OpenClaw Errors Explained: A Complete Troubleshooting Guide

TL;DR: OpenClaw errors range from genuinely helpful to completely misleading. This guide covers every common error message: session file path violations, channel config schema failures, config validation errors, model allowlist blocks, scope enforcement, and more. Each error includes what causes it, when you’ll see it, and the verified fix. For silent failures that produce no error message at all, see our OpenClaw production gotchas guide.

Contents

• Session File Path Must Be Within Sessions Directory
• Channel Config Schema Unavailable
• OpenClaw Doctor –fix: What It Does and When to Use It
• Config Validation Failed: agent.* Was Moved, Use agents.defaults
• Model Not Allowed
• Missing Scope: operator.read
• Message Ordering Conflict
• Gateway Already Running (PID Lock Timeout)
• Unsupported Schema Node: Use Raw Mode
• Reload Config vs Restart: What Actually Applies Your Changes
• Doctor –non-interactive: Automated Diagnostics
• Models, Config Keys, and ThinkingDefault
• Missing Tool Result in Session History: Inserted Synthetic
• Form View Can’t Safely Edit Some Fields
• Quick Diagnosis Flowchart
• Key Takeaways
• FAQ

OpenClaw troubleshooting starts with one question: is there actually an error message?

If there isn’t, you want our OpenClaw production gotchas guide. That post covers silent failures: things that break without logging a single line. This post is the opposite. You have an error message on your screen right now, you pasted it into Google, and you need to know what it means and how to fix it.

After running OpenClaw in production for over 30 days and reading through hundreds of community reports, we’ve compiled every common OpenClaw error message into one reference. Some of these are first-party incidents we debugged ourselves. Others come from source code analysis of the OpenClaw codebase. A few are community-reported fixes we’ve verified against the source. We’ll be transparent about which is which.

If you haven’t deployed yet, start with our OpenClaw setup guide . If you’re deployed and something just broke, keep reading.

Session File Path Must Be Within Sessions Directory

The error:

Error: session file path must be within sessions directory

When you see it: Starting a session, running a cron job, or during doctor checks.

Why it happens: OpenClaw enforces that all session files live within the designated sessions directory, typically ~/.openclaw/sessions/. If the OpenClaw session file path resolves to anywhere outside that directory, the gateway blocks it. This is a security boundary. It prevents path traversal attacks from escaping the session sandbox.

Based on the OpenClaw source code and community reports, the most common triggers are:

1. Docker volume mounts that miss the sessions directory. If you mount ~/.openclaw/config/ or individual subdirectories instead of the full ~/.openclaw/ tree, the sessions directory may not exist where the gateway expects it.

2. Symlinked ~/.openclaw/ directory. If the symlink target doesn’t preserve the expected subdirectory structure, path resolution escapes the sessions directory boundary. The gateway validates the resolved path, not the symlink path.

3. Stricter validation after upgrading. Per community threads on Answer Overflow, OpenClaw 2026.2.12 tightened session path validation. Symlinked session directories that worked on earlier versions started failing after the update.

4. Running as a different user. If the gateway runs as one user but the sessions directory is owned by another, path resolution can fail or produce unexpected results.

The fix: Verify your sessions directory exists and is directly accessible. No symlinks. For Docker, mount the full ~/.openclaw/ directory as a single volume instead of mounting individual subdirectories. For multi-user setups, confirm the running user owns ~/.openclaw/sessions/. If this started after an upgrade, check whether a previously-symlinked sessions directory needs to be converted to a real directory.

If sessions work interactively but cron jobs hit this error, see our gotchas guide on cron-specific session handling .

Channel Config Schema Unavailable

The error:

channel config schema unavailable

When you see it: Connecting to a messaging channel (Telegram, Discord, Slack), after upgrading OpenClaw, or when editing channel configuration through the UI.

Why it happens: OpenClaw loads channel schemas dynamically from installed plugins. When the plugin for your channel isn’t installed, isn’t the right version, or the schema registry can’t locate the channel definition, you get this error. It’s not a network issue. The “channel config schema unavailable” error is a local config problem.

Community reports on the Unraid forums and Answer Overflow consistently point to the same root cause: version mismatch between the OpenClaw gateway and its channel plugins.

Four things cause it:

1. Upgrading OpenClaw without upgrading channel plugins. The schema format changes between versions. Old plugins can’t provide schemas in the format the new gateway expects.

