> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://zju-a00451d9-feat-personal-agent-team.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Gateway Runbook

# Gateway runbook

Use this page for day-1 startup and day-2 operations of the Gateway service.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Deep troubleshooting" icon="siren" href="/gateway/troubleshooting">
    Symptom-first diagnostics with exact command ladders and log signatures.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Configuration" icon="sliders" href="/gateway/configuration">
    Task-oriented setup guide + full configuration reference.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Secrets management" icon="key-round" href="/gateway/secrets">
    SecretRef contract, runtime snapshot behavior, and migrate/reload operations.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Secrets plan contract" icon="shield-check" href="/gateway/secrets-plan-contract">
    Exact `secrets apply` target/path rules and ref-only auth-profile behavior.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## 5-minute local startup

<Steps>
  <Step title="Start the Gateway">
    ```bash theme={null}
    velaclaw gateway --port 18789
    # debug/trace mirrored to stdio
    velaclaw gateway --port 18789 --verbose
    # force-kill listener on selected port, then start
    velaclaw gateway --force
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Verify service health">
    ```bash theme={null}
    velaclaw gateway status
    velaclaw status
    velaclaw logs --follow
    ```

    Healthy baseline: `Runtime: running` and `RPC probe: ok`.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Validate channel readiness">
    ```bash theme={null}
    velaclaw channels status --probe
    ```

    With a reachable gateway this runs live per-account channel probes and optional audits.
    If the gateway is unreachable, the CLI falls back to config-only channel summaries instead
    of live probe output.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  Gateway config reload watches the active config file path (resolved from profile/state defaults, or `VELACLAW_CONFIG_PATH` when set).
  Default mode is `gateway.reload.mode="hybrid"`.
  After the first successful load, the running process serves the active in-memory config snapshot; successful reload swaps that snapshot atomically.
</Note>

## Runtime model

* One always-on process for routing, control plane, and channel connections.
* Single multiplexed port for:
  * WebSocket control/RPC
  * HTTP APIs, OpenAI compatible (`/v1/models`, `/v1/embeddings`, `/v1/chat/completions`, `/v1/responses`, `/tools/invoke`)
  * Control UI and hooks
* Default bind mode: `loopback`.
* Auth is required by default. Shared-secret setups use
  `gateway.auth.token` / `gateway.auth.password` (or
  `VELACLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN` / `VELACLAW_GATEWAY_PASSWORD`), and non-loopback
  reverse-proxy setups can use `gateway.auth.mode: "trusted-proxy"`.

## OpenAI-compatible endpoints

Velaclaw’s highest-leverage compatibility surface is now:

* `GET /v1/models`
* `GET /v1/models/{id}`
* `POST /v1/embeddings`
* `POST /v1/chat/completions`
* `POST /v1/responses`

Why this set matters:

* Most Open WebUI, LobeChat, and LibreChat integrations probe `/v1/models` first.
* Many RAG and memory pipelines expect `/v1/embeddings`.
* Agent-native clients increasingly prefer `/v1/responses`.

Planning note:

* `/v1/models` is agent-first: it returns `velaclaw`, `velaclaw/default`, and `velaclaw/<agentId>`.
* `velaclaw/default` is the stable alias that always maps to the configured default agent.
* Use `x-velaclaw-model` when you want a backend provider/model override; otherwise the selected agent's normal model and embedding setup stays in control.

All of these run on the main Gateway port and use the same trusted operator auth boundary as the rest of the Gateway HTTP API.

### Port and bind precedence

| Setting      | Resolution order                                              |
| ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Gateway port | `--port` → `VELACLAW_GATEWAY_PORT` → `gateway.port` → `18789` |
| Bind mode    | CLI/override → `gateway.bind` → `loopback`                    |

### Hot reload modes

| `gateway.reload.mode` | Behavior                                   |
| --------------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| `off`                 | No config reload                           |
| `hot`                 | Apply only hot-safe changes                |
| `restart`             | Restart on reload-required changes         |
| `hybrid` (default)    | Hot-apply when safe, restart when required |

## Operator command set

```bash theme={null}
velaclaw gateway status
velaclaw gateway status --deep   # adds a system-level service scan
velaclaw gateway status --json
velaclaw gateway install
velaclaw gateway restart
velaclaw gateway stop
velaclaw secrets reload
velaclaw logs --follow
velaclaw doctor
```

`gateway status --deep` is for extra service discovery (LaunchDaemons/systemd system
units/schtasks), not a deeper RPC health probe.

## Multiple gateways (same host)

Most installs should run one gateway per machine. A single gateway can host multiple
agents and channels.

You only need multiple gateways when you intentionally want isolation or a rescue bot.

Useful checks:

```bash theme={null}
velaclaw gateway status --deep
velaclaw gateway probe
```

What to expect:

* `gateway status --deep` can report `Other gateway-like services detected (best effort)`
  and print cleanup hints when stale launchd/systemd/schtasks installs are still around.
* `gateway probe` can warn about `multiple reachable gateways` when more than one target
  answers.
* If that is intentional, isolate ports, config/state, and workspace roots per gateway.

Detailed setup: [/gateway/multiple-gateways](/gateway/multiple-gateways).

## Remote access

Preferred: Tailscale/VPN.
Fallback: SSH tunnel.

```bash theme={null}
ssh -N -L 18789:127.0.0.1:18789 user@host
```

Then connect clients locally to `ws://127.0.0.1:18789`.

