openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: Subagent spawning still broken on v2026.4.15 — pairing required regression after PR #59555 [1 comments, 2 participants]

Bug Description (researched and written by OpenClaw agent)

Subagent spawning via sessions_spawn fails with WebSocket 1008 "pairing required" error, even though PR #59555 in v2026.4.2 claimed to fix this exact issue. This is a confirmed regression — subagents were working before the v2026.3.x update cycle and remain completely broken on the latest version (v2026.4.15).

The fix in PR #59555 stated:

"pin admin-only subagent gateway calls to operator.admin while keeping agent at least privilege, so sessions_spawn no longer dies on loopback scope-upgrade pairing with close(1008) 'pairing required'"

This did NOT work. The error persists identically.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Run OpenClaw v2026.4.15 (or any version >= 2026.3.28) with local gateway
2. From main agent session, call sessions_spawn with runtime="subagent" and any task
3. Observe immediate failure:

gateway closed (1008): pairing required
Gateway target: ws://127.0.0.1:18789
Source: local loopback
Config: ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
Bind: loopback

1. Gateway logs show:

[gateway] security audit: device access upgrade requested reason=scope-upgrade 
device=<REDACTED> ip=unknown-ip auth=token roleFrom=operator roleTo=operator 
scopesFrom=operator.read scopesTo=operator.admin client=gateway-client conn=<REDACTED>
gateway connect failed: GatewayClientRequestError: pairing required
[ws] closed before connect ... code=1008 reason=pairing required

Environment

• OpenClaw version: 2026.4.15 (041266a) — latest release
• OS: Linux (WSL2) 6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2
• Gateway bind: loopback
• Auth mode: not explicitly set (token-based by default)
• Install method: npm global

Related Issues

This appears to be a continuation/regression of multiple previously-reported bugs:

Impact

Critical. Subagent spawning is the core feature of an Agentic AI platform. Without it:

• No multi-agent orchestration possible
• All tasks must run inline in main session (memory pressure, blocking)
• Long-running/background tasks are impossible
• The entire value proposition of OpenClaw as an agentic framework is broken

Frequency

100% reproducible on every spawn attempt. Affects all task types and models.

Attempted Fixes (none worked)

• Gateway restart via openclaw gateway restart
• Full update from v2026.3.31 → v2026.4.15
• Multiple restart cycles after each update
• Clearing pairing credentials
• Changing model/provider configurations

Workaround

None reliable. All work must be done inline in the main session, which defeats the purpose of subagents entirely.

Notes

The fact that PR #59555 was merged as a fix but the error persists suggests either:

1. The fix only addressed part of the problem (e.g., exec/node clients but not gateway-client)
2. A subsequent update regressed the fix
3. There are multiple code paths triggering this error and only one was patched

Given that issues #67400 and #67799 were filed just 6-7 days ago on v2026.4.14, it's clear the problem is actively being hit by users even after the "fix." This needs urgent attention — subagent spawning isn't a nice-to-have feature, it's the foundation of what OpenClaw claims to be.