2. Docker images that lag behind npm packages. Some Docker images bundle older channel plugins than what’s available via npm. The gateway version is current, but its bundled plugins aren’t.

3. Using the form editor instead of raw JSON. The form view can’t render schemas it doesn’t understand. If the schema definition is missing or incompatible, the form editor throws this error even though the underlying config might be valid.

4. Channel plugin installed for a different major version. Plugins aren’t always backwards-compatible across OpenClaw major releases.

The fix:

1. Run openclaw doctor --fix first. It resolves many schema registry issues automatically.
2. If that fails, check installed plugins with openclaw plugins list. Reinstall the channel plugin for your current OpenClaw version.
3. For Docker deployments, pull the latest image. Older images often bundle outdated channel schemas.
4. If you just need to edit the config right now, switch to raw JSON mode. The form editor is the problem, not your config.

OpenClaw Doctor –fix: What It Does and When to Use It

The command:

openclaw doctor --fix

This is the most searched OpenClaw troubleshooting command, and for good reason. People want to know what it actually changes before running it.

What it does: Runs a diagnostic sweep of your OpenClaw installation and automatically repairs common issues:

1. Validates config against the current schema. Any key your version doesn’t recognize gets flagged.
2. Strips unrecognized keys. This is the big one. Keys from previous versions that were renamed, moved, or removed get deleted from your config file permanently.
3. Checks gateway connectivity.
4. Verifies session directory structure.
5. Validates auth profiles.
6. Checks for version mismatches between components.

What it changes (this is what people really want to know): It REMOVES config keys your current version doesn’t recognize. If you had tools.exec.enabled, tools.browser, or pairing keys from a previous version, doctor strips them. We learned this firsthand: after our second upgrade, doctor removed three keys we thought were valid. All were old key names from a previous naming convention that had been silently ignored. The moment doctor removed them, hot reload started working again. Invalid keys were blocking config reload with no error message.

When to use it:

• After every OpenClaw upgrade. Non-negotiable.
• When you see OpenClaw config validation failed errors.
• When hot reload stops working (invalid keys block reload silently).
• When “unsupported schema node” appears.
• When channel config schema errors show up.

When NOT to use it:

• The --non-interactive flag skips confirmations. Be careful on production systems with configs you haven’t backed up.
• It cannot fix auth or token issues. Gateway token mismatch requires token regeneration, not doctor. See our gotchas guide on gateway token mismatch for that.

Config Validation Failed: agent.* Was Moved, Use agents.defaults

The error:

config validation failed: agent.* was moved, use agents.defaults

Why it happens: OpenClaw restructured its config schema. Per-agent settings that used to live under agent. were moved to agents.defaults.. If your config still has agent.model, agent.thinkingLevel, or other agent.* keys, the gateway rejects it.

The fix: Run openclaw doctor --fix to auto-migrate. Or manually move settings from agent.* to agents.defaults.* in your config file. This is a one-time migration.

This error is actually one of the more helpful ones. It tells you exactly what’s wrong and exactly what to do about it. If only they were all this clear.

For the full story on what breaks during version upgrades, see our gotchas guide on upgrade-induced config drift .

Model Not Allowed

The error:

model not allowed

or:

model set failed: error: model not allowed

Why it happens: The model allowlist in agents.defaults.models restricts which models an agent can use. If you reference a model that isn’t on the list, OpenClaw blocks it.

Here’s the critical detail that burned us: the allowlist is enforced by cron jobs but NOT by interactive sessions. You can test a model change in an interactive session, watch it work perfectly, and walk away confident. Then your cron jobs fail overnight with “model not allowed” because cron execution actually checks the allowlist. Interactive sessions don’t.

The fix: Add the model to the allowlist in agents.defaults.models. Or remove the allowlist restriction entirely if you trust all your configured providers.

The trap: If you recently switched model providers and your crons broke, check the allowlist first. The config file, the session state, and the cron payload might all reference the correct model, but if the allowlist doesn’t include it, crons are dead. If you’re running local models through Ollama, this is one of several Ollama-specific gotchas — see our OpenClaw + Ollama local LLM guide for the full list including the context window trap and GGML_ASSERT crashes.

For the deeper explanation of why OpenClaw stores model config in four separate places, see our gotchas guide on the four model stores .

