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Troubleshooting

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The bot is not responding

  1. Check you are allowed. Your admin needs to add you (your number, username, or ID) to the allowlist, or approve your pairing, before the gateway responds. On a pairing channel you may have received a one-time code - see Pair your first channel.
  2. Try /status. If the bot replies, it is working and the problem is elsewhere (model, allowlist for that command, or the specific channel). If /status also does nothing, it is likely connectivity or that you are not yet authorised.
  3. Ask your admin to check the gateway. If you self-host, you can check it yourself:

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The bot does not respond in a group

In a group chat the bot only wakes up when it is mentioned or pinged, or when you reply to one of its messages. It deliberately ignores everything else so it does not spam the group.
  • Mention it by name or @handle: @YourBot what's the weather today?
  • Or reply directly to a message it sent.
If it still ignores mentions, the group may not be allowed yet, or mention detection may need configuring - ask your admin.

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The bot is slow to respond

  • Tool use takes time. Running code, searching the web, or controlling a browser can take 10-30 seconds.
  • Thinking mode is slower by design. /think high reasons before responding; /think off (or a lower level) usually speeds things up.

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The bot seems to have forgotten something

There are two different cases:
  • Lost track within a conversation - the context window filled up and earlier messages dropped out. Use /compact to summarise and continue, or /reset to start fresh.
  • Forgot a fact from days ago - that was never saved to durable memory. Ask the bot to remember it explicitly next time: “Remember that …”. See Memory.

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I got an error response

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Commands are not working

  • Commands only work if you are authorised. Ask your admin if /status and others have no effect.
  • Send commands as standalone messages (just /status). Only the inline shortcuts (/help, /status, /whoami, /commands) work embedded in a longer message; most others do not.

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I am not receiving voice messages

Voice (TTS) must be enabled by your admin. If it is available, turn it on:
On Discord, use /voice instead.

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The agent is doing something unexpected

  1. Send /stop to interrupt the current response.
  2. Send /reset to start a fresh session.
  3. If it took an action you did not want (ran a command, wrote a file), tell your admin - they can review the session transcript.

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I saw a weird “task” or “dream” trace in Langfuse

Those are not chat replies. When your admin enables OpenTelemetry, background maintenance (the task pipeline) and optional “dream cycle” memory work leave short traces named like openclaw.task.completed or openclaw.dream.cycle_completed. An error-looking span named openclaw.task.recovery_exhausted means the system stopped retrying a stuck background job — it does not mean your chat failed. Ask your admin if something you expected never finished.

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I want to change the AI model

/model on its own shows a picker of the models you are allowed to use. To switch directly, name one:
(use an alias your admin set, or a full id like anthropic/claude-opus-4-6). /status shows the current model.

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Still stuck?

Send /status to your admin so they can see what you see. If you self-host or have access to the control panel, the Logs view shows recent activity.