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CLI commands

Run OpenClaw as an MCP server

This page covers the openclaw mcp serve path: OpenClaw acting as an MCP server over stdio, its tools, its event model, and its limits.

OpenClaw as an MCP server

This is the openclaw mcp serve path.

When to use serve

Use openclaw mcp serve when:

  • Codex, Claude Code, or another MCP client should talk directly to OpenClaw-backed channel conversations
  • you already have a local or remote OpenClaw Gateway with routed sessions
  • you want one MCP server that works across OpenClaw's channel backends instead of running separate per-channel bridges

Use openclaw acp instead when OpenClaw should host the coding runtime itself and keep the agent session inside OpenClaw.

How it works

openclaw mcp serve starts a stdio MCP server. The MCP client owns that process. While the client keeps the stdio session open, the bridge connects to a local or remote OpenClaw Gateway over WebSocket and exposes routed channel conversations over MCP.

  • Client spawns the bridge

    The MCP client spawns openclaw mcp serve.

  • Bridge connects to Gateway

    The bridge connects to the OpenClaw Gateway over WebSocket.

  • Sessions become MCP conversations

    Routed sessions become MCP conversations and transcript/history tools.

  • Live events queue

    Live events are queued in memory while the bridge is connected.

  • Optional Claude push

    If Claude channel mode is enabled, the same session can also receive Claude-specific push notifications.

    • Important behavior
    • live queue state starts when the bridge connects
    • older transcript history is read with messages_read
    • Claude push notifications only exist while the MCP session is alive
    • when the client disconnects, the bridge exits and the live queue is gone
    • cancelling an events_wait request immediately releases its server-side wait and timeout
    • bridge or MCP transport close failures make openclaw mcp serve fail instead of reporting a clean shutdown
    • one-shot agent entry points such as openclaw agent and openclaw infer model run retire any bundled MCP runtimes they open when the reply completes, so repeated scripted runs do not accumulate stdio MCP child processes
    • stdio MCP servers launched by OpenClaw (bundled or user-configured) are torn down as a process tree on shutdown, so child subprocesses started by the server do not survive after the parent stdio client exits
    • deleting or resetting a session disposes that session's MCP clients through the shared runtime cleanup path, so there are no lingering stdio connections tied to a removed session

    Choose a client mode

    Generic MCP clients

    Standard MCP tools only. Use conversations_list, messages_read, events_poll, events_wait, messages_send, and the approval tools.

    Claude Code

    Standard MCP tools plus the Claude-specific channel adapter. Enable --claude-channel-mode on or leave the default auto.

    What serve exposes

    The bridge uses existing Gateway session route metadata to expose channel-backed conversations. A conversation appears when OpenClaw already has session state with a known route such as:

    • channel
    • recipient or destination metadata
    • optional accountId
    • optional threadId

    This gives MCP clients one place to:

    • list recent routed conversations
    • read recent transcript history
    • wait for new inbound events
    • send a reply back through the same route
    • see approval requests that arrive while the bridge is connected

    Usage

    Local Gateway

    bash
    openclaw mcp serve

    Remote Gateway (token)

    bash
    openclaw mcp serve --url wss://gateway-host:18789 --token-file ~/.openclaw/gateway.token

    Remote Gateway (password)

    bash
    openclaw mcp serve --url wss://gateway-host:18789 --password-file ~/.openclaw/gateway.password

    Verbose / Claude off

    bash
    openclaw mcp serve --verboseopenclaw mcp serve --claude-channel-mode off

    Bridge tools

    conversations_list

    Lists recent session-backed conversations that already have route metadata in Gateway session state.

    Filters: limit (max 500), search, channel, includeDerivedTitles, includeLastMessage.

    conversation_get

    Returns one conversation by session_key using a direct Gateway session lookup.

    messages_read

    Reads recent transcript messages for one session-backed conversation. limit defaults to 20, max 200.

    attachments_fetch

    Extracts non-text message content blocks and canonical persisted media metadata from one transcript message. Persisted entries use { "type": "openclaw_media", "media": { ... } }, where media can include url, contentType, kind, fileName, dimensions, duration, or size. This is a metadata view, not a standalone durable attachment blob store.

    events_poll

    Reads queued live events since a numeric cursor. limit max 200. If the requested cursor predates retained queue history, the result also includes gap.requested_after_cursor and gap.oldest_available_cursor.

    events_wait

    Long-polls until the next matching queued event arrives or a timeout expires (default 30s, max 300s).

    Use this when a generic MCP client needs near-real-time delivery without a Claude-specific push protocol. A known cursor gap returns immediately with the same additive gap metadata, even when no matching event is currently retained.

    messages_send

    Sends text back through the same route already recorded on the session.

