Known issues & limitations

This page lists the genuine current limitations of Clawboo v0.2.0 (verified against commit 03b206a). Every item is confirmed against current source; these are deliberate deferrals, dormant seams, and runtime-imposed constraints, not bugs awaiting a fix. Each entry states the impact and a workaround where one exists.

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Not on this list (already fixed)

Three things you may have read about in older notes are fixed in current code; do not treat them as open:

• Access-gate case bypass: fixed. The gate lower-cases the request path before its /api/ prefix test, so an uppercased route like /API/settings can no longer evade the token check. The loopback /api/mcp/* control-plane exemption is also case-folded and is the only unauthenticated /api/* path. See Security.
• Connected coding-agent reload trap: fixed. A user who finishes onboarding with a connected non-OpenClaw runtime (a key in the vault) lands back in the dashboard on reload, not the wizard. The fix keys on onboarded && hasConnectedRuntime. (The unconnected SKIP path is a separate, still-open deferral: see item 6.)
• Budget hard-cap stop: fixed. A cap-mode budget that crosses 100% aborts the live run, and a paused cap blocks the next dispatch pre-flight (before the claim). Budgets are uncapped by default, so this enforces nothing until you set a limit. See Governance.

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1. Local-first / single-tenant: the tenant_id columns are a dormant seam

Clawboo is a local-first, single-user tool. Many tables carry a tenant_id column (and the budget table reserves a scope: 'tenant'), but no per-tenant scoping is active. Every row is written with tenantId: null, and every read that could be tenant-scoped accepts an optional scope that no caller populates; so reads always return the single implicit tenant.

• Impact: there is no multi-tenant isolation. All teams, agents, board tasks, memory facts, budgets, and audit rows share one global namespace. Do not run Clawboo as a shared multi-user service expecting per-user data boundaries.
• Workaround: run one Clawboo instance per user/tenant (each gets its own ~/.clawboo state directory via CLAWBOO_HOME). See Data & state and Architecture invariants.

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2. OpenClaw cost is an estimate (a lower-bound budget signal, not an exact charge)

The OpenClaw runtime is a connected substrate driven over the Gateway. Its RuntimeAdapter emits no cost events and no terminal USD; the done events carry only a reason and a summary. So when a scheduled OpenClaw fire completes and the terminal carries no costUsd, the dispatcher estimates spend from the produced text: it approximates token counts from the input-prompt and output-summary character lengths (the ~4-chars/token heuristic) and prices them via the shared model table.

• Impact: for OpenClaw runs, the budget ledger and the cost dashboard show an approximation, not a metered charge. It is used only to keep a budget moving and a cap engaged; it is never presented as an exact bill. The estimate is char-derived, so it will diverge from the provider’s real token accounting (especially for tool-heavy turns whose tool I/O is not reflected in the dispatch prompt + summary lengths).
• Workaround: treat OpenClaw spend as a lower-bound signal; cross-check against your provider’s own billing. The other four runtimes that report real or token-exact cost are more accurate. The estimate is forward-safe: if a future cost-bearing Gateway emits a real costUsd, it is used as-is and the estimate is skipped.

See Governance and Cost & budgets.

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3. OpenClaw shared-memory scope is global

The four executor-driven runtimes (clawboo-native, claude-code, codex, hermes) attach the Memory MCP with a per-run team scope carried on the attach URL. OpenClaw is different: its agents are cross-team, and its MCP servers are registered into the Gateway’s process-wide config (mcp.servers), which cannot carry a per-run team binding. So OpenClaw memory reads and writes use a global fact scope.

• Impact: a fact an OpenClaw agent saves is visible to every OpenClaw agent regardless of team. There is no per-team memory boundary for OpenClaw the way there is for the other runtimes. For the local-first single-user model this is an organizational, not a security, boundary.
• Workaround: none at the runtime level; this follows from the Gateway’s process-wide config. If you need strict per-team memory isolation, drive the work through a non-OpenClaw runtime, whose attach URL carries the team scope.

