openclaw/docs/cli/config.md

summary, read_when, title

summary	read_when	title
CLI reference for `openclaw config` (get/set/unset/file/schema/validate)	You want to read or edit config non-interactively	config

openclaw config

Config helpers for non-interactive edits in openclaw.json: get/set/unset/file/schema/validate values by path and print the active config file. Run without a subcommand to open the configure wizard (same as openclaw configure).

Root options:

• --section <section>: repeatable guided-setup section filter when you run openclaw config without a subcommand

Supported guided sections:

• workspace
• model
• web
• gateway
• daemon
• channels
• plugins
• skills
• health

Examples

openclaw config file
openclaw config --section model
openclaw config --section gateway --section daemon
openclaw config schema
openclaw config get browser.executablePath
openclaw config set browser.executablePath "/usr/bin/google-chrome"
openclaw config set agents.defaults.heartbeat.every "2h"
openclaw config set agents.list[0].tools.exec.node "node-id-or-name"
openclaw config set agents.defaults.models '{"openai-codex/gpt-5.4":{}}' --strict-json --merge
openclaw config set channels.discord.token --ref-provider default --ref-source env --ref-id DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN
openclaw config set secrets.providers.vaultfile --provider-source file --provider-path /etc/openclaw/secrets.json --provider-mode json
openclaw config unset plugins.entries.brave.config.webSearch.apiKey
openclaw config set channels.discord.token --ref-provider default --ref-source env --ref-id DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN --dry-run
openclaw config validate
openclaw config validate --json

config schema

Print the generated JSON schema for openclaw.json to stdout as JSON.

What it includes:

• The current root config schema, plus a root $schema string field for editor tooling
• Field title and description docs metadata used by the Control UI
• Nested object, wildcard (*), and array-item ([]) nodes inherit the same title / description metadata when matching field documentation exists
• anyOf / oneOf / allOf branches inherit the same docs metadata too when matching field documentation exists
• Best-effort live plugin + channel schema metadata when runtime manifests can be loaded
• A clean fallback schema even when the current config is invalid

Related runtime RPC:

• config.schema.lookup returns one normalized config path with a shallow schema node (title, description, type, enum, const, common bounds), matched UI hint metadata, and immediate child summaries. Use it for path-scoped drill-down in Control UI or custom clients.

openclaw config schema

Pipe it into a file when you want to inspect or validate it with other tools:

openclaw config schema > openclaw.schema.json

Paths

Paths use dot or bracket notation:

openclaw config get agents.defaults.workspace
openclaw config get agents.list[0].id

Use the agent list index to target a specific agent:

openclaw config get agents.list
openclaw config set agents.list[1].tools.exec.node "node-id-or-name"

Values

Values are parsed as JSON5 when possible; otherwise they are treated as strings. Use --strict-json to require JSON5 parsing. --json remains supported as a legacy alias.

openclaw config set agents.defaults.heartbeat.every "0m"
openclaw config set gateway.port 19001 --strict-json
openclaw config set channels.whatsapp.groups '["*"]' --strict-json

config get <path> --json prints the raw value as JSON instead of terminal-formatted text.

Object assignment replaces the target path by default. Protected map/list paths that commonly hold user-added entries, such as agents.defaults.models, models.providers, models.providers.<id>.models, plugins.entries, and auth.profiles, refuse replacements that would remove existing entries unless you pass --replace.

Use --merge when adding entries to those maps:

openclaw config set agents.defaults.models '{"openai-codex/gpt-5.4":{}}' --strict-json --merge
openclaw config set models.providers.ollama.models '[{"id":"llama3.2","name":"Llama 3.2"}]' --strict-json --merge

Use --replace only when you intentionally want the provided value to become the complete target value.

config set modes

openclaw config set supports four assignment styles:

1. Value mode: openclaw config set <path> <value>
2. SecretRef builder mode:

openclaw config set channels.discord.token \
  --ref-provider default \
  --ref-source env \
  --ref-id DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN

