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Logging overview: file logs, console output, CLI tailing, and the Control UI

You need a beginner-friendly overview of logging

You want to configure log levels or formats

You are troubleshooting and need to find logs quickly

Logging overview

Logging

OpenClaw has two main log surfaces:

File logs (JSON lines) written by the Gateway.
Console output shown in terminals and the Gateway Debug UI.

The Control UI Logs tab tails the gateway file log. This page explains where logs live, how to read them, and how to configure log levels and formats.

Where logs live

By default, the Gateway writes a rolling log file under:

/tmp/openclaw/openclaw-YYYY-MM-DD.log

The date uses the gateway host's local timezone.

You can override this in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:

{
  "logging": {
    "file": "/path/to/openclaw.log"
  }
}

How to read logs

CLI: live tail (recommended)

Use the CLI to tail the gateway log file via RPC:

openclaw logs --follow

Useful current options:

--local-time: render timestamps in your local timezone
--url <url> / --token <token> / --timeout <ms>: standard Gateway RPC flags
--expect-final: agent-backed RPC final-response wait flag (accepted here via the shared client layer)

Output modes:

TTY sessions: pretty, colorized, structured log lines.
Non-TTY sessions: plain text.
--json: line-delimited JSON (one log event per line).
--plain: force plain text in TTY sessions.
--no-color: disable ANSI colors.

When you pass an explicit --url, the CLI does not auto-apply config or environment credentials; include --token yourself if the target Gateway requires auth.

In JSON mode, the CLI emits type-tagged objects:

meta: stream metadata (file, cursor, size)
log: parsed log entry
notice: truncation / rotation hints
raw: unparsed log line

If the local loopback Gateway asks for pairing, openclaw logs falls back to the configured local log file automatically. Explicit --url targets do not use this fallback.

If the Gateway is unreachable, the CLI prints a short hint to run:

openclaw doctor

Control UI (web)

The Control UI’s Logs tab tails the same file using logs.tail. See /web/control-ui for how to open it.

Channel-only logs

To filter channel activity (WhatsApp/Telegram/etc), use:

openclaw channels logs --channel whatsapp

Log formats

File logs (JSONL)

Each line in the log file is a JSON object. The CLI and Control UI parse these entries to render structured output (time, level, subsystem, message).

Console output

Console logs are TTY-aware and formatted for readability:

Subsystem prefixes (e.g. gateway/channels/whatsapp)
Level coloring (info/warn/error)
Optional compact or JSON mode

Console formatting is controlled by logging.consoleStyle.

Gateway WebSocket logs

openclaw gateway also has WebSocket protocol logging for RPC traffic:

normal mode: only interesting results (errors, parse errors, slow calls)
--verbose: all request/response traffic
--ws-log auto|compact|full: pick the verbose rendering style
--compact: alias for --ws-log compact

Examples:

openclaw gateway
openclaw gateway --verbose --ws-log compact
openclaw gateway --verbose --ws-log full

Configuring logging

All logging configuration lives under logging in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json.

{
  "logging": {
    "level": "info",
    "file": "/tmp/openclaw/openclaw-YYYY-MM-DD.log",
    "consoleLevel": "info",
    "consoleStyle": "pretty",
    "redactSensitive": "tools",
    "redactPatterns": ["sk-.*"]
  }
}

Log levels

logging.level: file logs (JSONL) level.
logging.consoleLevel: console verbosity level.

You can override both via the OPENCLAW_LOG_LEVEL environment variable (e.g. OPENCLAW_LOG_LEVEL=debug). The env var takes precedence over the config file, so you can raise verbosity for a single run without editing openclaw.json. You can also pass the global CLI option --log-level <level> (for example, openclaw --log-level debug gateway run), which overrides the environment variable for that command.

--verbose only affects console output and WS log verbosity; it does not change file log levels.

Console styles

logging.consoleStyle:

pretty: human-friendly, colored, with timestamps.
compact: tighter output (best for long sessions).
json: JSON per line (for log processors).

