Summary

I updated OpenClaw on my VPS to 2026.3.2 and saw two false reports around channel state. The gateway health snapshot drops live runtime fields, and the doctor empty-allowlist scan still evaluates channels/accounts that are explicitly disabled.

Actual behavior

• openclaw channels status --json shows Slack as configured and running, but openclaw health --json can still return:
  • botTokenSource: "none"
  • appTokenSource: "none"
  • running: false
• Gateway startup can print this warning even when WhatsApp is disabled:
  • channels.whatsapp.groupPolicy is "allowlist" but groupAllowFrom (and allowFrom) is empty
• On my VPS I saw the health mismatch and the warning at the same time while Slack Socket Mode was already connected.

Expected behavior

• openclaw health --json should reflect the live runtime snapshot for channel/account state that already exists in the running gateway.
• Doctor should skip disabled channels/accounts when checking empty allowlist warnings.

Repro notes

1. Update to 2026.3.2.
2. Use a config with Slack enabled and configured, and WhatsApp set to enabled: false.
3. Start or restart openclaw-gateway.
4. Compare openclaw channels status --json with openclaw health --json.
5. Check startup logs for doctor warnings.

Environment:

• Linux VPS
• systemd --user gateway service
• Slack enabled from config
• WhatsApp disabled in config

Proposed fix

• Overlay the gateway runtime snapshot onto the refreshed health cache before serving/broadcasting health.
• Skip disabled channels/accounts in detectEmptyAllowlistPolicy().
• I have a patch ready and will open a PR linked to this issue.