openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: Gateway killed on every `exec` tool invocation [1 participants]

Bug type

Crash (process/app exits or hangs)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

Every exec tool invocation causes the gateway to receive SIGTERM and restart due to login shell sourcing ~/.profile which unconditionally calls openclaw gateway start.

Steps to reproduce

1. Ensure ~/.profile contains openclaw gateway start (default after install).
2. Start OpenClaw with openclaw gateway start or systemd service.
3. Trigger any exec tool invocation (e.g., agent runs echo hello).
4. Observe gateway receives SIGTERM ~3 seconds after exec completes and restarts.

Expected behavior

Exec tool completes and gateway remains running without restart.

Actual behavior

Exec tool completes successfully, then gateway receives SIGTERM from systemd (~3 sec delay) and restarts. WebSocket connections drop with code 1012 (service restart). Signal trace confirms SIGTERM from systemd (PID 1642).

OpenClaw version

v2026.4.2 (d74a122)

Operating system

Ubuntu (systemd 255, Node.js v22.22.1)

Install method

systemd user service (openclaw-gateway.service)

Model

anthropic/opus4-6/sonnet4-5/openaiGPT5-4

Provider / routing chain

not model-specific (opus-4-6

Additional provider/model setup details

No response

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

Gateway logs showing SIGTERM:
20:53:47 [agent] tool=exec completed successfully
20:53:50 [gateway] signal SIGTERM received
20:53:50 [gateway] shutting down
20:53:50 [ws] close code=1012 reason=service restart

Signal trace confirmed sender: `/usr/lib/systemd/systemd --user` (PID 1642)

Trigger chain: exec tool runs `bash -l -c env -0` → sources ~/.profile → calls `openclaw gateway start` → systemctl detects active service → `systemctl --user restart openclaw-gateway.service` → SIGTERM sent.

Impact and severity

Affected: Any user with openclaw gateway start in ~/.profile Severity: High (breaks long-running sessions, drops websocket connections) Frequency: Always (occurs on every exec invocation) Consequence: Gateway restarts repeatedly, breaking agent workflows that use exec tool, dropped websocket connections

Additional information

Root cause: Non-idempotent openclaw gateway start command. When sourced via login shell in exec tool, it unconditionally calls systemctl --user restart.

User workaround:

if ! systemctl --user is-active --quiet openclaw-gateway.service; then
    openclaw gateway start
fi

Suggested fixes:

1. Make openclaw gateway start idempotent — check if service is already active before restart
2. Prevent exec tool from triggering shell init — use bash -c instead of bash -l -c, or set OPENCLAW_SKIP_AUTOSTART=1 environment variable

Last known good: versions prior to any setup guide adding openclaw gateway start to ~/.profile First known bad: Affected any version after the auto-start was added to shell init files