openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix Discord channel handler stuck at 'awaiting gateway readiness' — standalone discord.js works fine [1 participants]

Version: OpenClaw 2026.4.4 (0ef2932) OS: macOS (Darwin 25.4.0, arm64) Node: v25.8.2

Summary

The Discord channel plugin initializes and logs in successfully, but never progresses past "awaiting gateway readiness". No messages are received or processed. A standalone discord.js test with the same bot token connects and receives the ready event within seconds.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Configure Discord in openclaw.json with a valid bot token, dmPolicy: "pairing", groupPolicy: "allowlist", and a guild allowlist entry
2. Start the gateway
3. Observe logs: client initializes but never becomes ready
4. Messages sent in the Discord server (including @mentions) are not received

Log Output

[discord] [default] starting provider
[discord] channels resolved: guild:<id>→<id> (guild:<server-name>)
[discord] client initialized as <bot-id> (Friday); awaiting gateway readiness

No further Discord log entries appear — no ready, no errors, no timeouts.

Standalone discord.js Test (WORKS)

Using the same bot token and the same node_modules/discord.js installation:

const { Client, GatewayIntentBits } = require('discord.js');
const client = new Client({ 
  intents: [
    GatewayIntentBits.Guilds, 
    GatewayIntentBits.GuildMessages, 
    GatewayIntentBits.MessageContent,
    GatewayIntentBits.DirectMessages
  ] 
});
client.on('ready', () => { console.log('READY as ' + client.user.tag); process.exit(0); });
client.login('<BOT_TOKEN>');

Output: READY as Friday#2731 — connects successfully within seconds.

Configuration

{
  "channels": {
    "discord": {
      "enabled": true,
      "token": "<BOT_TOKEN>",
      "groupPolicy": "allowlist",
      "streaming": "partial",
      "dmPolicy": "pairing",
      "guilds": {
        "<GUILD_ID>": {
          "requireMention": true
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Bot Setup

• Bot has all three Privileged Gateway Intents enabled (Presence, Server Members, Message Content)
• Bot is authorized with bot + applications.commands scopes
• Bot is visible as online on the server
• Discord API confirms bot is on the guild (/users/@me/guilds returns the server)
• DMs from server members are enabled in server privacy settings

Additional Packages Installed

discord.js, @discordjs/rest, @discordjs/ws, @buape/carbon, discord-api-types were all manually installed as they were missing from npm ci (related: #61363).

Expected Behavior

The Discord channel handler should receive the ready event from discord.js and begin processing messages.

Environment

openclaw 2026.4.4 (0ef2932)
discord.js 14.26.2
Node v25.8.2
macOS Darwin 25.4.0 arm64