.pairing + operator.admin
Node pairing is a trust and identity flow plus token issuance. It does not pin the live node command surface per node.
  • Live node commands come from what the node declares on connect, filtered by the gateway’s global node command policy (gateway.nodes.allowCommands and denyCommands).
  • Per-node system.run allow and ask policy lives on the node in exec.approvals.node.*, not in the pairing record.

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Node command gating (2026.3.31+)

Breaking change: starting with 2026.3.31, node commands are disabled until node pairing is approved. Device pairing alone is no longer enough to expose declared node commands.
When a node connects for the first time, pairing is requested automatically. Until that request is approved, all pending node commands from that node are filtered and will not execute. Once pairing is approved, the node’s declared commands become available, subject to the normal command policy. This means:
  • Nodes that previously relied on device pairing alone to expose commands must now also complete node pairing.
  • Commands queued before pairing approval are dropped, not deferred.

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Node event trust boundaries (2026.3.31+)

Breaking change: node-originated runs now stay on a reduced trusted surface.
Node-originated summaries and related session events are restricted to the intended trusted surface. Notification-driven or node-triggered flows that previously relied on broader host or session tool access may need adjustment. This hardening keeps node events from escalating into host-level tool access beyond what the node’s trust boundary permits. Durable node presence updates follow the same identity boundary: the node.presence.alive event is accepted only from authenticated node device sessions, and updates pairing metadata only when the device/node identity is already paired. A self-declared client.id value is not enough to write last-seen state.

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Auto-approval (macOS app)

The macOS app can attempt a silent approval when:
  • the request is marked silent, and
  • the app can verify an SSH connection to the gateway host using the same user.
If silent approval fails, it falls back to the normal Approve/Reject prompt.

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Trusted-CIDR device auto-approval

WS device pairing for role: node stays manual by default. For private node networks where the Gateway already trusts the network path, operators can opt in with explicit CIDRs or exact IPs: 
{
  gateway: {
    nodes: {
      pairing: {
        autoApproveCidrs: ["192.168.1.0/24"],
      },
    },
  },
}
Security boundary:
  • Disabled when gateway.nodes.pairing.autoApproveCidrs is unset.
  • No blanket LAN or private-network auto-approve mode exists.
  • Only a fresh role: node device pairing request with no requested scopes is eligible.
  • Operator, browser, Control UI, and WebChat clients stay manual.
  • Role, scope, metadata, and public-key upgrades stay manual.
  • Same-host loopback trusted-proxy header paths are not eligible, because that path can be spoofed by local callers.

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Metadata-upgrade auto-approval

When an already-paired device reconnects with only non-sensitive metadata changes (for example display name or client platform hints), OpenClaw treats that as a metadata-upgrade. Silent auto-approval is narrow: it applies only to trusted non-browser local reconnects that already proved possession of local or shared credentials, including same-host native app reconnects after OS version metadata changes. Browser/Control UI clients and remote clients still use the explicit re-approval flow. Scope upgrades (read to write/admin) and public key changes are not eligible for metadata-upgrade auto-approval; they stay explicit re-approval requests.

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QR pairing helpers

/pair qr renders the pairing payload as structured media so mobile and browser clients can scan it directly. Deleting a device also sweeps any stale pending pairing requests for that device id, so nodes pending does not show orphaned rows after a revoke.

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Locality and forwarded headers

Gateway pairing treats a connection as loopback only when both the raw socket and any upstream proxy evidence agree. If a request arrives on loopback but carries Forwarded, any X-Forwarded-*, or X-Real-IP header evidence, that forwarded-header evidence disqualifies the loopback locality claim, and the pairing path requires explicit approval instead of silently treating the request as a same-host connect. See Trusted Proxy Auth for the equivalent rule on operator auth.

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Storage (local, private)

Pairing state is stored under the Gateway state directory (default ~/.openclaw):
  • ~/.openclaw/nodes/paired.json
  • ~/.openclaw/nodes/pending.json
If you override OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR, the nodes/ folder moves with it. Security notes:
  • Tokens are secrets; treat paired.json as sensitive.
  • Rotating a token requires re-approval (or deleting the node entry).

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Transport behavior

  • The transport is stateless; it does not store membership.
  • If the Gateway is offline or pairing is disabled, nodes cannot pair.
  • In remote mode, pairing happens against the remote Gateway’s store.