PaperClipAI/packages/adapters/openclaw-gateway

OpenClaw Gateway Adapter

This document describes how @paperclipai/adapter-openclaw-gateway invokes OpenClaw over the Gateway protocol.

Transport

This adapter always uses WebSocket gateway transport.

• URL must be ws:// or wss://
• Connect flow follows gateway protocol:

1. receive connect.challenge
2. send req connect (protocol/client/auth/device payload)
3. send req agent
4. wait for completion via req agent.wait
5. stream event agent frames into Paperclip logs/transcript parsing

Auth Modes

Gateway credentials can be provided in any of these ways:

• authToken / token in adapter config
• headers.x-openclaw-token
• headers.x-openclaw-auth (legacy)
• password (shared password mode)

When a token is present and authorization header is missing, the adapter derives Authorization: Bearer <token>.

Device Auth

By default the adapter sends a signed device payload in connect params.

• set disableDeviceAuth=true to omit device signing
• set devicePrivateKeyPem to pin a stable signing key
• without devicePrivateKeyPem, the adapter generates an ephemeral Ed25519 keypair per run
• when autoPairOnFirstConnect is enabled (default), the adapter handles one initial pairing required by calling device.pair.list + device.pair.approve over shared auth, then retries once.

Session Strategy

The adapter supports the same session routing model as HTTP OpenClaw mode:

• sessionKeyStrategy=issue|fixed|run
• sessionKey is used when strategy is fixed

Resolved session key is sent as agent.sessionKey.

Payload Mapping

The agent request is built as:

• required fields:
  • message (wake text plus optional payloadTemplate.message/payloadTemplate.text prefix)
  • idempotencyKey (Paperclip runId)
  • sessionKey (resolved strategy)
• optional additions:
  • all payloadTemplate fields merged in
  • agentId from config if set and not already in template

Timeouts

• timeoutSec controls adapter-level request budget
• waitTimeoutMs controls agent.wait.timeoutMs

If agent.wait returns timeout, adapter returns openclaw_gateway_wait_timeout.

Log Format

Structured gateway event logs use:

• [openclaw-gateway] ... for lifecycle/system logs
• [openclaw-gateway:event] run=<id> stream=<stream> data=<json> for event agent frames

UI/CLI parsers consume these lines to render transcript updates.

No-remote-git contract

Like every Paperclip adapter, this one must treat the local execution-workspace cwd as the only persistence boundary across runs — no git push from runtime code, no assuming a git remote exists. The gateway transport here doesn't touch the workspace directly, but if you extend the adapter to ship code to the OpenClaw side, use the round-trip helpers in @paperclipai/adapter-utils (prepareWorkspaceForSshExecution → restoreWorkspaceFromSshExecution) rather than reaching for a git remote. See packages/adapters/AUTHORING.md for the full contract and the pinning test at packages/adapter-utils/src/ssh-fixture.test.ts.