Redaction

Tool summaries can redact sensitive tokens before they hit the console:

logging.redactSensitive: off | tools (default: tools)
logging.redactPatterns: list of regex strings to override the default set

Redaction affects console output only and does not alter file logs.

Diagnostics + OpenTelemetry

Diagnostics are structured, machine-readable events for model runs and message-flow telemetry (webhooks, queueing, session state). They do not replace logs; they exist to feed metrics, traces, and other exporters.

Diagnostics events are emitted in-process, but exporters only attach when diagnostics + the exporter plugin are enabled.

OpenTelemetry vs OTLP

OpenTelemetry (OTel): the data model + SDKs for traces, metrics, and logs.
OTLP: the wire protocol used to export OTel data to a collector/backend.
OpenClaw exports via OTLP/HTTP (protobuf) today.

Signals exported

Metrics: counters + histograms (token usage, message flow, queueing).
Traces: spans for model usage + webhook/message processing.
Logs: exported over OTLP when diagnostics.otel.logs is enabled. Log volume can be high; keep logging.level and exporter filters in mind.

Diagnostic event catalog

Model usage:

model.usage: tokens, cost, duration, context, provider/model/channel, session ids. usage is provider/turn accounting for cost and telemetry; context.used is the current prompt/context snapshot and can be lower than provider usage.total when cached input or tool-loop calls are involved.

Message flow:

webhook.received: webhook ingress per channel.
webhook.processed: webhook handled + duration.
webhook.error: webhook handler errors.
message.queued: message enqueued for processing.
message.processed: outcome + duration + optional error.
message.delivery.started: outbound delivery attempt started.
message.delivery.completed: outbound delivery attempt finished + duration/result count.
message.delivery.error: outbound delivery attempt failed + duration/bounded error category.

Queue + session:

queue.lane.enqueue: command queue lane enqueue + depth.
queue.lane.dequeue: command queue lane dequeue + wait time.
session.state: session state transition + reason.
session.stuck: session stuck warning + age.
run.attempt: run retry/attempt metadata.
diagnostic.heartbeat: aggregate counters (webhooks/queue/session).

Exec:

exec.process.completed: terminal exec process outcome, duration, target, mode, exit code, and failure kind. Command text and working directories are not included.

Enable diagnostics (no exporter)

Use this if you want diagnostics events available to plugins or custom sinks:

{
  "diagnostics": {
    "enabled": true
  }
}

Diagnostics flags (targeted logs)

Use flags to turn on extra, targeted debug logs without raising logging.level. Flags are case-insensitive and support wildcards (e.g. telegram.* or *).

{
  "diagnostics": {
    "flags": ["telegram.http"]
  }
}

Env override (one-off):

OPENCLAW_DIAGNOSTICS=telegram.http,telegram.payload

Notes:

Flag logs go to the standard log file (same as logging.file).
Output is still redacted according to logging.redactSensitive.
Full guide: /diagnostics/flags.

Export to OpenTelemetry

Diagnostics can be exported via the diagnostics-otel plugin (OTLP/HTTP). This works with any OpenTelemetry collector/backend that accepts OTLP/HTTP.

{
  "plugins": {
    "allow": ["diagnostics-otel"],
    "entries": {
      "diagnostics-otel": {
        "enabled": true
      }
    }
  },
  "diagnostics": {
    "enabled": true,
    "otel": {
      "enabled": true,
      "endpoint": "http://otel-collector:4318",
      "protocol": "http/protobuf",
      "serviceName": "openclaw-gateway",
      "traces": true,
      "metrics": true,
      "logs": true,
      "sampleRate": 0.2,
      "flushIntervalMs": 60000,
      "captureContent": {
        "enabled": false,
        "inputMessages": false,
        "outputMessages": false,
        "toolInputs": false,
        "toolOutputs": false,
        "systemPrompt": false
      }
    }
  }
}