openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix Discord plugin WebSocket hangs at "awaiting gateway readiness"

Discord plugin WebSocket hangs at "awaiting gateway readiness"

Summary

The OpenClaw Discord plugin's WebSocket client never transitions from awaiting gateway readiness to READY. The REST API works fine (bot probe, channel resolution), but the bot never comes online in Discord.

Environment

• OpenClaw version: 2026.5.12
• Discord plugin version: 2026.5.12
• Node.js: v24.14.0
• OS: WSL2 Ubuntu
• Bot: @Chang (id: 1504865841278357584)

Steps to reproduce

1. Configure Discord channel with DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN in .env
2. Start gateway: systemctl --user start openclaw-gateway.service
3. Observe logs: REST calls succeed, then WebSocket hangs indefinitely

Expected behavior

WebSocket should connect and bot should appear online in Discord within ~10 seconds.

Actual behavior

[discord] [default] Discord bot probe resolved @Chang
[discord] [default] Discord Message Content Intent is limited; bots under 100 servers can use it without verification.
[discord] channels resolved: 1066509334042919023/1504864729926078576 (guild:Util; channel:main), ...
[discord] client initialized as 1504865841278357584; awaiting gateway readiness

Then silence. The line "awaiting gateway readiness" is the last Discord-related log entry. No errors, no timeouts, no retries.

What I've verified

• ✅ Discord token is valid (verified via GET /users/@me)
• ✅ All intents enabled in Developer Portal (Message Content, Server Members, Presence)
• ✅ REST API works: bot probe, channel resolution
• ✅ Manual WebSocket handshake to wss://gateway.discord.gg succeeds
• ✅ Token regenerated (new token didn't fix it)
• ✅ Plugin reinstalled (npm install @openclaw/discord@latest)
• ✅ Discord cache/state cleared (rm -rf ~/.openclaw/discord)
• ✅ Rate limit wait (2+ minutes between restarts)
• ✅ No 4006 or other close codes in logs — just silence
• ✅ Multiple gateway restarts (14 starts today) — same behavior every time

Logs

No error messages. The only Discord entries after startup are:

[discord] [default] starting provider
[gateway] ready
[heartbeat] started
[discord] [default] Discord bot probe resolved @Chang
[discord] [default] Discord Message Content Intent is limited; bots under 100 servers can use it without verification.
[discord] channels resolved: ...
[discord] client initialized as 1504865841278357584; awaiting gateway readiness

Suspected cause

Possible incompatibility between the bundled discord.js client and Node.js v24, or a stale session handling bug where the client silently fails to receive/process the READY dispatch.