MEGA CHEATSHEET

The most comprehensive reference for OpenClaw operators and developers

v2026.4.1 · Updated Apr 1, 2026 · openclawcheatsheet.com

v2026.4.1 — /tasks board, SearXNG web_search, Bedrock Guardrails, cron --tools allowlists, agents.defaults.params, rate-limit failover.
v2026.3.31 — openclaw flows list|show|cancel, unified SQLite task ledger, QQ Bot channel, Matrix/MCP remote, install fail-closed; breaking: nodes.run → exec host=node.
v2026.3.28 — openclaw config schema, Qwen Model Studio key, xAI Responses + x_search, MiniMax images, plugin approval hooks.

⌨️ Core CLI — Setup & Channels

openclaw gateway

Run WebSocket Gateway server --port --bind --token

openclaw gateway start|stop|restart

Manage Gateway (launchd/systemd)

openclaw channels login

WhatsApp QR pairing (Web flow)

openclaw channels add

Add Telegram/Discord/Slack bot --token

openclaw channels logs

Show channel logs --channel

openclaw channels remove

Remove channel --channel --delete

openclaw channels status --probe

Check channel health

openclaw onboard

Interactive setup wizard --install-daemon

openclaw doctor

Health checks + quick fixes --deep --yes

Config path, edits, validate, print JSON Schema (schema: v2026.3.28+)

⌨️ Core CLI — Models & Memory

openclaw models list|set|status

Model management + auth status

openclaw models auth setup-token

Preferred Anthropic auth flow

openclaw models fallbacks add|remove

Configure fallback chain

openclaw memory status|index|search

Vector search over MEMORY.md + logs

openclaw agents list|add|delete

Multi-agent workspace management

openclaw agents bindings|bind|unbind

Route bindings

⌨️ Core CLI — Status & Tools

openclaw logs --follow

Tail Gateway file logs

openclaw status --all --deep

Full diagnosis (pasteable) --usage

openclaw sessions --json

List stored sessions

openclaw security audit

Audit config for security issues --fix

openclaw browser start|tabs|screenshot

Headless browser automation

openclaw cron list|add|edit|rm|enable|disable|run

Scheduled jobs; add/edit supports --tools allowlists (v2026.4.1) --tools

openclaw flows list|show|cancel

Linear task flows (unified ledger; v2026.3.31)

openclaw pairing list|approve

Approve DM pairing requests

openclaw reset --scope

Reset config/creds/sessions/full

Global Flags

--dev

Isolate state under ~/.openclaw-dev

--profile <name>

Isolate under ~/.openclaw-<name>

--no-color

Disable ANSI colors (NO_COLOR=1)

-V, --version

Print version and exit

🛠️ Power Commands

Manage plugin lifecycle

Skills (v2026.3.22+: search|install|update)

openclaw approvals get|set|allowlist

Exec approval policy

openclaw sandbox list|recreate|explain

Inspect/rebuild sandbox

openclaw system event --text "X"

Queue system event

openclaw system heartbeat enable|disable|last

Control heartbeat

openclaw update status|wizard

Manage release channel

openclaw backup create|verify

Local state archive --only-config --no-include-workspace

openclaw health --json --verbose

Direct gateway health probe

openclaw dashboard

Open Control UI

openclaw tui --url --token

Remote-safe terminal UI

🚀 Quick Start & Install

Global Install

npm install -g openclaw@latest

Onboarding

1 openclaw onboard --install-daemon — Guided setup

2 openclaw channels login — Channel link

3 openclaw gateway --port 18789 — Start gateway

One-liner

curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash

💬 Channel Setup

WhatsAppQR Scanopenclaw channels login

TelegramBot Tokenchannels add --channel telegram --token $TOKEN

DiscordBot Tokenchannels add --channel discord --token $TOKEN

SlackBot Tokenchannels add --channel slack

Google ChatService Accountchannels add --channel googlechat

WebChatBuilt-inlocalhost:18789

Status: openclaw channels status --probe. Discord: autoArchiveDuration (60|1440|4320|10080) for thread archiving.

📁 Workspace Files

Root: ~/.openclaw/workspace

AGENTS.mdOperating instructions for the agent

SOUL.mdPersona, tone, boundaries

USER.mdUser info & preferences

IDENTITY.mdAgent name, emoji, theme

MEMORY.mdLong-term memory (DM only)

memory/YYYY-MM-DD.mdDaily append-only log

TOOLS.mdLocal tool notes

HEARTBEAT.mdHeartbeat checklist

BOOT.mdStartup checklist

🧠 Memory System

Daily Logs memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md — today + yesterday

Long-Term MEMORY.md — curated, DM only

Vector Search — ~400 token chunks

Providers — local GGUF → OpenAI → Gemini (incl. gemini-embedding-2-preview) → Ollama → Voyage

openclaw memory index --all

Reindex

openclaw memory search "X"

Query

🤖 Models & Auth

openclaw models list --all

View available models

openclaw models set <model>

Set agents.defaults.model.primary

openclaw models auth setup-token

Preferred Anthropic auth

openclaw models auth add --provider <p>

Add provider API key

openclaw models status --probe

Live probe auth

Probe consumes tokens — use status --deep for diagnostics

🔐 Sessions

session.dmScope — main | per-peer | per-channel-peer | per-account-channel-peer

session.reset.mode — daily (4am) | idle

session.reset.idleMinutes — Sliding idle window

session.store — ~/.openclaw/agents/<id>/sessions/

SECURITY: Use per-channel-peer for multi-user inboxes to prevent context leakage.