<Warning>
  SSH tunnels do not bypass gateway auth. For shared-secret auth, clients still
  must send `token`/`password` even over the tunnel. For identity-bearing modes,
  the request still has to satisfy that auth path.
</Warning>

See: [Remote Gateway](/gateway/remote), [Authentication](/gateway/authentication), [Tailscale](/gateway/tailscale).

## Supervision and service lifecycle

Use supervised runs for production-like reliability.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="macOS (launchd)">
    ```bash theme={null}
    velaclaw gateway install
    velaclaw gateway status
    velaclaw gateway restart
    velaclaw gateway stop
    ```

    LaunchAgent labels are `ai.velaclaw.gateway` (default) or `ai.velaclaw.<profile>` (named profile). `velaclaw doctor` audits and repairs service config drift.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Linux (systemd user)">
    ```bash theme={null}
    velaclaw gateway install
    systemctl --user enable --now velaclaw-gateway[-<profile>].service
    velaclaw gateway status
    ```

    For persistence after logout, enable lingering:

    ```bash theme={null}
    sudo loginctl enable-linger <user>
    ```

    Manual user-unit example when you need a custom install path:

    ```ini theme={null}
    [Unit]
    Description=Velaclaw Gateway
    After=network-online.target
    Wants=network-online.target

    [Service]
    ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/velaclaw gateway --port 18789
    Restart=always
    RestartSec=5
    TimeoutStopSec=30
    TimeoutStartSec=30
    SuccessExitStatus=0 143
    KillMode=control-group

    [Install]
    WantedBy=default.target
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Windows (native)">
    ```powershell theme={null}
    velaclaw gateway install
    velaclaw gateway status --json
    velaclaw gateway restart
    velaclaw gateway stop
    ```

    Native Windows managed startup uses a Scheduled Task named `Velaclaw Gateway`
    (or `Velaclaw Gateway (<profile>)` for named profiles). If Scheduled Task
    creation is denied, Velaclaw falls back to a per-user Startup-folder launcher
    that points at `gateway.cmd` inside the state directory.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Linux (system service)">
    Use a system unit for multi-user/always-on hosts.

    ```bash theme={null}
    sudo systemctl daemon-reload
    sudo systemctl enable --now velaclaw-gateway[-<profile>].service
    ```

    Use the same service body as the user unit, but install it under
    `/etc/systemd/system/velaclaw-gateway[-<profile>].service` and adjust
    `ExecStart=` if your `velaclaw` binary lives elsewhere.
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## Multiple gateways on one host

Most setups should run **one** Gateway.
Use multiple only for strict isolation/redundancy (for example a rescue profile).

Checklist per instance:

* Unique `gateway.port`
* Unique `VELACLAW_CONFIG_PATH`
* Unique `VELACLAW_STATE_DIR`
* Unique `agents.defaults.workspace`

Example:

```bash theme={null}
VELACLAW_CONFIG_PATH=~/.velaclaw/a.json VELACLAW_STATE_DIR=~/.velaclaw-a velaclaw gateway --port 19001
VELACLAW_CONFIG_PATH=~/.velaclaw/b.json VELACLAW_STATE_DIR=~/.velaclaw-b velaclaw gateway --port 19002
```

See: [Multiple gateways](/gateway/multiple-gateways).

### Dev profile quick path

```bash theme={null}
velaclaw --dev setup
velaclaw --dev gateway --allow-unconfigured
velaclaw --dev status
```

Defaults include isolated state/config and base gateway port `19001`.

## Protocol quick reference (operator view)

* First client frame must be `connect`.
* Gateway returns `hello-ok` snapshot (`presence`, `health`, `stateVersion`, `uptimeMs`, limits/policy).
* `hello-ok.features.methods` / `events` are a conservative discovery list, not
  a generated dump of every callable helper route.
* Requests: `req(method, params)` → `res(ok/payload|error)`.
* Common events include `connect.challenge`, `agent`, `chat`,
  `session.message`, `session.tool`, `sessions.changed`, `presence`, `tick`,
  `health`, `heartbeat`, pairing/approval lifecycle events, and `shutdown`.

Agent runs are two-stage:

1. Immediate accepted ack (`status:"accepted"`)
2. Final completion response (`status:"ok"|"error"`), with streamed `agent` events in between.

See full protocol docs: [Gateway Protocol](/gateway/protocol).

## Operational checks

### Liveness

* Open WS and send `connect`.
* Expect `hello-ok` response with snapshot.

### Readiness

```bash theme={null}
velaclaw gateway status
velaclaw channels status --probe
velaclaw health
```

### Gap recovery

Events are not replayed. On sequence gaps, refresh state (`health`, `system-presence`) before continuing.

## Common failure signatures

| Signature                                                      | Likely issue                                                                    |
| -------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `refusing to bind gateway ... without auth`                    | Non-loopback bind without a valid gateway auth path                             |
| `another gateway instance is already listening` / `EADDRINUSE` | Port conflict                                                                   |
| `Gateway start blocked: set gateway.mode=local`                | Config set to remote mode, or local-mode stamp is missing from a damaged config |
| `unauthorized` during connect                                  | Auth mismatch between client and gateway                                        |

For full diagnosis ladders, use [Gateway Troubleshooting](/gateway/troubleshooting).

## Safety guarantees

* Gateway protocol clients fail fast when Gateway is unavailable (no implicit direct-channel fallback).
* Invalid/non-connect first frames are rejected and closed.
* Graceful shutdown emits `shutdown` event before socket close.

***

Related:

* [Troubleshooting](/gateway/troubleshooting)
* [Background Process](/gateway/background-process)
* [Configuration](/gateway/configuration)
* [Health](/gateway/health)
* [Doctor](/gateway/doctor)
* [Authentication](/gateway/authentication)