---
summary: "Runbook for the Gateway service, lifecycle, and operations"
read_when:
  - Running or debugging the gateway process
title: "Gateway Runbook"
---

# Gateway runbook

Use this page for day-1 startup and day-2 operations of the Gateway service.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Deep troubleshooting" icon="siren" href="/gateway/troubleshooting">
    Symptom-first diagnostics with exact command ladders and log signatures.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Configuration" icon="sliders" href="/gateway/configuration">
    Task-oriented setup guide + full configuration reference.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Secrets management" icon="key-round" href="/gateway/secrets">
    SecretRef contract, runtime snapshot behavior, and migrate/reload operations.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Secrets plan contract" icon="shield-check" href="/gateway/secrets-plan-contract">
    Exact `secrets apply` target/path rules and ref-only auth-profile behavior.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## 5-minute local startup

<Steps>
  <Step title="Start the Gateway">

```bash
kaijibot gateway --port 18789
# debug/trace mirrored to stdio
kaijibot gateway --port 18789 --verbose
# force-kill listener on selected port, then start
kaijibot gateway --force
```

  </Step>

  <Step title="Verify service health">

```bash
kaijibot gateway status
kaijibot status
kaijibot logs --follow
```

Healthy baseline: `Runtime: running` and `RPC probe: ok`.

  </Step>

  <Step title="Validate channel readiness">

```bash
kaijibot channels status --probe
```

With a reachable gateway this runs live per-account channel probes and optional audits.
If the gateway is unreachable, the CLI falls back to config-only channel summaries instead
of live probe output.

  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
Gateway config reload watches the active config file path (resolved from profile/state defaults, or `KAIJIBOT_CONFIG_PATH` when set).
Default mode is `gateway.reload.mode="hybrid"`.
After the first successful load, the running process serves the active in-memory config snapshot; successful reload swaps that snapshot atomically.
</Note>

## Runtime model

- One always-on process for routing, control plane, and channel connections.
- Single multiplexed port for:
  - WebSocket control/RPC
  - HTTP APIs, OpenAI compatible (`/v1/models`, `/v1/embeddings`, `/v1/chat/completions`, `/v1/responses`, `/tools/invoke`)
  - Control UI and hooks
- Default bind mode: `loopback`.
- Auth is required by default. Shared-secret setups use
  `gateway.auth.token` / `gateway.auth.password` (or
  `KAIJIBOT_GATEWAY_TOKEN` / `KAIJIBOT_GATEWAY_PASSWORD`), and non-loopback
  reverse-proxy setups can use `gateway.auth.mode: "trusted-proxy"`.

## OpenAI-compatible endpoints

KaijiBot’s highest-leverage compatibility surface is now:

- `GET /v1/models`
- `GET /v1/models/{id}`
- `POST /v1/embeddings`
- `POST /v1/chat/completions`
- `POST /v1/responses`

Why this set matters:

- Most Open WebUI, LobeChat, and LibreChat integrations probe `/v1/models` first.
- Many RAG and memory pipelines expect `/v1/embeddings`.
- Agent-native clients increasingly prefer `/v1/responses`.

Planning note:

- `/v1/models` is agent-first: it returns `kaijibot`, `kaijibot/default`, and `kaijibot/<agentId>`.
- `kaijibot/default` is the stable alias that always maps to the configured default agent.
- Use `x-kaijibot-model` when you want a backend provider/model override; otherwise the selected agent's normal model and embedding setup stays in control.

All of these run on the main Gateway port and use the same trusted operator auth boundary as the rest of the Gateway HTTP API.

### Port and bind precedence

| Setting      | Resolution order                                              |
| ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Gateway port | `--port` → `KAIJIBOT_GATEWAY_PORT` → `gateway.port` → `18789` |
| Bind mode    | CLI/override → `gateway.bind` → `loopback`                    |

### Hot reload modes

| `gateway.reload.mode` | Behavior                                   |
| --------------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| `off`                 | No config reload                           |
| `hot`                 | Apply only hot-safe changes                |
| `restart`             | Restart on reload-required changes         |
| `hybrid` (default)    | Hot-apply when safe, restart when required |

## Operator command set

```bash
kaijibot gateway status
kaijibot gateway status --deep   # adds a system-level service scan
kaijibot gateway status --json
kaijibot gateway install
kaijibot gateway restart
kaijibot gateway stop
kaijibot secrets reload
kaijibot logs --follow
kaijibot doctor
```

`gateway status --deep` is for extra service discovery (LaunchDaemons/systemd system
units/schtasks), not a deeper RPC health probe.

## Multiple gateways (same host)

Most installs should run one gateway per machine. A single gateway can host multiple
agents and channels.

You only need multiple gateways when you intentionally want isolation or a rescue bot.

Useful checks:

```bash
kaijibot gateway status --deep
kaijibot gateway probe
```

What to expect:

- `gateway status --deep` can report `Other gateway-like services detected (best effort)`
  and print cleanup hints when stale launchd/systemd/schtasks installs are still around.
- `gateway probe` can warn about `multiple reachable gateways` when more than one target
  answers.
- If that is intentional, isolate ports, config/state, and workspace roots per gateway.

Detailed setup: [/gateway/multiple-gateways](/gateway/multiple-gateways).

## Remote access

Preferred: Tailscale/VPN.
Fallback: SSH tunnel.

```bash
ssh -N -L 18789:127.0.0.1:18789 user@host
```

Then connect clients locally to `ws://127.0.0.1:18789`.