Missing Scope: operator.read

The error:

error: missing scope: operator.read

Why it happens: OpenClaw’s authorization system uses scopes to control what different devices and connections can do. The source code in the gateway’s server methods defines a clear hierarchy:

• operator.admin: Full access to everything. Config changes, wizard, agent management, session operations.
• operator.write: Can modify settings and trigger actions.
• operator.read: Can view status, logs, and read-only data.
• operator.pairing: Device pairing operations only.
• operator.approvals: Execution approval operations only.

If your device token or auth profile was created with limited scopes, any operation requiring operator.read or higher gets rejected. Note from the source: having operator.write scope also satisfies operator.read requirements, but not vice versa.

This error commonly appears when:

1. Your device was paired with restricted scopes (intentionally or by default).
2. You upgraded from a version that didn’t enforce scope checks to one that does.
3. You’re running admin-level commands (viewing config, checking status) with a limited token.

The fix: Re-pair your device with the appropriate scope level. For most operators, operator.admin is what you want unless you’re deliberately restricting access. Alternatively, regenerate your device token with the required scopes.

Message Ordering Conflict

The error:

message ordering conflict - please try again. if this persists, use /new to start a fresh session.

Why it happens: The session transcript has messages in an unexpected sequence. This usually happens when two operations write to the same session simultaneously, or when session recovery inserts messages in the wrong order.

The fix: The error message itself gives you the answer: try the operation again. If it persists, run /new to start a fresh session. If the problem follows you across new sessions, the session storage may have a corrupted file. Check ~/.openclaw/sessions/ for the affected session.

Prevention: Don’t run multiple commands against the same session simultaneously. If you use cron jobs, configure them to create their own sessions rather than reusing interactive ones.

Gateway Already Running (PID Lock Timeout)

The error:

gateway already running pid lock timeout

Why it happens: Another OpenClaw gateway process already holds the PID lock file, or a stale lock file remains from a process that crashed without cleaning up.

The fix:

1. Check for running processes: ps aux | grep openclaw or docker ps | grep openclaw.
2. If a process is actually running, decide whether you want to stop it first. Don’t blindly kill it without understanding why there are two.
3. If no process is running, the lock file is stale. Find and delete it.
4. For Docker deployments, verify you don’t have multiple containers mounting the same config volume. This is surprisingly easy to do during debugging when you’re starting test containers.

The trap: Don’t just kill the process and move on. If you accidentally started the gateway twice, killing one may leave orphan sessions in a bad state. Figure out which instance your agents were connected to before removing either one.

Unsupported Schema Node: Use Raw Mode

The error:

unsupported schema node. use raw mode.

Or the related warning:

form view can't safely edit some fields. use raw to avoid losing config entries.

Why it happens: The form-based config editor in OpenClaw’s Control UI encountered a config key it doesn’t have a UI component for. This does NOT mean the key is invalid. It means the form editor can’t render it as a form field. The key might be perfectly valid JSON that the gateway processes correctly. The form editor just doesn’t know how to draw a checkbox or dropdown for it.

The real danger: The form editor will silently DROP keys it can’t render. If you save from the form view, any fields the editor didn’t understand get removed from your config. You lose settings without any confirmation.

The fix: Switch to raw JSON mode for all config editing. The form view is convenient for simple settings, but raw mode shows the actual config file. For complex configurations with custom keys, agent-specific overrides, or anything the form view warns about, raw mode is the only safe option.

Reload Config vs Restart: What Actually Applies Your Changes

The question everyone asks: can you openclaw reload config without restart? Can you change settings without taking the gateway down?

The short answer: sometimes. The longer answer involves understanding what OpenClaw actually does when it “reloads.”

There is no dedicated reload command. OpenClaw doesn’t have openclaw reload or a SIGHUP handler like Nginx. What it has is hot reload: the gateway periodically re-reads certain config files and applies changes in memory. But the keyword is “certain.” Not all changes qualify.

What hot reloads (no restart needed):

• Browser profiles and CDP URLs
• Heartbeat intervals
• Model parameters within existing providers
• Agent channel bindings (Telegram, Discord)

What requires a full restart:

• Gateway port or bind address changes
• Adding or removing model providers
• Structural changes to agent configuration
• Changes to auth profiles or scopes

For Docker deployments: docker restart openclaw is your restart command. For bare metal: stop the process, then start it again. There’s no graceful reload signal.

The config overwrite trap: If you edit config files while the gateway is running, the gateway’s in-memory state may overwrite your changes on the next write cycle. This is the gateway race condition we documented in our production gotchas guide. The safe sequence is always: stop the gateway, make your changes, restart.

