openclaw-compatibility.md

ClawBox / OpenClaw Compatibility

Supported Baseline

ClawBox branch	Recommended OpenClaw version
main	>= 2026.3.12

ClawBox is a client for the OpenClaw Gateway. The Gateway is a separate project and runtime.

Transport Expectations

• Gateway URL shape: http://127.0.0.1:18789/v1 or equivalent
• Transport: WebSocket RPC upgraded from the configured HTTP URL
• Connect flow: challenge/response handshake with a local device identity
• Optional capability currently used by ClawBox chat: tool-events

Minimum RPC Surface For The Lightweight Smoke Test

The included mock gateway implements the minimum RPC surface needed for repository smoke coverage:

• models.list
• config.get
• config.patch
• sessions.list
• sessions.preview
• sessions.patch
• sessions.reset
• sessions.delete
• chat.history
• chat.send

Run it directly:

node scripts/mock-gateway.mjs --port 18789

Or use the end-to-end smoke check:

npm run smoke:backend

Additional RPC Used By Full Application Features

The real app also expects broader OpenClaw functionality, including:

• Agents: agents.list, agents.create, agents.update, agents.delete
• Cron: cron.status, cron.list, cron.add, cron.update, cron.remove, cron.run, cron.runs
• Channels and web login: channels.status, channels.logout, web.login.start, web.login.wait, config.schema.lookup
• Skills: skills.status, skills.update, skills.install
• Soul editing: agents.files.get, agents.files.set

Known Incompatibilities

Older OpenClaw builds may fail in the following ways:

• No device pairing or a different connect handshake
• No tool-events capability, which weakens streamed tool visibility in chat
• Missing config.patch restart semantics
• Missing channel schema lookup or web login RPCs
• Mismatched session payloads for chat.history or sessions.preview

If you intentionally support an older Gateway, document the downgraded behavior in your PR.