Bug type

Behavior bug (incorrect output/state without crash)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

The Control UI Open action does not show actionable feedback when config.openFile fails in a headless VPS environment.

Steps to reproduce

1. Run OpenClaw 2026.5.6 in a headless VPS environment.
2. Open the OpenClaw Control UI in a browser.
3. Go to the configuration area.
4. Click the Open button.
5. Observe that no useful UI feedback is shown.
6. Check gateway logs and confirm config.openFile failed with xdg-open: no method available.

Expected behavior

The Control UI should show an actionable error message when external file opening is unavailable, such as the file path and a note that the environment is headless.

Actual behavior

The Open action does not provide useful feedback in the UI. Gateway logs show that xdg-open failed because no graphical or terminal browser handler is available.

OpenClaw version

2026.5.6 (c97b9f7)

Operating system

Linux headless environment on Hostinger VPS.

Install method

Hostinger OpenClaw deployment / VPS-hosted environment

Model

google/gemini-2.5-flash

Provider / routing chain

openclaw -> google/gemini-2.5-flash

Additional provider/model setup details

No response

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

OpenClaw 2026.5.6 (c97b9f7)

config.openFile failed path=/data/.openclaw/openclaw.json: Command failed: xdg-open /data/.openclaw/openclaw.json

/usr/bin/xdg-open: 1032: www-browser: not found
/usr/bin/xdg-open: 1032: links2: not found
/usr/bin/xdg-open: 1032: elinks: not found
/usr/bin/xdg-open: 1032: links: not found
/usr/bin/xdg-open: 1032: lynx: not found
/usr/bin/xdg-open: 1032: w3m: not found

xdg-open: no method available for opening '/data/.openclaw/openclaw.json'

gateway/ws res ✓ config.openFile

Impact and severity

Affected: users running OpenClaw Control UI in a headless VPS/container environment.

Severity: Medium. It blocks opening/editing the config through the UI, but CLI workarounds still exist.

Frequency: Observed repeatedly when clicking the Open action in this environment.

Consequence: users may think the Control UI is broken because no actionable feedback is shown.

Additional information

This issue is not about removing xdg-open.
The desktop behavior can remain unchanged. The requested improvement is to handle config.openFile failure more clearly in the Control UI.
A possible improvement would be to show a toast or inline message:
"Could not open file externally. This environment appears to be headless. File path: /data/.openclaw/openclaw.json"