The practical approach: If you’re unsure whether a change hot reloads, just restart. A gateway restart takes seconds. Debugging a change that “didn’t apply” because it needed a restart you didn’t do takes much longer.

For more on the subtle failures that happen when hot reload silently skips your changes, see Hot Reload vs. Restart in our production gotchas guide.

Doctor –non-interactive: Automated Diagnostics

The command:

openclaw doctor --fix --non-interactive

The openclaw doctor --non-interactive flag does what the name suggests: it runs the full doctor --fix diagnostic sweep without prompting for confirmation on any fix. Every automatic repair gets applied silently.

When to use it:

• CI/CD pipelines. Run it after deploying a new OpenClaw version to auto-migrate config before the gateway starts.
• Update scripts. Chain it after docker pull in your update automation so config cleanup happens without human intervention.
• Cron-based maintenance. Schedule periodic doctor runs to catch config drift before it causes silent failures.

How it differs from regular doctor --fix: Regular doctor pauses before each fix and asks you to confirm. Non-interactive applies everything. If you have config keys you intentionally kept from a previous version (rare, but it happens), non-interactive strips them without warning.

Output format: Results go to stdout. Each fix prints a line describing what changed. Parse the output for “removed” or “migrated” strings if you need to log what happened. Exit code 0 means all checks passed or all fixes applied. Non-zero means something couldn’t be auto-fixed and needs manual attention.

The safety consideration: Back up your ~/.openclaw/ directory before running non-interactive in automation. Doctor is generally safe, but removing a config key is permanent. If doctor strips something your agents need, having a backup lets you diff and restore.

Models, Config Keys, and ThinkingDefault

Three related topics that people keep searching for: understanding models list output, managing config keys, and the openclaw thinkingdefault setting that trips up nearly everyone.

Models List: “Configured” vs “Missing”

When you run openclaw models list, the output shows each model with a status. “Configured” means the model exists in your config and the provider confirms it’s available. “Missing” means the model is referenced in your config but the provider can’t find it. This happens when you reference a model name that doesn’t exist on your inference server, or the provider API is unreachable.

If a model shows “missing,” check three things: Is the model name spelled correctly (including version suffixes)? Is the provider running? Is the provider’s API endpoint reachable from the gateway?

Deleting a Config Key

There is no openclaw config delete command. To remove a config key, you have two options:

1. Edit the JSON directly. Open your config file in raw mode and delete the key. Remember to stop the gateway first or your edit gets overwritten.
2. Run openclaw doctor --fix. Doctor automatically prunes keys your current version doesn’t recognize. If the key you want removed is genuinely invalid, doctor handles it.

Removing an Auth Profile

To remove a stale auth profile from models auth, delete the profile entry from your auth-profiles.json file. There’s no CLI command for selective profile removal. Stop the gateway, edit the file, restart. If you’re dealing with a token mismatch after upgrading , clear the gateway token from auth.json instead.

ThinkingDefault: The Key Name That Doesn’t Work

The openclaw config set agents.defaults.thinkingdefault query shows up because people find thinkingDefault in old guides or community posts and try to set it. Here’s the problem: the correct key path is agents.defaults.thinkingLevel, not thinkingDefault.

The thinkingDefault name appears in older documentation and some community configs. It was either a previous key name or a community convention that was never official. Setting thinkingDefault does nothing. No error. No warning. The gateway ignores it.

Valid values for agents.defaults.thinkingLevel: Check your version’s config schema for the current list. Common values control how much reasoning the model performs before responding.

The config level trap: thinkingLevel must be set under agents.defaults, not at the per-agent level. Setting it per-agent is silently ignored. This is the same pattern as other per-agent overrides that only work at the defaults level. See our Hot Reload vs. Restart section for more on settings that get silently dropped at the wrong config level.

If your model doesn’t support thinking mode: Setting thinkingLevel on a model without thinking capability is another silent failure. The setting is accepted, stored, and ignored at runtime.

For “model is not allowed” errors related to model configuration, see the Model Not Allowed section above.

Missing Tool Result in Session History: Inserted Synthetic

The message:

missing tool result in session history; inserted synthetic

When you see it: Session startup, session recovery after a crash, or when importing sessions from an older OpenClaw version.

What it means: A tool call exists in your session transcript, but the transcript has no corresponding result for that call. OpenClaw inserts a synthetic placeholder result to maintain the expected message ordering (every tool call must have a matching result for the conversation to parse correctly).

