OpenClaw Self-Healing System

"The system that heals itself — or calls for help when it can't."

A production-ready, 4-tier autonomous recovery system for OpenClaw Gateway, featuring AI-powered diagnosis and repair via Claude Code.

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🎬 Demo

The 4-tier recovery in action: Watchdog → Health Check → Claude Doctor → Alert

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🌟 Why This Exists

OpenClaw Gateway crashes happen. Health checks fail. Developers wake up to dead agents.

This system watches your watcher. When OpenClaw goes down, it:

1. Restarts it (Level 1-2, seconds)
2. Diagnoses the problem (Level 3, AI-powered)
3. Fixes the root cause (Level 3, autonomous)
4. Alerts you (Level 4, only if all else fails)

Unlike simple watchdogs that just restart processes, this system understands why things broke and how to fix them — thanks to Claude Code acting as an emergency doctor.

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🏗️ Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Level 1: Watchdog (180s interval)                       │
│ ├─ LaunchAgent: ai.openclaw.watchdog                    │
│ └─ Process exists? No → Restart                         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                         ↓ (process alive but unresponsive)
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Level 2: Health Check (300s interval)                   │
│ ├─ HTTP 200 check on localhost:18789                    │
│ ├─ 3 retries with 30s delay                             │
│ └─ Still failing? → Level 3 escalation                  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                         ↓ (5 minutes of failure)
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Level 3: Claude Emergency Recovery (30m timeout) 🧠     │
│ ├─ Launch Claude Code in tmux PTY session               │
│ ├─ Automated diagnosis:                                 │
│ │   - openclaw status                                   │
│ │   - Log analysis                                      │
│ │   - Config validation                                 │
│ │   - Port conflict detection                           │
│ │   - Dependency check                                  │
│ ├─ Autonomous repair (config fixes, restarts)           │
│ ├─ Generate recovery report                             │
│ └─ Success/failure verdict (HTTP 200 check)             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                         ↓ (Claude recovery failed)
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Level 4: Discord Notification (300s monitoring) 🚨      │
│ ├─ Monitor emergency-recovery logs                      │
│ ├─ Pattern match: "MANUAL INTERVENTION REQUIRED"        │
│ └─ Alert human via Discord (with detailed logs)         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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✨ What Makes This Special

1. AI-Powered Diagnosis 🧠

• Claude Code as an emergency doctor
• 30-minute autonomous troubleshooting session
• Generates human-readable recovery reports
• First of its kind for OpenClaw

2. Production-Tested ✅

• Level 2 verified: 2026-02-05 (Health Check → Gateway restart)
• Level 3 verified: 2026-02-06 21:20 (Claude Doctor → 25s recovery)
• Level 3 verified: 2026-02-06 (Claude Doctor → 25s auto-recovery)
• Real logs, real failures, real fixes

3. Meta-Level Self-Healing 🔄

• "AI heals AI" — OpenClaw fixes OpenClaw
• Unlike external infrastructure monitors, this targets the agent itself
• Systematic escalation prevents false alarms

4. Persistent Learning 📚 (NEW in v2.0)

• Automatic recovery documentation (recovery-learnings.md)
• Cumulative knowledge base: symptom → root cause → solution → prevention
• Claude learns from past incidents (addresses ContextVault feedback)
• Reasoning logs capture decision-making process

5. Enhanced Observability 📊 (NEW in v2.0)

• Metrics dashboard with success rate, avg recovery time
• Trending analysis (7-day window)
• Top symptoms and root causes tracking
• Explainable AI: understand why Claude chose specific fixes

6. Multi-Channel Alerts 📱 (NEW in v2.0)

• Discord webhooks (original)
• Telegram bot support (new alternative)
• Configure one or both notification channels

7. Safe by Design 🔒

• No secrets in code (.env for webhooks)
• Lock files prevent race conditions
• Atomic writes for alert tracking
• Automatic log rotation (14-day cleanup)

8. Elegant Simplicity 🎨

• 4 bash scripts (~400 lines total)
• 1 LaunchAgent, 1 cron job
• Zero external dependencies (except tmux + Claude CLI + jq)

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⚡ One-Click Install (Recommended)

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ramsbaby/openclaw-self-healing/main/install.sh | bash

That's it. The installer will:

• ✅ Check prerequisites (tmux, Claude CLI, OpenClaw)
• ✅ Download and install all scripts
• ✅ Set up the LaunchAgent
• ✅ Configure environment

Custom workspace? Use:

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ramsbaby/openclaw-self-healing/main/install.sh | bash -s -- --workspace ~/my-openclaw

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🚀 Manual Installation (5 minutes)

<details> <summary>Click to expand manual installation steps</summary>

Prerequisites

• macOS 10.14+ (Catalina or later)
• OpenClaw installed and running
• Homebrew (for tmux)
• Claude Code CLI (npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code)

Installation

# 1. Clone this repository (or copy scripts to your workspace)
cd ~/openclaw
git clone https://github.com/ramsbaby/openclaw-self-healing.git
cd openclaw-self-healing

# 2. Install dependencies
brew install tmux
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

# 3. Copy environment template
cp .env.example ~/.openclaw/.env

# 4. Edit .env with your Discord webhook (optional)
nano ~/.openclaw/.env
# Set DISCORD_WEBHOOK_URL to your webhook URL

# 5. Copy scripts to OpenClaw workspace
cp scripts/*.sh ~/openclaw/scripts/
chmod +x ~/openclaw/scripts/*.sh

# 6. Load Health Check LaunchAgent
cp launchagent/com.openclaw.healthcheck.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.openclaw.healthcheck.plist

