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Android App (Node)

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Support snapshot

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System control

System control (launchd/systemd) lives on the Gateway host. See Gateway.

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Connection Runbook

Android node app ⇄ (mDNS/NSD + TCP bridge) ⇄ Gateway bridge ⇄ (loopback WS) ⇄ Gateway The Gateway WebSocket stays loopback-only (ws://127.0.0.1:18789). Android talks to the LAN-facing bridge (default tcp://0.0.0.0:18790) and uses Gateway-owned pairing.

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Prerequisites

  • You can run the Gateway on the “master” machine.
  • Android device/emulator can reach the gateway bridge:
    • Same LAN with mDNS/NSD, or
    • Same Tailscale tailnet using Wide-Area Bonjour / unicast DNS-SD (see below), or
    • Manual bridge host/port (fallback)
  • You can run the CLI (clawdbot) on the gateway machine (or via SSH).

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1) Start the Gateway (with bridge enabled)

Bridge is enabled by default (disable via CLAWDBOT_BRIDGE_ENABLED=0). 
clawdbot gateway --port 18789 --verbose
Confirm in logs you see something like:
  • bridge listening on tcp://0.0.0.0:18790 (node)
For tailnet-only setups (recommended for Vienna ⇄ London), bind the bridge to the gateway machine’s Tailscale IP instead:
  • Set bridge.bind: "tailnet" in ~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json on the gateway host.
  • Restart the Gateway / macOS menubar app.

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2) Verify discovery (optional)

From the gateway machine: 
dns-sd -B _clawdbot-bridge._tcp local.
More debugging notes: docs/bonjour.md.

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Tailnet (Vienna ⇄ London) discovery via unicast DNS-SD

Android NSD/mDNS discovery won’t cross networks. If your Android node and the gateway are on different networks but connected via Tailscale, use Wide-Area Bonjour / unicast DNS-SD instead:
  1. Set up a DNS-SD zone (example clawdbot.internal.) on the gateway host and publish _clawdbot-bridge._tcp records.
  2. Configure Tailscale split DNS for clawdbot.internal pointing at that DNS server.
Details and example CoreDNS config: docs/bonjour.md.

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3) Connect from Android

In the Android app:
  • The app keeps its bridge connection alive via a foreground service (persistent notification).
  • Open Settings.
  • Under Discovered Bridges, select your gateway and hit Connect.
  • If mDNS is blocked, use Advanced → Manual Bridge (host + port) and Connect (Manual).
After the first successful pairing, Android auto-reconnects on launch:
  • Manual endpoint (if enabled), otherwise
  • The last discovered bridge (best-effort).

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4) Approve pairing (CLI)

On the gateway machine: 
clawdbot nodes pending
clawdbot nodes approve <requestId>
Pairing details: docs/gateway/pairing.md.

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5) Verify the node is connected

  • Via nodes status: 
    clawdbot nodes status
  • Via Gateway: 
    clawdbot gateway call node.list --params "{}"

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6) Chat + history

The Android node’s Chat sheet uses the gateway’s primary session key (main), so history and replies are shared with WebChat and other clients:
  • History: chat.history
  • Send: chat.send
  • Push updates (best-effort): chat.subscribe → event:"chat"

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7) Canvas + camera

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Gateway Canvas Host (recommended for web content)

If you want the node to show real HTML/CSS/JS that the agent can edit on disk, point the node at the Gateway canvas host. Note: nodes always use the standalone canvas host on canvasHost.port (default 18793), bound to the bridge interface.
  1. Create ~/clawd/canvas/index.html on the gateway host.
  2. Navigate the node to it (LAN): 
clawdbot nodes invoke --node "<Android Node>" --command canvas.navigate --params '{"url":"http://<gateway-hostname>.local:18793/__clawdbot__/canvas/"}'
Tailnet (optional): if both devices are on Tailscale, use a MagicDNS name or tailnet IP instead of .local, e.g. http://<gateway-magicdns>:18793/__clawdbot__/canvas/. This server injects a live-reload client into HTML and reloads on file changes. The A2UI host lives at http://<gateway-host>:18793/__clawdbot__/a2ui/. Canvas commands (foreground only):
  • canvas.eval, canvas.snapshot, canvas.navigate (use {"url":""} or {"url":"/"} to return to the default scaffold). canvas.snapshot returns { format, base64 } (default format="jpeg").
  • A2UI: canvas.a2ui.push, canvas.a2ui.reset (canvas.a2ui.pushJSONL legacy alias)
Camera commands (foreground only; permission-gated):
  • camera.snap (jpg)
  • camera.clip (mp4)
See docs/camera.md for parameters and CLI helpers.