Summary

The OpenClaw desktop app (OpenClaw.app / Electron, macOS) appears to trigger periodic SIGUSR1 signals to the gateway process, causing unwanted restarts approximately every 8-11 minutes. These restarts occur without any corresponding "config change detected" log entry, suggesting the desktop app is sending SIGUSR1 directly rather than through the config reload path.

Steps to reproduce

1. Run OpenClaw gateway via launchd (ai.openclaw.gateway)
2. Run OpenClaw.app desktop (Electron) via launchd (ai.openclaw.mac.plist) with KeepAlive: true
3. Leave both running for 30+ minutes
4. Observe gateway log for SIGUSR1 restarts

Expected behavior

The desktop app should not trigger gateway restarts unless the user explicitly requests one or config changes are made.

Actual behavior

Gateway receives SIGUSR1 signals every 8-11 minutes with no visible trigger:

2026-02-06T17:04:28.567Z [gateway] signal SIGUSR1 received
2026-02-06T17:04:28.571Z [gateway] received SIGUSR1; restarting
...
2026-02-06T17:12:42.891Z [gateway] signal SIGUSR1 received  # 8 min later, no config change logged
2026-02-06T17:12:42.895Z [gateway] received SIGUSR1; restarting
...
2026-02-06T17:23:38.462Z [gateway] signal SIGUSR1 received  # 11 min later, no config change logged
2026-02-06T17:23:38.466Z [gateway] received SIGUSR1; restarting

Note: Some restarts DO have config change logs (e.g., meta.lastTouchedAt changes per #5533), but others have no logged trigger at all.

Workaround

Kill the desktop app and unload its launchd agent:

pkill -x "OpenClaw"
launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ai.openclaw.mac.plist

After doing this, no further unexplained restarts occurred (tested 30+ minutes).

Environment

• OpenClaw version: 2026.2.3-1
• OpenClaw.app version: 260202.0859 (Electron)
• OS: macOS 26.2 (Darwin 25.2.0, arm64, M4 Mac Mini)
• Install method: npm global + OpenClaw.app
• Gateway PID: 57570
• Desktop app launchd: ai.openclaw.mac.plist (KeepAlive: true)

Related

• [Bug]: commands.restart=false does not prevent gateway SIGUSR1 self-restart on config set (meta.lastTouchedAt) #5533 (meta.lastTouchedAt triggering restarts even with commands.restart=false)

Logs

Gateway log showing webchat connections from desktop app reconnecting after each restart:

2026-02-06T17:12:44.708Z [ws] webchat connected conn=... remote=127.0.0.1 client=openclaw-control-ui webchat vdev
2026-02-06T17:12:44.730Z [ws] webchat connected conn=... remote=127.0.0.1 client=openclaw-control-ui webchat vdev

The openclaw-control-ui client reconnects immediately after each restart, suggesting it is aware of (or causing) the restart cycle.