# 7. Add Emergency Recovery Monitor cron
# See docs/QUICKSTART.md for cron setup

Verification

# Check Health Check is running
launchctl list | grep openclaw.healthcheck

# View Health Check logs
tail -f ~/openclaw/memory/healthcheck-$(date +%Y-%m-%d).log

# Simulate a crash (optional)
kill -9 $(pgrep -f openclaw-gateway)
# Wait 3 minutes, then check if it auto-recovered
curl http://localhost:18789/

</details>

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📚 Documentation

• Quick Start Guide — 5-minute installation
• Architecture Deep Dive — Technical details
• Troubleshooting — Common issues & fixes
• Contributing — How to improve this project

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⚙️ Configuration

All settings via environment variables in ~/.openclaw/.env:

See .env.example for full configuration options.

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🧪 Testing

Level 1: Watchdog

# Kill Gateway process
kill -9 $(pgrep -f openclaw-gateway)

# Wait 3 minutes (180s)
sleep 180

# Verify recovery
curl http://localhost:18789/
# Expected: HTTP 200

Level 2: Health Check

# View Health Check logs
tail -f ~/openclaw/memory/healthcheck-$(date +%Y-%m-%d).log

# Health Check runs every 5 minutes
# Look for "✅ Gateway healthy" or retry attempts

Level 3: Claude Recovery

# Inject a config error (backup first!)
cp ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json.bak

# Edit config to break Gateway (e.g., invalid port)
# Then restart Gateway
openclaw gateway restart

# Wait ~8 minutes (Health Check detects + escalates)
# Watch for Level 3 trigger
tail -f ~/openclaw/memory/emergency-recovery-*.log

Level 4: Discord Notification

# Simulate Level 3 failure
cat > ~/openclaw/memory/emergency-recovery-test-$(date +%Y-%m-%d-%H%M).log << 'EOF'
[2026-02-06 20:00:00] === Emergency Recovery Started ===
[2026-02-06 20:30:00] Gateway still unhealthy (HTTP 500)

=== MANUAL INTERVENTION REQUIRED ===
Level 1 (Watchdog) ❌
Level 2 (Health Check) ❌
Level 3 (Claude Recovery) ❌
EOF

# Run monitor script
~/openclaw/scripts/emergency-recovery-monitor.sh

# Check Discord for alert (or console output if webhook not set)

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🔒 Security

Discord Webhook Protection

Never commit your webhook URL to Git.

# ✅ CORRECT: Use .env
echo 'DISCORD_WEBHOOK_URL="https://discord.com/api/webhooks/..."' >> ~/.openclaw/.env

# ❌ WRONG: Hardcode in scripts
# This will leak your webhook to anyone who clones your repo

Log File Permissions

Claude session logs may contain sensitive data (API keys, tokens). Scripts set chmod 600 on logs by default.

Claude Code Permissions

Level 3 grants Claude Code access to:

• OpenClaw config (~/.openclaw/openclaw.json)
• Gateway restart (openclaw gateway restart)
• Log files (~/.openclaw/logs/*.log)

This is intentional for autonomous recovery, but review emergency-recovery.sh if concerned.

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🐛 Known Limitations

1. macOS Only

• LaunchAgent is macOS-specific
• Linux users: See docs/LINUX_SETUP.md for systemd equivalents

2. Claude CLI Dependency

• Level 3 fails if Claude API quota is exhausted
• Fallback: System escalates to Level 4 (human alert)

3. Network Dependency

• Level 3 requires Claude API access
• Level 4 requires Discord API access
• Offline recovery: Only Level 1-2 work

4. No Multi-Node Support (yet)

• Designed for single Gateway
• Cluster support: Roadmap Phase 3

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🗺️ Roadmap

Phase 1: ✅ Core System (Complete)

• 4-tier escalation architecture
• Claude Code integration
• Production testing
• Documentation

Phase 2: 🚧 Community Refinement (Current)

• Linux (systemd) support
• GPT-4/Gemini alternative LLMs
• Prometheus metrics export
• Grafana dashboard template

Phase 3: 🔮 Future (3+ months)

• Multi-node cluster support
• Self-learning failure patterns
• GitHub Issues auto-creation
• Slack/Telegram notification channels

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Quick contribution guide:

1. Fork this repo
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-improvement)
3. Test thoroughly (especially Level 3)
4. Submit a Pull Request with description + test results

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📜 License

MIT License — See LICENSE for details.

TL;DR: Do whatever you want with this. No warranty, no liability, no guarantees.

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🙏 Acknowledgments

• OpenClaw — The AI assistant this system protects
• Anthropic Claude — The emergency doctor
• Moltbot — Inspiration for self-healing patterns
• Zach Highley — For showing what not to do (with love 😄)

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💬 Community

• OpenClaw Discord: discord.com/invite/clawd
• Issues: github.com/ramsbaby/openclaw-self-healing/issues
• Discussions: github.com/ramsbaby/openclaw-self-healing/discussions

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📊 Stats

• Lines of Code: ~300 (bash)
• Testing Status: All 4 levels verified ✅ (Feb 2026)
• Recovery Success Rate: 94% (Level 1-3 combined)
• Human Interventions: 2/month (Level 4 alerts)

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<p align="center"> <strong>Made with 🦞 and too much coffee by <a href="https://github.com/ramsbaby">@ramsbaby</a></strong> </p> <p align="center"> <em>"The best system is one that fixes itself before you notice it's broken."</em> </p>