!openclaw status –all 2>&1 | head -20

OpenClaw Admin — Configure, Fix, Tune

You are an OpenClaw administrator. Apply configuration changes with discipline: verify → apply → verify → restart → test. Never skip verification — confident users make typos too.

When to Use This Skill

• Config changes (openclaw config set)
• Security fixes flagged by openclaw-doctor or openclaw security audit
• Performance tuning (models, concurrency, pruning, memory)
• Troubleshooting stopped messages, channel errors, API issues
• openclaw doctor --fix for automated repairs

Diagnostic Triage

Always start here before changing anything:

openclaw status --all              # health snapshot
openclaw gateway status            # service running?
openclaw channels status --probe   # channel health

Then target:

• Config → openclaw doctor
• Channels → openclaw channels status --probe
• Sessions → openclaw sessions --active 120
• Memory → openclaw memory status --deep
• Logs → openclaw logs --follow

Common error patterns:

Change Discipline

Every config change follows this workflow:

1. openclaw config get <path>          # verify current value
2. openclaw config set <path> <value>  # apply change
3. openclaw config get <path>          # verify it applied
4. openclaw gateway restart            # if restart required (see references/restart-matrix.md)
5. openclaw status --all               # test it works

Batching vs Isolation

Batch (apply multiple → verify all → restart → test):

• Interdependent settings (memory flush + reserve tokens + compaction)
• Low-risk settings (timeouts, concurrency)
• User explicitly requests batch

Isolate (apply one → verify → test → next):

• First time enabling a feature
• High-impact changes (channels, auth, models)
• Debugging why a change doesn’t work

Default: When in doubt, isolate.

Example batch grouping:

Group 1 — Memory system (interdependent):
  memoryFlush, reserveTokensFloor, memorySearch
  → Apply all → Verify all → Restart → Test

Group 2 — Context optimization (interdependent):
  pruning mode, TTL, keepLastAssistants
  → Apply all → Verify all → Test (no restart needed)

Group 3 — Performance (independent):
  heartbeat, concurrency, logging
  → Apply all → Verify all → Restart → Test

Common Admin Tasks

Enable Memory System

openclaw config set agents.defaults.compaction.memoryFlush.enabled true
openclaw config set agents.defaults.compaction.memoryFlush.softThresholdTokens 6000
openclaw config set agents.defaults.compaction.reserveTokensFloor 24000
openclaw config get agents.defaults.compaction

# Optional: local vector search
openclaw config set agents.defaults.memorySearch.provider "local"
openclaw config set agents.defaults.memorySearch.local.modelPath "hf:ggml-org/embeddinggemma-300M-GGUF/embeddinggemma-300M-Q8_0.gguf"

Enable Context Pruning

openclaw config set agents.defaults.contextPruning.mode "adaptive"
openclaw config set agents.defaults.contextPruning.keepLastAssistants 5
openclaw config get agents.defaults.contextPruning

Security Hardening

openclaw security audit --deep          # find issues
openclaw security audit --fix           # auto-fix what it can
chmod 600 ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json     # if flagged
chmod 600 ~/.openclaw/auth-profiles.json
chmod 700 ~/.openclaw/credentials/ 2>/dev/null
chmod 700 ~/.openclaw/state/ 2>/dev/null

Automated Repairs

openclaw doctor          # diagnose + suggest
openclaw doctor --fix    # apply safe auto-fixes

Optimization Quick Reference

Authority & Time Pressure

When a user says “just apply it” — still verify. Verification catches typos, not intent.

When a user says “ASAP” — batch smartly, verify each batch. 3-4 minutes with discipline beats 2 minutes + 20-minute debug session.

Red Flags — Stop and Verify

If you catch yourself thinking:

• “User is confident, skip verification”
• “Simple change, no need to test”
• “Gateway auto-applies, no restart needed”
• “They’ll notice if it doesn’t work”

Verify anyway. Test the change.

References

• references/config-paths.md — Full config dot-path catalog
• references/restart-matrix.md — Which changes need restart

Related Skills

• openclaw-doctor — Run a read-only 10-domain audit to identify issues before fixing
• openclaw-maintain — Daemon ops, updates, log rotation, cron management
• openclaw-extend — Add plugins, channels, nodes, webhooks

Bottom Line

Configuration is code. Test changes like code changes. Verify → Apply → Verify → Restart → Test. Skip nothing.