Debugging

Debugging

This page covers debugging helpers for streaming output, especially when a provider mixes reasoning into normal text.

Runtime debug overrides

Use /debug in chat to set runtime-only config overrides (memory, not disk). /debug is disabled by default; enable with commands.debug: true. This is handy when you need to toggle obscure settings without editing openclaw.json.

Examples:

/debug show
/debug set messages.responsePrefix="[openclaw]"
/debug unset messages.responsePrefix
/debug reset

/debug reset clears all overrides and returns to the on-disk config.

Gateway watch mode

For fast iteration, run the gateway under the file watcher:

pnpm gateway:watch --force

This maps to:

tsx watch src/entry.ts gateway --force

Add any gateway CLI flags after gateway:watch and they will be passed through on each restart.

Dev profile + dev gateway (—dev)

Use the dev profile to isolate state and spin up a safe, disposable setup for debugging. There are two --dev flags:

• Global --dev (profile): isolates state under ~/.openclaw-dev and defaults the gateway port to 19001 (derived ports shift with it).
• gateway --dev: tells the Gateway to auto-create a default config + workspace when missing (and skip BOOTSTRAP.md).

Recommended flow (dev profile + dev bootstrap):

pnpm gateway:dev
OPENCLAW_PROFILE=dev openclaw tui

If you don’t have a global install yet, run the CLI via pnpm openclaw ....

What this does:

1. Profile isolation (global --dev)

   • OPENCLAW_PROFILE=dev
   • OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR=~/.openclaw-dev
   • OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH=~/.openclaw-dev/openclaw.json
   • OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_PORT=19001 (browser/canvas shift accordingly)

2. Dev bootstrap (gateway --dev)

   • Writes a minimal config if missing (gateway.mode=local, bind loopback).
   • Sets agent.workspace to the dev workspace.
   • Sets agent.skipBootstrap=true (no BOOTSTRAP.md).
   • Seeds the workspace files if missing: AGENTS.md, SOUL.md, TOOLS.md, IDENTITY.md, USER.md, HEARTBEAT.md.
   • Default identity: C3‑PO (protocol droid).
   • Skips channel providers in dev mode (OPENCLAW_SKIP_CHANNELS=1).

Reset flow (fresh start):

pnpm gateway:dev:reset

Note: --dev is a global profile flag and gets eaten by some runners. If you need to spell it out, use the env var form:

OPENCLAW_PROFILE=dev openclaw gateway --dev --reset

--reset wipes config, credentials, sessions, and the dev workspace (using trash, not rm), then recreates the default dev setup.

Tip: if a non‑dev gateway is already running (launchd/systemd), stop it first:

openclaw gateway stop

Raw stream logging (OpenClaw)

OpenClaw can log the raw assistant stream before any filtering/formatting. This is the best way to see whether reasoning is arriving as plain text deltas (or as separate thinking blocks).

Enable it via CLI:

pnpm gateway:watch --force --raw-stream

Optional path override:

pnpm gateway:watch --force --raw-stream --raw-stream-path ~/.openclaw/logs/raw-stream.jsonl

Equivalent env vars:

OPENCLAW_RAW_STREAM=1
OPENCLAW_RAW_STREAM_PATH=~/.openclaw/logs/raw-stream.jsonl

Default file:

~/.openclaw/logs/raw-stream.jsonl

Raw chunk logging (pi-mono)

To capture raw OpenAI-compat chunks before they are parsed into blocks, pi-mono exposes a separate logger:

PI_RAW_STREAM=1

Optional path:

PI_RAW_STREAM_PATH=~/.pi-mono/logs/raw-openai-completions.jsonl

Default file:

~/.pi-mono/logs/raw-openai-completions.jsonl

Note: this is only emitted by processes using pi-mono’s openai-completions provider.

Safety notes

• Raw stream logs can include full prompts, tool output, and user data.
• Keep logs local and delete them after debugging.
• If you share logs, scrub secrets and PII first.