Bug type

Regression (worked before, now fails)

Summary

After upgrading to OpenClaw 2026.3.12 (from 2026.3.8), the local CLI commands:

• openclaw devices list
• openclaw devices approve --latest

became unreliable/broken against a local loopback gateway.

Observed failures include:

• gateway timeout after 10000ms
• gateway closed (1000 normal closure): no close reason

However:

• the gateway service is running
• openclaw gateway status may report RPC probe: ok
• openclaw status may intermittently work or fail depending on config/state
• once the web UI was paired using 2026.3.8, it continued to work after upgrading back to 2026.3.12

This strongly suggests a regression in the devices CLI flow (or its gateway handshake path) in 2026.3.12.

Steps to reproduce

With gateway running locally on loopback:

openclaw gateway status
openclaw devices list
openclaw devices approve --latest

Observed results
gateway connect failed: Error: gateway closed (1000):
[openclaw] Failed to start CLI: Error: gateway closed (1000 normal closure): no close reason
Gateway target: ws://127.0.0.1:18789
Source: local loopback
Config: /home/user/.openclaw/openclaw.json
Bind: loopback
at Object.onClose (file:///home/user/.npm-global/lib/node_modules/openclaw/dist/auth-profiles-iXW75sRj.js:57890:10)
at WebSocket. (file:///home/user/.npm-global/lib/node_modules/openclaw/dist/auth-profiles-iXW75sRj.js:57019:23)
at WebSocket.emit (node:events:519:28)
at WebSocket.emitClose (/home/user/.npm-global/lib/node_modules/openclaw/node_modules/ws/lib/websocket.js:273:10)
at Socket.socketOnClose (/home/user/.npm-global/lib/node_modules/openclaw/node_modules/ws/lib/websocket.js:1346:15)
at Socket.emit (node:events:519:28)
at TCP. (node:net:346:12)

Also:

openclaw gateway probe

Reports:
Gateway Status
Reachable: no
Probe budget: 3000ms

Discovery (this machine)
Found 0 gateways via Bonjour (local.)
Tip: if the gateway is remote, mDNS won’t cross networks; use Wide-Area Bonjour (split DNS) or SSH tunnels.

Targets
Local loopback ws://127.0.0.1:18789
Connect: failed - timeout

While at the same time
openclaw gateway status

Shows:
Runtime: running
RPC probe: ok
Listening: 127.0.0.1:18789

Expected behavior

On 2026.3.12, with a running local gateway on loopback:

openclaw devices list
openclaw devices approve --latest

should succeed consistently, just as they did on 2026.3.8.

Actual behavior

On 2026.3.12, those commands fail with:

local gateway timeout
websocket close 1000/no reason

even though the gateway service is up and the web UI can remain functional.

OpenClaw version

2026.3.12

Operating system

Ubuntu 24.04

Install method

npm global

Model

gpt 5.4

Provider / routing chain

openclaw -> OpenAI oAuth -> gpt 5.4

Config file / key location

No response

Additional provider/model setup details

No response

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Impact and severity

Impossible to pair any new device without reversing to version 2026.3.8 where devices list / approve always works.

Additional information

No response