---
summary: "Native and Control UI WebChat usage over the Gateway WebSocket"
read_when:
  - Debugging or configuring WebChat access
title: "WebChat"
---

Status: the macOS/iOS SwiftUI chat UI talks directly to the Gateway WebSocket. No embedded browser, no local static server.

## What it is

- A native chat UI for the gateway.
- Uses the same sessions and routing rules as other channels.
- Deterministic routing: replies always go back to WebChat.
- History is always fetched from the gateway (no local file watching). If the gateway is unreachable, WebChat is read-only.

## Quick start

1. Start the gateway.
2. Open the WebChat UI (macOS/iOS app) or the Control UI chat tab.
3. Ensure a valid gateway auth path is configured (shared-secret by default, even on loopback).

## How it works

- The UI connects to the Gateway WebSocket and uses the `chat.history`, `chat.send`, `chat.inject`, and `chat.message.get` RPC methods.
- `chat.history` is bounded for stability: Gateway may truncate long text fields, omit heavy metadata, and replace oversized entries with `[chat.history omitted: message too large]`. History pages skip hidden and tool-only transcript entries while filling the requested visible-message window from the existing indexed transcript. API clients can send a per-request `maxChars` to override the default limit for one call.
- When a visible assistant message was truncated in `chat.history`, **Show more** fetches the full display-normalized entry inline through `chat.message.get`, without increasing the default history payload. **Show less** restores the truncated preview and reuses the fetched content on the next expansion. `chat.message.get` uses the same transcript branch and display rules as `chat.history`, but targets one entry by `messageId` and returns an honest unavailable reason when the full content can no longer be returned.
- `chat.history` follows the active transcript branch for append-only session files, so abandoned rewrite branches and superseded prompt copies are not rendered in WebChat.
- Compaction entries render as a "Compacted history" divider explaining that the compacted transcript is preserved as a checkpoint, with an action to open session checkpoints (branch or restore, when permissions allow).
- Control UI remembers the backing Gateway `sessionId` returned by `chat.history` and includes it on follow-up `chat.send` calls, so reconnects and page refreshes continue the same stored conversation unless the user starts or resets a session.
- Foreground sends also include the displayed branch's leaf from the rendered history as `expectedLeafEntryId`; if another client switched branches first, Control UI parks the message for review and refreshes the transcript instead of posting it to the new branch. Reconnect and restored-outbox replays intentionally omit this precondition after reconciling current history.
- When you change a chat setting and immediately send, Control UI shows **Applying chat settings** until that change and its session refresh finish. Later background session refreshes do not extend this wait. Opening a pane without changing a setting does not create a settings wait.
- `chat.send` takes an idempotency key (Control UI uses the run id); the Gateway dedupes repeated requests that reuse the same key, so retried or duplicate in-flight submits for the same session/message/attachments do not create a second run.
- Replying to a specific message (right-click → Reply) sends the target's transcript id as `replyToId` on `chat.send`. The Gateway resolves that message from session history and hydrates the same channel-agnostic reply context metadata Discord replies use: agents see `has_reply_context` plus the untrusted "Reply target of current user message" block with sender label and body. (Webchat prompts keep volatile conversation ids such as `reply_to_id` suppressed, per the existing byte-stable prompt policy for direct webchat sessions.) Reply targets without a persisted transcript id (for example pending sends) fall back to an inline quote in the message body.
- Workspace startup files and pending `BOOTSTRAP.md` instructions are supplied through the agent system prompt's `# Project Context` section, not copied into the WebChat user message. If bootstrap content is truncated, the system prompt gets a short "Bootstrap Context Notice" instead; detailed counts and config knobs stay on diagnostic surfaces.
- Display normalization on `chat.history` strips: runtime-only OpenClaw context, inbound envelope wrappers, inline delivery directive tags such as `[[reply_to_current]]`, `[[reply_to:<id>]]`, and `[[audio_as_voice]]`, plain-text tool-call XML payloads (`<tool_call>`, `<function_call>`, `<tool_calls>`, `<function_calls>`, including truncated blocks), and leaked ASCII/full-width model control tokens. Removing model control tokens preserves punctuation and Markdown formatting, keeps adjacent words separated, and leaves code examples intact. Assistant entries whose whole visible text is only the silent token `NO_REPLY` (case-insensitive) are omitted.
- When a reply attachment cannot be read or prepared, WebChat preserves any deliverable attachments and shows one short failure warning without exposing local filesystem paths.
- Attachment directives owned by the current WebChat reply stay hidden in live transcript events while files are prepared. User prompts, fenced examples, and references outside that reply's attachment pipeline remain unchanged.
- Reasoning-flagged reply payloads (`isReasoning: true`) are excluded from WebChat assistant content, transcript replay text, and audio content blocks, so thinking-only payloads do not surface as visible assistant messages or playable audio.
- `chat.inject` appends an assistant note directly to the transcript and broadcasts it to the UI (no agent run).
- Aborted runs can keep partial assistant output visible in the UI. Gateway persists that partial text into transcript history when buffered output exists, and marks the entry with abort metadata.