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4. npx clawboo installs 0.1.9, not 0.2.0

The committed CLI is 0.2.0, but the v0.2.0 git tag is unpushed and 0.2.0 is not published to npm; so npm latest is clawboo@0.1.9. The CLI does not pin a version itself, so npx clawboo resolves whatever npm latest is.

• Impact: npx clawboo installs and runs 0.1.9 until the v0.2.0 tag is published. This documentation describes the 0.2.0 working tree; features and routes added after 0.1.9 will not be present in an npx clawboo install.
• Workaround: to run 0.2.0 today, build from the committed source rather than installing from npm. See Installation and the changelog.

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5. Codex requires an interactive codex login (no API-key connection)

Codex authenticates through an interactive ChatGPT OAuth login. Its runtime descriptor declares authKind: 'oauth' with envVar: null and headlessAuth: false; it cannot be connected head-less with a pasted API key on current versions.

• Impact: you cannot paste a key for Codex in the Runtimes panel. The connect call is a key-less no-op that returns the terminal login command (codex login); the card stays in needs-login until you complete the OAuth flow in a terminal.
• Workaround: install Codex, then run codex login in a terminal and re-check the card. See Codex runtime and Connecting runtimes.

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6. Coding-agent SKIP path re-onboards on reload

The onboarding wizard lets you pick a coding-agent runtime (claude-code, codex, hermes) and then skip connecting it, finishing onboarding with no runtime credential, no native agent, and no team. The completion sets the onboarded flag, but on the next reload the bootstrap’s onboarding decision only treats a coding-agent user as “returning” when onboarded && hasConnectedRuntime is true (a key actually in the vault). A user who skipped has onboarded: true but hasConnectedRuntime: false, so the decision does not route them to the dashboard; they re-enter the wizard.

• Impact: picking a coding agent and connecting nothing means a reload drops you back into onboarding instead of the dashboard.
• Workaround: actually connect a runtime during onboarding (paste a key for claude-code/hermes, or complete codex login), or connect one from the Runtimes panel afterward. Once a credential is in the vault, hasConnectedRuntime is true and reloads land on the dashboard. See Connecting runtimes.

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7. No per-process cap on concurrent /api/obs/stream subscriptions

The observability live-tail (GET /api/obs/stream) is a Server-Sent Events stream. Each subscription opens a fresh better-sqlite3 handle plus two timers (a 750 ms DB-tail poll and a 20 s keep-alive). There is no global counter or per-process limit on how many of these streams can be open at once; every connection is independent and cleans up its own handle and timers only when the client disconnects.

• Impact: a client (or many tabs) opening many concurrent obs streams holds one DB handle + two timers each, with nothing throttling the total. On the local-first single-user model this is fine, but it is a footgun if Clawboo is exposed to many clients.
• Workaround: this is a local-first deferral; behind a wider bind, front Clawboo with a reverse proxy that limits concurrent connections, and keep the access gate enabled. See Observability dashboard and the Observability API.

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8. buildStructuredSummary is exported but unwired

The memory package exports buildStructuredSummary, a fixed-template compaction helper (Goal → Constraints → Progress → Decisions → Files Touched → Next Steps → Critical Context). It is intentionally exported and tested but not yet wired into a production caller: the compaction → memory_save relay that would consume it is a tracked follow-up.

• Impact: the function exists and works, but nothing in the running system calls it. Do not assume a live consumer when reading the codebase. No user-facing effect.
• Workaround: none needed; the template and its contract are kept (and tested) so the eventual wiring is a drop-in. See Memory.

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See also

• Glossary, runtime, RuntimeAdapter, the board, tenant seam
• Security, access gate, loopback bind, the /api/mcp/* exemption
• Governance, budgets, the kill-switch, cap-mode auto-pause
• Memory, shared MCP tier vs per-runtime private tier; OpenClaw global scope
• Architecture invariants, local-first, registry of record
• Data & state, CLAWBOO_HOME, one instance per user
• Changelog, release history (0.1.x → 0.2.0)