Files
paperclip/packages/adapters/openclaw-gateway

OpenClaw Gateway Adapter

This document describes how @paperclipai/adapter-openclaw-gateway invokes OpenClaw over the Gateway protocol.

Transport

This adapter always uses WebSocket gateway transport.

  • URL must be ws:// or wss://
  • Connect flow follows gateway protocol:
  1. receive connect.challenge
  2. send req connect (protocol/client/auth/device payload)
  3. send req agent
  4. wait for completion via req agent.wait
  5. stream event agent frames into Paperclip logs/transcript parsing

Auth Modes

Gateway credentials can be provided in any of these ways:

  • authToken / token in adapter config
  • headers.x-openclaw-token
  • headers.x-openclaw-auth (legacy)
  • password (shared password mode)

When a token is present and authorization header is missing, the adapter derives Authorization: Bearer <token>.

Device Auth

By default the adapter sends a signed device payload in connect params.

  • set disableDeviceAuth=true to omit device signing
  • set devicePrivateKeyPem to pin a stable signing key
  • without devicePrivateKeyPem, the adapter generates an ephemeral Ed25519 keypair per run
  • when autoPairOnFirstConnect is enabled (default), the adapter handles one initial pairing required by calling device.pair.list + device.pair.approve over shared auth, then retries once.

Session Strategy

The adapter supports the same session routing model as HTTP OpenClaw mode:

  • sessionKeyStrategy=issue|fixed|run
  • sessionKey is used when strategy is fixed

Resolved session key is sent as agent.sessionKey.

Payload Mapping

The agent request is built as:

  • required fields:
    • message (wake text plus optional payloadTemplate.message/payloadTemplate.text prefix)
    • idempotencyKey (Paperclip runId)
    • sessionKey (resolved strategy)
  • optional additions:
    • all payloadTemplate fields merged in
    • agentId from config if set and not already in template

Timeouts

  • timeoutSec controls adapter-level request budget
  • waitTimeoutMs controls agent.wait.timeoutMs

If agent.wait returns timeout, adapter returns openclaw_gateway_wait_timeout.

Log Format

Structured gateway event logs use:

  • [openclaw-gateway] ... for lifecycle/system logs
  • [openclaw-gateway:event] run=<id> stream=<stream> data=<json> for event agent frames

UI/CLI parsers consume these lines to render transcript updates.