openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: OpenClaw 2026.4.24: gateway crash loop caused by bonjour/mDNS discovery (CIAO PROBING/ANNOUNCEMENT CANCELLED) [1 comments, 2 participants]

Bug type

Crash (process/app exits or hangs)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

After upgrading to OpenClaw 2026.4.24, the gateway entered a crash loop shortly after startup.

While the loop was active:

• the local web dashboard was unavailable
• Telegram connectivity was unavailable
• systemd kept restarting the gateway service

The crash appears to be caused by the bonjour/mDNS discovery path (@homebridge/ciao) throwing unhandled promise rejections during advertiser probing/announcement.

Environment

• OpenClaw version: 2026.4.24
• OS: Linux
• Node: 22.22.0
• Service type: systemd user service
• Gateway mode: local
• Bind: 127.0.0.1
• Port: 18789

User-visible impact

• Could not open the web dashboard after update
• Telegram stopped working while the gateway was crash-looping
• Gateway repeatedly restarted under systemd

Observed behavior

Typical sequence:

1. Gateway starts normally
2. HTTP server and plugins come up
3. Bonjour watchdog detects a stuck/non-announced service
4. Advertiser restarts
5. Unhandled rejection is thrown
6. Gateway exits with status 1
7. systemd restarts the service

Key log evidence

Observed in journalctl --user -u openclaw-gateway.service and /tmp/openclaw/openclaw-2026-04-25.log:

• bonjour: watchdog detected non-announced service; attempting re-advertise
• bonjour: restarting advertiser (service stuck in probing ...)
• bonjour: restarting advertiser (service stuck in announcing ...)
• Unhandled promise rejection: CIAO PROBING CANCELLED
• Unhandled promise rejection: CIAO ANNOUNCEMENT CANCELLED
• openclaw-gateway.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE

Example:

• 2026-04-25T22:32:42+00:00 [openclaw] Unhandled promise rejection: CIAO ANNOUNCEMENT CANCELLED
• 2026-04-25T22:32:42+00:00 openclaw-gateway.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
• 2026-04-25T22:33:24+00:00 [openclaw] Unhandled promise rejection: CIAO PROBING CANCELLED
• 2026-04-25T22:33:24+00:00 openclaw-gateway.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE

Configuration findings

• openclaw.json was not corrupted
• openclaw.json.last-good matched the active config
• Telegram auth/token did not appear to be the cause
• Gateway bind/port remained correct

Workaround

A systemd override stabilized the service:

[Service]
Environment=OPENCLAW_DISABLE_BONJOUR=1


### Steps to reproduce

After restart with this override:

• gateway remained running
• dashboard returned HTTP 200
• Telegram resumed normal operation
• no new CIAO / bonjour crash events appeared

### Expected behavior

If bonjour/mDNS advertisement fails, the gateway should degrade gracefully and continue running. Discovery failure should not take down the entire gateway.

### Actual behavior

Failure in bonjour discovery causes an unhandled promise rejection that crashes the whole gateway process.

Suggested direction

• Catch and contain @homebridge/ciao advertiser cancellation/restart errors
• Prevent bonjour discovery failures from crashing the gateway
• Consider auto-disabling bonjour after repeated advertiser failures
• Consider not listing bonjour in ready (...) output when it is disabled by env override

I have a support diagnostics export zip prepared and can attach it to the issue.

### OpenClaw version

OpenClaw 2026.4.24

### Operating system

Ubuntu 24.04

### Install method

npm global

### Model

openai-codex/gpt-5.4

### Provider / routing chain

openclaw -> openai

### Additional provider/model setup details

_No response_

### Logs, screenshots, and evidence

```shell

Impact and severity

No response

Additional information

openclaw-bug-2026-4-24-bonjour.zip