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Use this page to update Clawboo, update OpenClaw and restart its Gateway, and find your backups and logs. It also covers the System panel in Settings, which shows your OpenClaw and Node.js versions, updates OpenClaw, and sets the default command approval for OpenClaw agents.

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Where things are

Check for Updates in the System panel updates OpenClaw, not Clawboo. Clawboo updates from the chip.

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Update Clawboo

When a newer Clawboo is on npm, an Update available chip appears at the bottom left of the dashboard, with the new version number. Clawboo asks npm’s registry for the newest version number, then reuses the answer for six hours. What the chip does depends on how you run Clawboo:
1

Click the chip

The chip reads Click to update. Click it. It shows Installing update… while npm installs clawboo@latest, then Restarting….
2

Wait for the reload

The server restarts on the same port, and the page reloads into the new version. You should see the dashboard as you left it. This browser remembers the last update check for up to an hour, so the chip can show again in that time even though you are up to date: dismiss it with its ×. clawboo --version in a terminal prints the version you now have.
If the page has not come back after about 90 seconds, the chip reads “Update installed. Restart Clawboo to finish.” Run clawboo restart.
The × on the chip hides it until a newer version comes out. To update a global install from a terminal instead:
Your data stays where it is: when a newer version opens your database, it adds what it needs. Install, update and remove Clawboo covers installs in full. If the update fails, see Troubleshooting.

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The System panel

Open Settings > System, in the System group. The panel has two cards:
  • Command Approval: the default command approval for OpenClaw agents. It appears only while the dashboard is connected to an OpenClaw Gateway. See Set the default command approval.
  • System Info: the installed OpenClaw version (or Not installed), the Node.js version Clawboo runs on, OpenClaw’s State Dir (its folder, usually ~/.openclaw), and Config (openclaw.json, or Not found). Check for Updates sits below them.
System Info is read once when you open the panel, and again after an update.

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Update OpenClaw

1

Update the OpenClaw program

Open Settings > System and click Check for Updates. It starts at once, with no confirmation: it runs npm install -g openclaw@~2026.9 and shows npm’s output below the button. You should see “Updated to” and the version, and the OpenClaw row shows the new version.
2

Restart the Gateway

The Gateway that is already running keeps the old version until it restarts. Open Settings > Runtimes, click Manage on the OpenClaw row, and click Restart in its Gateway block. You should see “Gateway restarted”.
Check for Updates installs the newest release in the OpenClaw line this Clawboo is tested with (2026.9), which may not be OpenClaw’s newest. If OpenClaw is not installed, the same button installs it; to set OpenClaw up and start its Gateway, use Settings > Runtimes > OpenClaw instead (see OpenClaw). npm can refuse the install when your Node.js is outside the range OpenClaw supports, which is narrower than Clawboo’s; the OpenClaw page lists it.

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If OpenClaw needs its data updated

A newer OpenClaw can refuse to start until openclaw doctor --fix updates data that an older version wrote. When Clawboo starts the Gateway and OpenClaw asks for this, Clawboo runs openclaw doctor --fix --non-interactive once, then starts the Gateway again. It does this whenever Clawboo starts the Gateway: Restart, Reconnect OpenClaw, or the OpenClaw setup. It leaves a Gateway you run as a launchd or systemd service alone. The repair usually takes seconds. If the repair fails, the error says so and includes the reason (“OpenClaw needs openclaw doctor --fix, and running it failed”). Run openclaw doctor --fix in a terminal to see what it needs, then start the Gateway again. Do the same if OpenClaw still asks for it after Clawboo ran it. When the Gateway fails to start for another reason, the error reads “Gateway did not start:” followed by OpenClaw’s own reason. The Gateway’s log is ~/.clawboo/gateway.log.

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Set the default command approval

The Command Approval card sets what OpenClaw agents do before they run a shell command, when they have no setting of their own. It writes tools.exec.ask in OpenClaw’s openclaw.json. Pick an option from the Default: list. You should see “Default command approval set to” and the option’s name. If the write fails, the list goes back to its old value and you see “Failed to update Gateway config”. This is a fallback, not an override. Every OpenClaw agent Clawboo creates gets its own setting, Ask for Unknown, and follows that instead. So the default mostly affects OpenClaw agents created outside Clawboo. When openclaw.json sets no default, the list shows Run Freely, which is also what OpenClaw does for an agent with no setting. To change one agent, open its page and go to Details > Permissions; the hint under the list mentions a Personality tab, but the setting is on Permissions. Command permissions covers per-agent settings and the commands an agent may run without asking. The default does not affect Clawboo Native, Claude Code, Codex or Hermes agents; What agents can do explains what they may run.

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Backups and logs

  • Back up the database: run clawboo backup. It writes a one-file copy of ~/.clawboo/clawboo.db to the current folder, even while Clawboo runs. Your saved keys, and the key that decrypts them, are in ~/.clawboo/secrets/ and not in the copy. A good moment is right before you update.
  • Restore or reset: Data and state has the steps, and lists what a full backup needs.
  • Server log: ~/.clawboo/server.log, for a server started with clawboo. It rolls over to server.log.1 past 5 MB. After an update from the chip, the restarted server writes nothing to it until you run clawboo restart.
  • Gateway log: ~/.clawboo/gateway.log, for an OpenClaw Gateway that Clawboo started.
The CLI reference covers clawboo stop, clawboo restart and clawboo backup in full.
  • The chip reads GET /api/system/self-version, and Click to update calls POST /api/system/self-update, which runs npm install -g clawboo@latest and restarts the server on the same port. It works only for a global install; an npx run gets the command to copy instead.
  • Check for Updates calls POST /api/system/install-openclaw. Restart calls POST /api/system/gateway with {"action": "restart"}, which waits up to 60 seconds for the Gateway’s port.
  • Command Approval reads GET /api/system/openclaw-config and writes PATCH /api/system/openclaw-config with {"exec": {"ask": "on-miss"}} (or off, always).
  • See the System API for every route.

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Troubleshooting

The chip shows npm’s own reason, such as no matching version, a network failure, a permission problem or a package install script that failed, with a button that copies the command.“Permission denied. A global install needs elevated permissions.” means npm cannot write to its global folder, which is common with a system-wide Node.js. Run the copied command in a terminal, or install Node.js with a version manager such as nvm or fnm, which keeps global packages in your home folder and needs no sudo.
The log reads “Permission denied. Your Node.js installation may require sudo for global installs.” and suggests a sudo npm install -g command. npm cannot write to its global folder. Installing Node.js with a version manager such as nvm or fnm, or with Homebrew, keeps global packages where you can write them, so no sudo is needed. Then click Check for Updates again.
Check for Updates replaces the OpenClaw program but leaves the running Gateway alone. Restart the Gateway: Settings > Runtimes > OpenClaw > Manage > Restart.
The card appears only while the dashboard is connected to an OpenClaw Gateway. Connect or reconnect OpenClaw in Settings > Runtimes. If you don’t use OpenClaw, there is nothing to set here.
The OpenClaw row in Settings > Runtimes holds those controls, not the System panel. While the Gateway runs, Manage shows Restart, and Disconnect stops it. While it is stopped, the row offers Reconnect, which starts it again. See OpenClaw.

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Next steps

Last modified on October 31, 2026