⚡ Slash Commands

/status

Session health + context; provider usage

/tasks

Background task board for session (v2026.4.1)

/help, /commands

Common commands

/context list|detail|json

Context window contents

/model [id]|list|status

Switch model

/usage off|tokens|full|cost

Per-response footer

/fast

Toggle fast mode (Anthropic/OpenAI) v2026.3.12

/compact [instr]

Summarize context, free tokens

/new [model]

Fresh session (alias: /reset)

/stop

Abort run + clear queue

/send on|off|inherit

Override delivery

/tts on|off|always|inbound

Text-to-speech

/think [level]

/reasoning, /elevated

Reasoning level; exec approval

/whoami

Sender identity (/id)

/subagents spawn|list|kill|steer

Sub-agent control

/export-session

Export session to HTML

/approve allow-once|deny

Exec + plugin approvals (v2026.3.28+)

/check-updates

Quick update summary

🔊 Text-to-Speech

Provider	Quality	Cost
ElevenLabs	Ultra-realistic	Premium
OpenAI TTS	Fast, high-quality	Standard
Edge TTS	Multi-language	Free
Mistral Voice	Provider support	Standard

Auto-TTS: messages.tts.auto: "always"

📊 Logging & Diagnostics

openclaw logs --follow

Tail Gateway logs

openclaw logs --json --limit 200

Line-delimited JSON

openclaw status --all --deep

Full diagnosis --usage

openclaw doctor --deep --yes

Health check + auto-fix

openclaw channels logs --channel [id]

Channel-specific logs

🌐 Browser & Cron

Browser

openclaw browser start|stop|tabs

Headless instance

openclaw browser open <url>

Open URL

openclaw browser screenshot

Capture view

openclaw browser pdf

Export page as PDF

Cron

openclaw cron list|add|edit|rm|enable|disable|run

Scheduled jobs; use --tools on add|edit for allowlists (v2026.4.1). See also openclaw flows. --tools

{ "name": "Brief", "schedule": { "kind": "cron", "expr": "0 8 * * *" }, "sessionTarget": "isolated" }

v2026.3.11: Isolated cron no longer notifies via ad hoc agent sends. Run openclaw doctor --fix to migrate legacy cron.

🔗 Hooks & Automation

session-memory command:new — Save context on /new

boot-md gateway:startup — Run BOOT.md on start

openclaw hooks list|enable|disable

Manage hooks

🧩 Skills

Precedence

1 workspace/skills/ (highest) · 2 ~/.openclaw/skills/ · 3 Bundled

Bundled + managed (v2026.3.22+: search|install|update)

clawhub install <slug>

ClawHub

clawhub update --all

Update installed skills

---
name: my-skill
description: "What it does"
metadata: { "openclaw": { "requires": {...} } }
---

👥 Multi-Agent Routing

Precedence: peer → guildId → teamId → accountId → channel → default

openclaw agents add <name>

Add agent

openclaw agents list --bindings

View bindings

💓 Heartbeat

heartbeat.every — 30m default (1h OAuth)

heartbeat.target — last | none | <id>

heartbeat.model — Override for heartbeat

heartbeat.activeHours — Time window

Reply HEARTBEAT_OK if nothing needs attention. Agent strips OK-only.

🔐 Sandboxing

sandbox.mode — off | non-main (default) | all

sandbox.scope — session | agent | shared

workspaceAccess — none | ro | rw

🎯 Sub-Agents

Run research without blocking. Own session + optional sandbox. Auto-announce results.

/subagents spawn

Spawn sub-agent from chat

/subagents list|kill|steer|send

Control sub-agents

🔧 Troubleshooting

No DM Reply openclaw pairing list → approve

Context Full /compact or /new

Channel Down openclaw channels status --probe

Auth Expired openclaw models auth setup-token --provider anthropic

Auth/Pairing Fails (v2026.3.7+) gateway.auth.mode: token|password

Cron Notify Broken (v2026.3.11) openclaw doctor --fix

Workspace Plugins Not Loading (v2026.3.12) Auto-load disabled — explicit trust required

Memory Not Indexing openclaw memory index

Config Invalid openclaw config validate

Universal Fix: openclaw doctor --deep --yes

📂 Key Paths

~/.openclaw/openclaw.json — Main config

~/.openclaw/workspace/ — Agent workspace

~/.openclaw/agents/<id>/sessions/ — Session store

~/.openclaw/credentials/ — OAuth/API keys

~/.openclaw/memory/<id>.sqlite — Vector index

/tmp/openclaw/openclaw-YYYY-MM-DD.log — Gateway log

Use --dev or --profile for isolated state

Scan to open online

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