Control UI Dashboard

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OpenClaw Dashboard Guide(DOCUMENTATION)OpenClaw Gateway Configuration(DOCUMENTATION)

Introduction

The OpenClaw Control UI is a browser-based dashboard that gives you a visual interface for managing your installation. Instead of memorizing CLI commands, you can monitor gateway status, view conversation history, and adjust settings through an intuitive web interface. This lesson shows you how to launch it and what to expect when it opens.

Key Concepts

  • Control UI is a local web dashboard served by the OpenClaw daemon on your machine
  • Dashboard command (openclaw dashboard) opens the Control UI in your default browser
  • Port 18789 is the default local port where the Control UI listens
  • Gateway status panel shows real-time connectivity to AI providers
  • WebChat is the built-in chat interface within the Control UI for quick conversations

Real World Context

Think of the Control UI as a mission control center for your AI interactions. Just as a DevOps engineer uses Grafana dashboards to monitor infrastructure, OpenClaw's dashboard lets you see at a glance whether your gateways are healthy, which models are available, and how your recent conversations went. It is especially useful when troubleshooting connectivity issues or when you want to switch between models quickly.

Deep Dive

To launch the Control UI, run:

bash
openclaw dashboard

This command tells the daemon to serve the web UI and opens your default browser to the dashboard URL. If the browser does not open automatically, navigate manually to:

http://127.0.0.1:18789/

The address 127.0.0.1 means the dashboard is only accessible from your local machine, not from the network. Port 18789 is the default and can be customized in your configuration.

Dashboard Overview

When the dashboard loads, you will see several panels:

Status Bar at the top displays daemon health, uptime, and your authenticated user identity. A green indicator means everything is working correctly.

Gateway Panel shows each configured gateway with its connection status. For example:

json
{
  "gateways": [
    { "name": "default", "provider": "openai", "status": "connected" },
    { "name": "anthropic", "provider": "anthropic", "status": "connected" }
  ]
}

This JSON representation is what the gateway API returns internally. The dashboard renders it as a visual card for each gateway, with green or red indicators for connected or disconnected states.

Channels Panel lists your registered channels and their associated gateways. You can create, edit, or delete channels directly from this panel.

WebChat Panel provides a built-in chat interface where you can send messages to any configured model without leaving the browser. It is the fastest way to test that your installation is working.

Verifying from the CLI

You can also check gateway status from the terminal without opening the dashboard:

bash
openclaw gateway status

This prints a summary of all gateway connections and their health. It is useful for scripting or when working in a headless environment where a browser is not available.

The openclaw status command provides a broader overview:

bash
openclaw status

This reports the daemon status, authenticated user, number of active channels, and recent activity. It combines the information you would see across multiple dashboard panels into a single terminal output.

Common Pitfalls

  • Daemon not running: If you see a connection error when opening http://127.0.0.1:18789/, the daemon likely is not started. Run openclaw onboard --install-daemon or restart the daemon manually.
  • Port conflict: If another application is using port 18789, the dashboard will fail to start. Check for conflicts with lsof -i :18789 on macOS/Linux or netstat -ano | findstr 18789 on Windows.
  • Trying to access from another machine: The dashboard binds to 127.0.0.1 by default, making it inaccessible from other devices on your network. This is a security feature, not a bug.

Best Practices

  • Bookmark http://127.0.0.1:18789/ in your browser for quick access without needing the CLI.
  • Use the WebChat panel for quick tests before integrating OpenClaw into your development workflow.
  • Check openclaw gateway status in CI/CD pipelines to verify connectivity before running automated AI tasks.

Summary

  • Launch the Control UI with openclaw dashboard, which opens at http://127.0.0.1:18789/
  • The dashboard shows gateway status, channels, and a built-in WebChat interface
  • Port 18789 is the default and only accessible from localhost
  • Use openclaw gateway status and openclaw status for CLI-based monitoring
  • The WebChat panel is the quickest way to verify your installation works end to end
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