OpenClaw MCP API Connection Guide

🚧 WIP -- This skill is under active development. Details may change as the OpenClaw API stabilizes.

Overview

OpenClaw exposes an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server through its gateway, allowing Claude Code and other MCP clients to interact with IoT devices, read sensor data, and manage channels programmatically.

Prerequisites

• OpenClaw installed and running (openclaw --version)
• Gateway daemon active (systemctl --user status openclaw-gateway)
• Gateway healthy (curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:18789/healthz)
• Tailscale configured (for remote access)

Quick Start

1. Verify the Gateway Is Running

curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:18789/healthz
# Expected: OK

2. Configure MCP Client Connection

Add the OpenClaw MCP server to your Claude Code settings (~/.claude/settings.json or project .claude/settings.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openclaw": {
      "type": "sse",
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:18789/mcp"
    }
  }
}

For remote access via Tailscale:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openclaw": {
      "type": "sse",
      "url": "http://openclaw-desktop:18789/mcp"
    }
  }
}

3. Verify Connection

Once configured, restart Claude Code and check that the OpenClaw tools appear in the available MCP tools list.

Gateway Modes

Loopback (default)

Gateway binds to 127.0.0.1 only. Accessible from the local machine.

gateway:
  bind: loopback
  port: 18789

Tailscale Serve (tailnet only)

Accessible from any device on your Tailscale network.

gateway:
  bind: loopback
  port: 18789
  tailscale:
    mode: serve

Tailscale Funnel (public with auth)

Publicly accessible with password authentication.

gateway:
  bind: loopback
  port: 18789
  tailscale:
    mode: funnel
  auth:
    mode: password
    password: "your-secure-password"

Available MCP Capabilities (WIP)

These are the expected MCP tools and resources exposed by the gateway:

Tools

Resources

Troubleshooting

Gateway not responding

systemctl --user restart openclaw-gateway
journalctl --user -u openclaw-gateway -f

MCP connection refused

1. Verify the gateway is healthy: curl http://127.0.0.1:18789/healthz
2. Check the port is not blocked: ss -tlnp | grep 18789
3. For remote access, confirm Tailscale is connected: tailscale status

Authentication errors (funnel mode)

Ensure the password in your MCP config matches the one in ~/.openclaw/gateway.yaml.

Useful Commands

# Gateway management
openclaw doctor              # Run diagnostics
openclaw config list         # Show current config
openclaw channels list       # List channels

# Device interaction (CLI)
openclaw devices list        # List devices
openclaw devices status      # Device health overview

# Logs
journalctl --user -u openclaw-gateway -f

References

• Gateway config example: config/gateway.yaml.example
• Setup scripts: scripts/
• OpenClaw docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/gateway

OpenClaw — IoT Platform & AI Gateway https://cloudstudioiot.com/