Why it happens:

1. Crash during tool execution. The tool call was recorded, the tool started running, then the process died before the result was written back.
2. Session import from an older version. Older transcript formats may not have stored tool results the same way.
3. Interrupted execution. A tool was killed mid-run (timeout, manual interrupt, container restart).

Is it harmful? Usually not. The synthetic result is a placeholder that lets the session continue. The agent may re-execute the tool on the next turn if it needs the output. That’s the intended recovery behavior.

When to worry: If the agent starts repeating actions or losing context after this message, the synthetic placeholder may be confusing its conversation state. Start a fresh session with /new.

When to ignore it: If the session is working normally, treat it as informational. It’s telling you a past tool execution was incomplete, not that anything is currently broken.

Form View Can’t Safely Edit Some Fields

The warning:

form view can't safely edit some fields. use raw to avoid losing data

This is the same root cause as the “unsupported schema node” error covered earlier. The form-based config editor doesn’t have field definitions for every possible config key.

What the warning means: If you switch to form view, the editor will DROP any keys it can’t render as form fields. Your config data for those keys is deleted when you save. This is not an error. It’s a protective warning: “I’m about to lose some of your data if you proceed.”

Respect this warning. Switch to raw JSON mode. The form editor is safe for basic settings (model selection, channel bindings, simple toggles). For anything involving custom keys, agent-specific overrides, or advanced config, raw mode is the only option that preserves your full configuration.

Quick Diagnosis Flowchart

When something breaks, start here:

Is there an error message?

• Yes → Find it in this guide above.
• No → Check our production gotchas guide . That post covers silent failures.

Did this happen after an upgrade?

• Yes → Run openclaw doctor --fix first. Then check the specific error if it persists. Snapshot ~/.openclaw/ before the next upgrade.

Is this a Docker deployment?

• Yes → Check three things: volume mounts (is the full ~/.openclaw/ directory mounted?), container recreation vs restart (docker compose restart preserves state, down && up may not), and image version (are your plugins current?).

Does the error only affect cron jobs, not interactive sessions?

• Yes → Check the model allowlist. Cron jobs enforce it, interactive sessions don’t. Also verify session directory permissions for the user running cron jobs.

Did you just re-pair a device or regenerate tokens?

• Yes → Check scopes. Limited scopes cause “missing scope” errors on operations the old token could handle.

Still stuck? The OpenClaw community is active on Discord and GitHub Issues. Bring your exact error message and your OpenClaw version number. “It doesn’t work” gets ignored. Exact error strings get answers.

Key Takeaways

• session file path must be within sessions directory is a security boundary, not a bug. Check volume mounts and symlinks.
• channel config schema unavailable means version mismatch between gateway and plugins. Run doctor, update plugins.
• openclaw doctor --fix should run after every upgrade. It strips invalid keys that silently block config reload.
• config validation failed: agent.* was moved is a one-time migration. Doctor handles it automatically.
• model not allowed is enforced by crons, not interactive sessions. Test with a cron job, not a chat session.
• missing scope: operator.read means your device token needs higher privileges. Re-pair with admin scope.
• unsupported schema node doesn’t mean invalid config. It means the form editor can’t render it. Use raw mode.
• There’s no openclaw reload command. Hot reload handles some changes; everything else needs a full restart.
• thinkingDefault is not a valid config key. Use agents.defaults.thinkingLevel instead.
• “Inserted synthetic” during session recovery is usually harmless. Start a new session with /new if behavior gets weird.
• Always snapshot ~/.openclaw/ before upgrading. Most of these errors happen post-upgrade.

For the 10 silent failures that produce NO error messages, see our production gotchas guide . For production-ready configs, security scripts, and fleet operations docs, see the OpenClaw Fleet Kit .

FAQ

How do I fix “session file path must be within sessions directory” in OpenClaw?

Verify your sessions directory exists at ~/.openclaw/sessions/ and is directly accessible without symlinks. For Docker, mount the full ~/.openclaw/ directory as one volume instead of mounting subdirectories individually. For multi-user setups, confirm the running user owns the sessions directory. If this broke after upgrading to 2026.2.12+, path validation became stricter and previously-tolerated symlinks may now fail.

Why does OpenClaw show “channel config schema unavailable”?

Version mismatch. Your OpenClaw gateway version and channel plugins aren’t compatible. This typically happens when you upgrade OpenClaw but the channel plugins stay on the old version. Run openclaw doctor --fix, then check openclaw plugins list and reinstall the channel plugin matching your current version. For Docker, pull the latest image, as older images bundle outdated plugin schemas.

