openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Feature]: Non-interactive onboarding support for trusted-proxy gateway auth [1 comments, 2 participants]

Summary

The `onboard` command cannot configure `trusted-proxy` gateway auth non-interactively, blocking automated and scripted deployments behind a reverse proxy.

Problem to solve

The `onboard` command supports non-interactive setup for `token` and `password` gateway auth via flags like `--gateway-auth`, `--gateway-token`, and `--gateway-password`. However, `trusted-proxy` auth has no equivalent — it cannot even be selected via `--gateway-auth trusted-proxy`.

Users deploying OpenClaw behind a reverse proxy (nginx, Caddy, Traefik, etc.) in Docker, Kubernetes, or any scripted provisioning flow must either fall back to interactive setup or manually edit the config file after the fact. The manual edit path is itself unreliable: the config schema is not stable, so writing trusted-proxy fields directly into the config file risks silently breaking across upgrades. This makes `onboard --non-interactive` the only viable automation path — and it doesn't support this auth mode.

Alternatives considered

• Manual post-setup config edit: Requires knowing the exact schema, is fragile, and breaks automation repeatability.
• Interactive mode only: Not viable for Docker/CI deployments where stdin is not a TTY.
• Plugin: Trusted-proxy auth is a core security primitive tied to the gateway; it's already implemented at runtime — the gap is only the onboarding CLI surface.

Impact

• Affected users/systems: Operators deploying OpenClaw behind a reverse proxy in scripted/automated environments.
• Severity: Blocks workflow — there is no non-interactive path to a working trusted-proxy configuration.
• Frequency: Every new deployment using trusted-proxy auth.
• Consequence: Operators must manually edit config post-setup or run interactively, defeating `--non-interactive`.

Evidence/examples

Trusted-proxy auth is fully functional at runtime (`gateway.auth.mode: trusted-proxy` exists in the config schema). The `token` and `password` modes demonstrate what non-interactive parity looks like. The only gap is the CLI onboarding surface.