### Transcript and delivery model

WebChat has two separate data paths:

- The SQLite transcript rows are the durable model/runtime transcript. For normal agent runs, the embedded OpenClaw runtime persists model-visible `user`, `assistant`, and `toolResult` messages through the session accessor. WebChat does not write arbitrary delivery, status, or helper text into that transcript.
- Gateway `ReplyPayload` events are the live delivery projection: normalized for WebChat/channel display, block streaming, directive tags, media embedding, TTS/audio flags, and UI fallback behavior. They are not themselves the canonical session log.
- Harnesses that require visible replies through `tools.message` still use WebChat as a current-run internal source reply sink. A targetless `message.send` from that active WebChat run is projected into the same chat and mirrored to the session transcript; WebChat does not become a reusable outbound channel and never inherits `lastChannel`.
- WebChat injects assistant transcript entries only when the Gateway owns a displayed message outside a normal embedded agent turn: `chat.inject`, non-agent command replies, aborted partial output, and WebChat-managed media transcript supplements.
- If live assistant text appears during a run but disappears after history reload, check in order: whether the SQLite transcript contains the assistant text, whether `chat.history` display projection stripped it, then whether the Control UI optimistic-tail merge replaced local delivery state with the persisted snapshot.

Normal agent-run final answers should be durable because the embedded runtime writes the assistant `message_end`. Any fallback that mirrors a delivered final payload into the transcript must first avoid duplicating an assistant turn that the embedded runtime already wrote.

## Control UI agents tools panel

- The Control UI `/agents` Tools panel has an "Available Right Now" view backed by `tools.effective(sessionKey=...)`: a server-derived, read-only projection of the current session's tool inventory, including core, plugin, channel-owned, and already-discovered MCP server tools.
- A separate config-editing view (backed by `tools.catalog`) covers profiles, per-agent overrides, and catalog semantics.
- Runtime availability is session-scoped. Switching sessions on the same agent can change the "Available Right Now" list. If configured MCP servers have not been connected or changed since the last discovery, the panel shows a notice instead of silently starting MCP transports from the read path.
- The config editor does not imply runtime availability; effective access still follows policy precedence (`allow`/`deny`, per-agent and provider/channel overrides).

## Remote use

- Remote mode tunnels the gateway WebSocket over SSH/Tailscale.
- You do not need to run a separate WebChat server.

## Configuration reference (WebChat)

Full configuration: [Configuration](/gateway/configuration)

WebChat has no persisted config section. Gateway uses the built-in `chat.history` display limit; API clients can send per-request `maxChars` to override it for a single call. Legacy `channels.webchat` and `gateway.webchat` config is retired; run `openclaw doctor --fix` to remove it.

Related global options:

- `gateway.port`, `gateway.bind`: WebSocket host/port.
- `gateway.auth.mode`, `gateway.auth.token`, `gateway.auth.password`:
  shared-secret WebSocket auth.
- `gateway.auth.allowTailscale`: browser Control UI chat tab can use Tailscale
  Serve identity headers when enabled.
- `gateway.auth.mode: "trusted-proxy"`: reverse-proxy auth for browser clients behind an identity-aware **non-loopback** proxy source (see [Trusted Proxy Auth](/gateway/trusted-proxy-auth)).
- `gateway.remote.url`, `gateway.remote.token`, `gateway.remote.password`: remote gateway target.
- `session.*`: session storage and main key defaults.

## Related

- [Control UI](/web/control-ui)
- [Dashboard](/web/dashboard)
