OpenClaw Gateway Restart Loop
Stop an OpenClaw Gateway crash or service handoff loop by checking repeated log signatures, port ownership, and duplicate managed services.
The Gateway PID keeps changing, the service repeatedly restarts, or logs repeat the same startup and exit sequence.
A restart loop is different from one stopped service. Capture several consecutive exits so you can see whether the PID, port owner, and fatal line repeat.
Inspect the supervised state
openclaw status --all
openclaw gateway status --deep
openclaw logs --follow
openclaw update status --jsonLook for EADDRINUSE, another Gateway instance, an unfinished update handoff, or the same configuration error on every start.
Check for duplicate roles
After an update, a host can accidentally have overlapping managed processes or a stale service definition. Confirm whether the machine is intended to run a Gateway, a remote node, or both. Do not uninstall a node service if you actively rely on its remote-node capabilities.
Run the supported repair path before hand-editing generated service files:
openclaw doctor --fix
openclaw update repair
openclaw gateway restartThe official deep runbook includes platform-specific checks and, for affected macOS service handoffs, a supported wrapper mechanism. Follow the current runbook rather than editing generated files that an update will overwrite.
Prove stability
Check status several times over a minute. The PID should remain stable and the RPC probe should continue succeeding.
Expected result
One intended Gateway process remains running, gateway status --deep reports working RPC, and logs no longer repeat the startup failure.
Source notes
Technical facts on this page were checked against primary sources.