OpenClawBrain troubleshooting

When the lane looks wrong, keep the scope tight and compare the right fields.

Pin the same home, rerun install, restart the gateway, compare status --detailed, and only then capture proof. Do not switch homes or invent a second workflow in the middle.

Run the install lane Compare proof Understand the lifecycle

Fast triage

These are the first things to check when your surface does not line up with the healthy reference host.

Status missing

STATUS ok does not appear

Treat the lane as not converged yet. Rerun openclawbrain install --openclaw-home '/Users/guclaw/.openclaw', restart the gateway, and compare detailed status again before chasing deeper explanations.

Load proof missing

loadProof=status_probe_ready is absent

Runtime load is not proven yet. Re-run install on the same home, restart, and compare with the proof page. If it still fails to line up, capture a proof bundle so you have step logs and breadcrumbs instead of guesswork.

Serving state differs

serve state=serving_active_pack is not present

That is not automatically an install failure. A fresh or lightly used host can still be at init scaffold or pre-promotion state. Use the lifecycle guide to distinguish “healthy but not promoted yet” from “broken install.”

Route function missing

routeFn available=yes is not present

Learned route availability depends on host state. Check whether the runtime is already serving an active pack and whether learning surfaces are populated. Compare with the proof page rather than assuming every host should already match the exercised one.

Important: the healthy host on March 27, 2026 had both serve state=serving_active_pack and routeFn available=yes. Earlier healthy hosts may not show those fields yet.

Canonical recovery lane

When in doubt, rerun the public lane exactly. Keep the path pinned on the OpenClawBrain commands. The restart command remains the only step without --openclaw-home. 

openclawbrain install --openclaw-home '/Users/guclaw/.openclaw'
openclaw gateway restart
openclawbrain status --openclaw-home '/Users/guclaw/.openclaw' --detailed
openclawbrain proof --openclaw-home '/Users/guclaw/.openclaw'

Two common operator mistakes

Scope drift

Changing the selected home mid-debug

The public lane is scoped to one OpenClaw home. If you change the home for install but not for status or proof, you are no longer comparing the same boundary.

Package drift

Managing the plugin package but not re-converging install

If you explicitly manage @openclawbrain/openclaw with the OpenClaw plugin manager, rerun openclawbrain install --openclaw-home '/Users/guclaw/.openclaw' afterward so the public lane can repair hooks and pin the activation root again.

Go deeper

Use the install lane for the main flow, the proof page for the healthy reference surface, and the lifecycle guide when you need to understand why a healthy host might still be pre-promotion.

Install / upgrade The install-first front door with the canonical commands and top-level proof signals. Proof The healthy reference host and the durable bundle boundary. How it works The deeper explanation of harvest, replay, promotion, and bounded live context. GitHub Source code, packages, and architecture notes.