What does openclaw doctor –fix actually do?

It validates your config against the current schema and removes any keys your version doesn’t recognize. It checks gateway connectivity, session directory structure, and auth profiles. The key behavior: it permanently deletes unrecognized config keys. This is usually helpful since old invalid keys silently block config hot reload. Run it after every upgrade. Back up your config first if you’re worried about losing custom settings.

How do I fix OpenClaw config validation failed?

Run openclaw doctor --fix to auto-migrate keys. The most common variant, agent.* was moved, use agents.defaults, means OpenClaw restructured its config schema and per-agent settings moved from agent.* to agents.defaults.*. Doctor handles this migration automatically. If it can’t, manually move your agent-level settings under the agents.defaults block in your config file.

Why does OpenClaw say model not allowed?

The model allowlist in agents.defaults.models blocks models not explicitly listed. The catch: interactive sessions bypass the check, but cron jobs enforce it. You can test a model interactively, see it work, and then watch cron jobs fail overnight. Add the model to your allowlist or remove the restriction if you trust all configured providers.

How do I fix missing scope: operator.read in OpenClaw?

Re-pair your device with the appropriate scope level. The operator.read scope is required for viewing status and logs. operator.write is required for config changes. operator.admin gives full access. If your device was paired with limited scopes, administrative operations get rejected. Regenerate your token or re-pair with broader permissions.

Why does OpenClaw show message ordering conflict?

The session transcript has messages out of sequence, usually from concurrent writes or failed session recovery. Run /new to start a fresh session. If it persists, check ~/.openclaw/sessions/ for corrupted session files. Prevent it by not running multiple commands against the same session simultaneously.

How do I fix gateway already running in OpenClaw?

Check for running gateway processes with ps aux | grep openclaw or docker ps. If nothing’s running, delete the stale PID lock file. If a process is running, stop it cleanly before starting a new one. For Docker, check that you don’t have multiple containers mounting the same ~/.openclaw/ volume.

What does unsupported schema node mean in OpenClaw?

The form config editor can’t render a UI field for that config key. The key itself may be perfectly valid. Switch to raw JSON mode to edit the config directly. Never save from the form view when you see this warning, since the form editor drops keys it can’t render, silently removing valid configuration.

How do I fix OpenClaw config errors after upgrading?

Run openclaw doctor --fix immediately after every upgrade. It auto-migrates renamed keys and strips ones the new version doesn’t recognize. Before upgrading, always snapshot ~/.openclaw/. After upgrading, test cron jobs explicitly since they enforce restrictions that interactive sessions bypass. Check release notes for schema changes and renamed fields.

How do I reload OpenClaw config without restarting?

OpenClaw doesn’t have a dedicated reload command. The gateway’s hot reload periodically re-reads config files and applies certain changes automatically: browser profiles, heartbeat intervals, model parameters, and channel bindings. But gateway port changes, provider additions, structural config changes, and auth profile updates all require a full restart. The safest approach: stop the gateway, make your changes, restart. If you edit config while the gateway is running, the in-memory state may overwrite your changes on the next write cycle.

What does openclaw doctor –non-interactive do?

The --non-interactive flag runs openclaw doctor --fix without asking for confirmation on each fix. All automatic repairs apply silently. This makes it suitable for CI/CD pipelines, update scripts, and cron-based maintenance where no human is available to approve each change. Output goes to stdout for programmatic parsing. Use regular doctor --fix when you want to review each fix before it applies.

What does “missing tool result in session history; inserted synthetic” mean?

A tool call in your session transcript has no matching result. OpenClaw inserts a synthetic placeholder to maintain message ordering. This typically happens after a crash during tool execution, during session recovery, or when importing sessions from older versions. The synthetic result is a placeholder. If the agent behaves unexpectedly afterward, start a fresh session with /new. Otherwise, it’s safe to ignore.

What does “form view can’t safely edit some fields” mean in OpenClaw?

The visual config editor doesn’t have form field definitions for all keys in your config. Switching to form view will silently drop keys it can’t render. This is a protective warning, not an error. Always use raw JSON mode for complex configurations. This is the same underlying issue as the “unsupported schema node” error.

Need help with your OpenClaw deployment? We run OpenClaw in production daily and can help you avoid these errors entirely. Learn about our OpenClaw deployment services .

Soli Deo Gloria