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Logging

For a user-facing overview (CLI + Control UI + config), see /logging. OpenClaw has two log “surfaces”:
  • Console output (what you see in the terminal / Debug UI).
  • File logs (JSON lines) written by the gateway logger.

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File-based logger

  • Default rolling log file is under /tmp/openclaw/ (one file per day): openclaw-YYYY-MM-DD.log
    • Date uses the gateway host’s local timezone.
  • The log file path and level can be configured via ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:
    • logging.file
    • logging.level
The file format is one JSON object per line. The Control UI Logs tab tails this file via the gateway (logs.tail). CLI can do the same: 
openclaw logs --follow
Verbose vs. log levels
  • File logs are controlled exclusively by logging.level.
  • --verbose only affects console verbosity (and WS log style); it does not raise the file log level.
  • To capture verbose-only details in file logs, set logging.level to debug or trace.

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Console capture

The CLI captures console.log/info/warn/error/debug/trace and writes them to file logs, while still printing to stdout/stderr. You can tune console verbosity independently via:
  • logging.consoleLevel (default info)
  • logging.consoleStyle (pretty | compact | json)

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Tool summary redaction

Verbose tool summaries (e.g. 🛠️ Exec: ...) can mask sensitive tokens before they hit the console stream. This is tools-only and does not alter file logs.
  • logging.redactSensitive: off | tools (default: tools)
  • logging.redactPatterns: array of regex strings (overrides defaults)
    • Use raw regex strings (auto gi), or /pattern/flags if you need custom flags.
    • Matches are masked by keeping the first 6 + last 4 chars (length >= 18), otherwise ***.
    • Defaults cover common key assignments, CLI flags, JSON fields, bearer headers, PEM blocks, and popular token prefixes.

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Gateway WebSocket logs

The gateway prints WebSocket protocol logs in two modes:
  • Normal mode (no --verbose): only “interesting” RPC results are printed:
    • errors (ok=false)
    • slow calls (default threshold: >= 50ms)
    • parse errors
  • Verbose mode (--verbose): prints all WS request/response traffic.

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WS log style

openclaw gateway supports a per-gateway style switch:
  • --ws-log auto (default): normal mode is optimized; verbose mode uses compact output
  • --ws-log compact: compact output (paired request/response) when verbose
  • --ws-log full: full per-frame output when verbose
  • --compact: alias for --ws-log compact
Examples: 
# optimized (only errors/slow)
openclaw gateway

# show all WS traffic (paired)
openclaw gateway --verbose --ws-log compact

# show all WS traffic (full meta)
openclaw gateway --verbose --ws-log full

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Console formatting (subsystem logging)

The console formatter is TTY-aware and prints consistent, prefixed lines. Subsystem loggers keep output grouped and scannable. Behavior:
  • Subsystem prefixes on every line (e.g. [gateway], [canvas], [tailscale])
  • Subsystem colors (stable per subsystem) plus level coloring
  • Color when output is a TTY or the environment looks like a rich terminal (TERM/COLORTERM/TERM_PROGRAM), respects NO_COLOR
  • Shortened subsystem prefixes: drops leading gateway/ + channels/, keeps last 2 segments (e.g. whatsapp/outbound)
  • Sub-loggers by subsystem (auto prefix + structured field { subsystem })
  • logRaw() for QR/UX output (no prefix, no formatting)
  • Console styles (e.g. pretty | compact | json)
  • Console log level separate from file log level (file keeps full detail when logging.level is set to debug/trace)
  • WhatsApp message bodies are logged at debug (use --verbose to see them)
This keeps existing file logs stable while making interactive output scannable.
Last modified on March 22, 2026