    Current behavior:

    • requires an existing conversation route
    • uses the session's channel, recipient, account id, and thread id
    • sends text only
    permissions_list_open

    Lists pending exec/plugin approval requests the bridge has observed since it connected to the Gateway.

    permissions_respond

    Resolves one pending exec/plugin approval request with:

    • allow-once
    • allow-always
    • deny

    Event model

    The bridge keeps an in-memory event queue while it is connected.

    Current event types:

    • message
    • exec_approval_requested
    • exec_approval_resolved
    • plugin_approval_requested
    • plugin_approval_resolved
    • claude_permission_request

    Claude channel notifications

    The bridge can also expose Claude-specific channel notifications. This is the OpenClaw equivalent of a Claude Code channel adapter: standard MCP tools remain available, but live inbound messages can also arrive as Claude-specific MCP notifications.

    off

    --claude-channel-mode off: standard MCP tools only.

    on

    --claude-channel-mode on: enable Claude channel notifications.

    auto (default)

    --claude-channel-mode auto: current default; same bridge behavior as on.

    When Claude channel mode is enabled, the server advertises Claude experimental capabilities and can emit:

    • notifications/claude/channel
    • notifications/claude/channel/permission

    Current bridge behavior:

    • inbound user transcript messages are forwarded as notifications/claude/channel
    • Claude permission requests received over MCP are tracked in-memory
    • if the command owner in the linked conversation later sends yes <id> or no <id> (<id> is the 5-letter request id, excluding l), the bridge converts that to notifications/claude/channel/permission
    • these notifications are live-session only; if the MCP client disconnects, there is no push target

    This is intentionally client-specific. Generic MCP clients should rely on the standard polling tools.

    MCP client config

    Example stdio client config:

    json
    {  "mcpServers": {    "openclaw": {      "command": "openclaw",      "args": [        "mcp",        "serve",        "--url",        "wss://gateway-host:18789",        "--token-file",        "/path/to/gateway.token"      ]    }  }}

    For most generic MCP clients, start with the standard tool surface and ignore Claude mode. Turn Claude mode on only for clients that actually understand the Claude-specific notification methods.

    Options

    openclaw mcp serve supports:

    --urlstring

    Gateway WebSocket URL. Defaults to gateway.remote.url when configured.

    --tokenstring

    Gateway token.

    --token-filestring

    Read token from file.

    --passwordstring

    Gateway password.

    --password-filestring

    Read password from file.

    --claude-channel-mode"auto" | "on" | "off"

    Claude notification mode. Default auto.

    -v, --verboseboolean

    Verbose logs on stderr.

    Security and trust boundary

    The bridge does not invent routing. It only exposes conversations that Gateway already knows how to route.

    That means:

    • sender allowlists, pairing, and channel-level trust still belong to the underlying OpenClaw channel configuration
    • messages_send can only reply through an existing stored route
    • approval state is live/in-memory only for the current bridge session
    • bridge auth should use the same Gateway token or password controls you would trust for any other remote Gateway client

    If a conversation is missing from conversations_list, the usual cause is not MCP configuration. It is missing or incomplete route metadata in the underlying Gateway session.

    Testing

    OpenClaw ships a deterministic Docker smoke for this bridge:

    bash
    pnpm test:docker:mcp-channels

    That smoke runs a single container: it seeds conversation state, starts the Gateway, then spawns openclaw mcp serve as a stdio child process and drives it as an MCP client. It verifies conversation discovery, transcript reads, attachment metadata reads, live event queue behavior, and Claude-style channel and permission notifications over the real stdio MCP bridge. Outbound send routing (messages_send reusing the stored conversation route) is covered separately by unit tests in src/mcp/channel-server.test.ts.

    This is the fastest way to prove the bridge works without wiring a real Telegram, Discord, or iMessage account into the test run.

    For broader testing context, see Testing.

    Troubleshooting

    No conversations returned

    Usually means the Gateway session is not already routable. Confirm that the underlying session has stored channel/provider, recipient, and optional account/thread route metadata.

    events_poll or events_wait misses older messages

    The live queue starts when the bridge connects and retains a bounded window. If a result includes gap, read durable transcript history with messages_read, then resume with after_cursor set to one less than gap.oldest_available_cursor.

    Claude notifications do not show up

    Check all of these:

    • the client kept the stdio MCP session open
    • --claude-channel-mode is on or auto
    • the client actually understands the Claude-specific notification methods
    • the inbound message happened after the bridge connected
    Approvals are missing

    permissions_list_open only shows approval requests observed while the bridge was connected. It is not a durable approval history API.

    Current limits

    This page documents the bridge as shipped today.

    Current limits:

    • conversation discovery depends on existing Gateway session route metadata
    • no generic push protocol beyond the Claude-specific adapter
    • no message edit or react tools yet
    • HTTP/SSE/streamable-http transport connects to a single remote server; no multiplexed upstream yet
    • permissions_list_open only includes approvals observed while the bridge is connected
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