Clawdbot User Guide, Install & Troubleshooting FAQs

Clawdbot Troubleshooting

This page is the “triage hub” for Clawdbot troubleshooting. Start with the 60-second checks, then jump to the most specific symptom page. Most failures are one of three categories: gateway/websocket, browser/headless, or auth/config.

First 60 seconds checklist

Is it reachable? Can you load the Console URL without a 502?
Is the gateway running? Check the gateway service status and logs.
Are websockets stable? Look for rapid reconnect loops (“websocket disconnected”).
Are the right ports listening? Port collisions cause 502s and random failures.
Is the browser dependency up? Verify headless Chrome/CDP is reachable (if you use browser automation).
Did the brain split? Confirm you aren’t running root + non-root installs at the same time.

Pro tip

If “restart fixed it” keeps happening, you may have duplicate processes competing for ports/state. Read the One-Brain series:

Two Brains Are Not Better Than One →

Common issues (quick links)

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(Insert: screenshot of Console status panel showing gateway + browser control health.)

Gateway & websocket troubleshooting

When people say “Clawdbot is down,” they often mean one of these:

Gateway isn’t running (service stopped, crash loop, config error).
Websocket disconnected (console ↔ gateway disconnects, or client ↔ console disconnects).
Port collision (something else is holding the port; restart didn’t restart what you think).

Start here:

Browser/headless troubleshooting (CDP)

If your runs fail at the browser layer (login automation, screenshots, scraping), treat Chrome like a real dependency:

Prefer a stable Chrome install (deb) over snap when possible.
Use a persistent --user-data-dir (this is the foundation of “persistent session”).
Verify the DevTools endpoint (/json/version) before blaming Clawdbot.

Deep dives:

Auth & OAuth issues (and split-brain)

Symptoms include “wrong account,” missing profiles, or behavior that changes depending on whether you run commands manually vs via systemd.

Ensure systemd sets HOME explicitly for the service user.
Ensure you don’t have two separate config locations (/root/.clawdbot vs /home/<user>/.clawdbot).
Ensure you don’t have two gateways/agents responding at once (duplicate replies).

If any of that sounds familiar, start with the One-Brain article series:

Where to look next

Clawdbot User Guide (install + setup overview)
Managed Clawdbot Hosting (deployment + reliability expectations)
Back to FAQ hub

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