3. Provider builder mode (secrets.providers.<alias> path only):

openclaw config set secrets.providers.vault \
  --provider-source exec \
  --provider-command /usr/local/bin/openclaw-vault \
  --provider-arg read \
  --provider-arg openai/api-key \
  --provider-timeout-ms 5000

4. Batch mode (--batch-json or --batch-file):

openclaw config set --batch-json '[
  {
    "path": "secrets.providers.default",
    "provider": { "source": "env" }
  },
  {
    "path": "channels.discord.token",
    "ref": { "source": "env", "provider": "default", "id": "DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN" }
  }
]'

openclaw config set --batch-file ./config-set.batch.json --dry-run

Policy note:

• SecretRef assignments are rejected on unsupported runtime-mutable surfaces (for example hooks.token, commands.ownerDisplaySecret, Discord thread-binding webhook tokens, and WhatsApp creds JSON). See SecretRef Credential Surface.

Batch parsing always uses the batch payload (--batch-json/--batch-file) as the source of truth. --strict-json / --json do not change batch parsing behavior.

JSON path/value mode remains supported for both SecretRefs and providers:

openclaw config set channels.discord.token \
  '{"source":"env","provider":"default","id":"DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN"}' \
  --strict-json

openclaw config set secrets.providers.vaultfile \
  '{"source":"file","path":"/etc/openclaw/secrets.json","mode":"json"}' \
  --strict-json

Provider Builder Flags

Provider builder targets must use secrets.providers.<alias> as the path.

Common flags:

• --provider-source <env|file|exec>
• --provider-timeout-ms <ms> (file, exec)

Env provider (--provider-source env):

• --provider-allowlist <ENV_VAR> (repeatable)

File provider (--provider-source file):

• --provider-path <path> (required)
• --provider-mode <singleValue|json>
• --provider-max-bytes <bytes>

Exec provider (--provider-source exec):

• --provider-command <path> (required)
• --provider-arg <arg> (repeatable)
• --provider-no-output-timeout-ms <ms>
• --provider-max-output-bytes <bytes>
• --provider-json-only
• --provider-env <KEY=VALUE> (repeatable)
• --provider-pass-env <ENV_VAR> (repeatable)
• --provider-trusted-dir <path> (repeatable)
• --provider-allow-insecure-path
• --provider-allow-symlink-command

Hardened exec provider example:

openclaw config set secrets.providers.vault \
  --provider-source exec \
  --provider-command /usr/local/bin/openclaw-vault \
  --provider-arg read \
  --provider-arg openai/api-key \
  --provider-json-only \
  --provider-pass-env VAULT_TOKEN \
  --provider-trusted-dir /usr/local/bin \
  --provider-timeout-ms 5000

Dry run

Use --dry-run to validate changes without writing openclaw.json.

openclaw config set channels.discord.token \
  --ref-provider default \
  --ref-source env \
  --ref-id DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN \
  --dry-run

openclaw config set channels.discord.token \
  --ref-provider default \
  --ref-source env \
  --ref-id DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN \
  --dry-run \
  --json

openclaw config set channels.discord.token \
  --ref-provider vault \
  --ref-source exec \
  --ref-id discord/token \
  --dry-run \
  --allow-exec

Dry-run behavior:

• Builder mode: runs SecretRef resolvability checks for changed refs/providers.
• JSON mode (--strict-json, --json, or batch mode): runs schema validation plus SecretRef resolvability checks.
• Policy validation also runs for known unsupported SecretRef target surfaces.
• Policy checks evaluate the full post-change config, so parent-object writes (for example setting hooks as an object) cannot bypass unsupported-surface validation.
• Exec SecretRef checks are skipped by default during dry-run to avoid command side effects.
• Use --allow-exec with --dry-run to opt in to exec SecretRef checks (this may execute provider commands).
• --allow-exec is dry-run only and errors if used without --dry-run.

