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Updating

Clawdbot is moving fast (pre “1.0”). Treat updates like shipping infra: update → run checks → restart → verify.

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Before you update

  • Know how you installed: global (npm/pnpm/bun) vs from source (git clone).
  • Know how your Gateway is running: foreground terminal vs supervised service (launchd/systemd).
  • Snapshot your tailoring:
    • Config: ~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json
    • Credentials: ~/.clawdbot/credentials/
    • Workspace: ~/clawd

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Update (global install)

Global install (pick one): 
npm i -g clawdbot@latest

pnpm add -g clawdbot@latest

bun add -g clawdbot@latest
Then: 
clawdbot doctor
clawdbot daemon restart
clawdbot health
Notes:
  • If your Gateway runs as a service, clawdbot daemon restart is preferred over killing PIDs.
  • If you’re pinned to a specific version, see “Rollback / pinning” below.

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Update (clawdbot update)

For source installs (git checkout), prefer: 
clawdbot update --restart
It runs a safe-ish update flow:
  • Requires a clean worktree.
  • Fetches + rebases against the configured upstream.
  • Installs deps, builds, builds the Control UI, and runs clawdbot doctor.
If you installed via npm/pnpm/bun (no git metadata), clawdbot update will skip. Use “Update (global install)” instead.

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Update (Control UI / RPC)

The Control UI has Update & Restart (RPC: update.run). It:
  1. Runs the same source-update flow as clawdbot update (git checkout only).
  2. Writes a restart sentinel with a structured report (stdout/stderr tail).
  3. Restarts the gateway and pings the last active session with the report.
If the rebase fails, the gateway aborts and restarts without applying the update.

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Update (from source)

From the repo checkout: Preferred: 
clawdbot update
Manual (equivalent-ish): 
git pull
pnpm install
pnpm build
pnpm ui:build # auto-installs UI deps on first run
pnpm clawdbot doctor
pnpm clawdbot health
Notes:
  • pnpm build matters when you run the packaged clawdbot binary (dist/entry.js) or use Node to run dist/.
  • If you run directly from TypeScript (pnpm clawdbot ... / bun run clawdbot ...), a rebuild is usually unnecessary, but config migrations still apply → run doctor.
  • Switching between global and git installs is easy: install the other flavor, then run clawdbot doctor so the gateway service entrypoint is rewritten to the current install.

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Always run: clawdbot doctor

Doctor is the “safe update” command. It’s intentionally boring: repair + migrate + warn. Note: if you’re on a source install (git checkout), clawdbot doctor will offer to run clawdbot update first. Typical things it does:
  • Migrate deprecated config keys / legacy config file locations.
  • Audit DM policies and warn on risky “open” settings.
  • Check Gateway health and can offer to restart.
  • Detect and migrate older gateway services (launchd/systemd; legacy schtasks) to current Clawdbot services.
  • On Linux, ensure systemd user lingering (so the Gateway survives logout).
Details: Doctor

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Start / stop / restart the Gateway

CLI (works regardless of OS): 
clawdbot daemon status
clawdbot daemon stop
clawdbot daemon restart
clawdbot gateway --port 18789
clawdbot logs --follow
If you’re supervised:
  • macOS launchd (app-bundled LaunchAgent): launchctl kickstart -k gui/$UID/com.clawdbot.gateway (use com.clawdbot.<profile> if set)
  • Linux systemd user service: systemctl --user restart clawdbot-gateway[-<profile>].service
  • Windows (WSL2): systemctl --user restart clawdbot-gateway[-<profile>].service
    • launchctl/systemctl only work if the service is installed; otherwise run clawdbot daemon install.
Runbook + exact service labels: Gateway runbook

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Rollback / pinning (when something breaks)

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Pin (global install)

Install a known-good version (replace <version> with the last working one): 
npm i -g clawdbot@<version>

pnpm add -g clawdbot@<version>

bun add -g clawdbot@<version>
Tip: to see the current published version, run npm view clawdbot version. Then restart + re-run doctor: 
clawdbot doctor
clawdbot daemon restart

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Pin (source) by date

Pick a commit from a date (example: “state of main as of 2026-01-01”): 
git fetch origin
git checkout "$(git rev-list -n 1 --before=\"2026-01-01\" origin/main)"
Then reinstall deps + restart: 
pnpm install
pnpm build
clawdbot daemon restart
If you want to go back to latest later: 
git checkout main
git pull

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If you’re stuck