<Warning>
SSH tunnels do not bypass gateway auth. For shared-secret auth, clients still
must send `token`/`password` even over the tunnel. For identity-bearing modes,
the request still has to satisfy that auth path.
</Warning>

See: [Remote Gateway](/gateway/remote), [Authentication](/gateway/authentication), [Tailscale](/gateway/tailscale).

## Supervision and service lifecycle

Use supervised runs for production-like reliability.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="macOS (launchd)">

```bash
kaijibot gateway install
kaijibot gateway status
kaijibot gateway restart
kaijibot gateway stop
```

LaunchAgent labels are `ai.kaijibot.gateway` (default) or `ai.kaijibot.<profile>` (named profile). `kaijibot doctor` audits and repairs service config drift.

  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Linux (systemd user)">

```bash
kaijibot gateway install
systemctl --user enable --now kaijibot-gateway[-<profile>].service
kaijibot gateway status
```

For persistence after logout, enable lingering:

```bash
sudo loginctl enable-linger <user>
```

Manual user-unit example when you need a custom install path:

```ini
[Unit]
Description=KaijiBot Gateway
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/kaijibot gateway --port 18789
Restart=always
RestartSec=5
TimeoutStopSec=30
TimeoutStartSec=30
SuccessExitStatus=0 143
KillMode=control-group

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
```

  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Windows (native)">

```powershell
kaijibot gateway install
kaijibot gateway status --json
kaijibot gateway restart
kaijibot gateway stop
```

Native Windows managed startup uses a Scheduled Task named `KaijiBot Gateway`
(or `KaijiBot Gateway (<profile>)` for named profiles). If Scheduled Task
creation is denied, KaijiBot falls back to a per-user Startup-folder launcher
that points at `gateway.cmd` inside the state directory.

  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Linux (system service)">

Use a system unit for multi-user/always-on hosts.

```bash
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now kaijibot-gateway[-<profile>].service
```

Use the same service body as the user unit, but install it under
`/etc/systemd/system/kaijibot-gateway[-<profile>].service` and adjust
`ExecStart=` if your `kaijibot` binary lives elsewhere.

  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## Multiple gateways on one host

Most setups should run **one** Gateway.
Use multiple only for strict isolation/redundancy (for example a rescue profile).

Checklist per instance:

- Unique `gateway.port`
- Unique `KAIJIBOT_CONFIG_PATH`
- Unique `KAIJIBOT_STATE_DIR`
- Unique `agents.defaults.workspace`

Example:

```bash
KAIJIBOT_CONFIG_PATH=~/.kaijibot/a.json KAIJIBOT_STATE_DIR=~/.kaijibot-a kaijibot gateway --port 19001
KAIJIBOT_CONFIG_PATH=~/.kaijibot/b.json KAIJIBOT_STATE_DIR=~/.kaijibot-b kaijibot gateway --port 19002
```

See: [Multiple gateways](/gateway/multiple-gateways).

### Dev profile quick path

```bash
kaijibot --dev setup
kaijibot --dev gateway --allow-unconfigured
kaijibot --dev status
```

Defaults include isolated state/config and base gateway port `19001`.

## Protocol quick reference (operator view)

- First client frame must be `connect`.
- Gateway returns `hello-ok` snapshot (`presence`, `health`, `stateVersion`, `uptimeMs`, limits/policy).
- `hello-ok.features.methods` / `events` are a conservative discovery list, not
  a generated dump of every callable helper route.
- Requests: `req(method, params)` → `res(ok/payload|error)`.
- Common events include `connect.challenge`, `agent`, `chat`,
  `session.message`, `session.tool`, `sessions.changed`, `presence`, `tick`,
  `health`, `heartbeat`, pairing/approval lifecycle events, and `shutdown`.

Agent runs are two-stage:

1. Immediate accepted ack (`status:"accepted"`)
2. Final completion response (`status:"ok"|"error"`), with streamed `agent` events in between.

See full protocol docs: [Gateway Protocol](/gateway/protocol).

## Operational checks

### Liveness

- Open WS and send `connect`.
- Expect `hello-ok` response with snapshot.

### Readiness

```bash
kaijibot gateway status
kaijibot channels status --probe
kaijibot health
```

### Gap recovery

Events are not replayed. On sequence gaps, refresh state (`health`, `system-presence`) before continuing.

## Common failure signatures

| Signature                                                      | Likely issue                                                                    |
| -------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `refusing to bind gateway ... without auth`                    | Non-loopback bind without a valid gateway auth path                             |
| `another gateway instance is already listening` / `EADDRINUSE` | Port conflict                                                                   |
| `Gateway start blocked: set gateway.mode=local`                | Config set to remote mode, or local-mode stamp is missing from a damaged config |
| `unauthorized` during connect                                  | Auth mismatch between client and gateway                                        |

For full diagnosis ladders, use [Gateway Troubleshooting](/gateway/troubleshooting).

## Safety guarantees

- Gateway protocol clients fail fast when Gateway is unavailable (no implicit direct-channel fallback).
- Invalid/non-connect first frames are rejected and closed.
- Graceful shutdown emits `shutdown` event before socket close.

---

Related:

- [Troubleshooting](/gateway/troubleshooting)
- [Background Process](/gateway/background-process)
- [Configuration](/gateway/configuration)
- [Health](/gateway/health)
- [Doctor](/gateway/doctor)
- [Authentication](/gateway/authentication)