--dry-run --json prints a machine-readable report:

• ok: whether dry-run passed
• operations: number of assignments evaluated
• checks: whether schema/resolvability checks ran
• checks.resolvabilityComplete: whether resolvability checks ran to completion (false when exec refs are skipped)
• refsChecked: number of refs actually resolved during dry-run
• skippedExecRefs: number of exec refs skipped because --allow-exec was not set
• errors: structured schema/resolvability failures when ok=false

JSON Output Shape

{
  ok: boolean,
  operations: number,
  configPath: string,
  inputModes: ["value" | "json" | "builder", ...],
  checks: {
    schema: boolean,
    resolvability: boolean,
    resolvabilityComplete: boolean,
  },
  refsChecked: number,
  skippedExecRefs: number,
  errors?: [
    {
      kind: "schema" | "resolvability",
      message: string,
      ref?: string, // present for resolvability errors
    },
  ],
}

Success example:

{
  "ok": true,
  "operations": 1,
  "configPath": "~/.openclaw/openclaw.json",
  "inputModes": ["builder"],
  "checks": {
    "schema": false,
    "resolvability": true,
    "resolvabilityComplete": true
  },
  "refsChecked": 1,
  "skippedExecRefs": 0
}

Failure example:

{
  "ok": false,
  "operations": 1,
  "configPath": "~/.openclaw/openclaw.json",
  "inputModes": ["builder"],
  "checks": {
    "schema": false,
    "resolvability": true,
    "resolvabilityComplete": true
  },
  "refsChecked": 1,
  "skippedExecRefs": 0,
  "errors": [
    {
      "kind": "resolvability",
      "message": "Error: Environment variable \"MISSING_TEST_SECRET\" is not set.",
      "ref": "env:default:MISSING_TEST_SECRET"
    }
  ]
}

If dry-run fails:

• config schema validation failed: your post-change config shape is invalid; fix path/value or provider/ref object shape.
• Config policy validation failed: unsupported SecretRef usage: move that credential back to plaintext/string input and keep SecretRefs on supported surfaces only.
• SecretRef assignment(s) could not be resolved: referenced provider/ref currently cannot resolve (missing env var, invalid file pointer, exec provider failure, or provider/source mismatch).
• Dry run note: skipped <n> exec SecretRef resolvability check(s): dry-run skipped exec refs; rerun with --allow-exec if you need exec resolvability validation.
• For batch mode, fix failing entries and rerun --dry-run before writing.

Write safety

openclaw config set and other OpenClaw-owned config writers validate the full post-change config before committing it to disk. If the new payload fails schema validation or looks like a destructive clobber, the active config is left alone and the rejected payload is saved beside it as openclaw.json.rejected.*. The active config path must be a regular file. Symlinked openclaw.json layouts are unsupported for writes; use OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH to point directly at the real file instead.

Prefer CLI writes for small edits:

openclaw config set gateway.reload.mode hybrid --dry-run
openclaw config set gateway.reload.mode hybrid
openclaw config validate

If a write is rejected, inspect the saved payload and fix the full config shape:

CONFIG="$(openclaw config file)"
ls -lt "$CONFIG".rejected.* 2>/dev/null | head
openclaw config validate

Direct editor writes are still allowed, but the running Gateway treats them as untrusted until they validate. Invalid direct edits can be restored from the last-known-good backup during startup or hot reload. See Gateway troubleshooting.

Subcommands

• config file: Print the active config file path (resolved from OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH or default location). The path should name a regular file, not a symlink.

Restart the gateway after edits.

Validate

Validate the current config against the active schema without starting the gateway.

openclaw config validate
openclaw config validate --json

After openclaw config validate is passing, you can use the local TUI to have an embedded agent compare the active config against the docs while you validate each change from the same terminal:

If validation is already failing, start with openclaw configure or openclaw doctor --fix. openclaw chat does not bypass the invalid-config guard.

openclaw chat

Then inside the TUI:

!openclaw config file
!openclaw docs gateway auth token secretref
!openclaw config validate
!openclaw doctor

Typical repair loop:

• Ask the agent to compare your current config with the relevant docs page and suggest the smallest fix.
• Apply targeted edits with openclaw config set or openclaw configure.
• Rerun openclaw config validate after each change.
• If validation passes but the runtime is still unhealthy, run openclaw doctor or openclaw doctor --fix for migration and repair help.