Bug type
Regression (worked before, now fails)
Beta release blocker
No
Summary
OpenClaw startup is unexpectedly slow on Windows, and this has not improved across several versions.
Startup takes about 38.8 seconds before the gateway becomes ready. Most of the delay happens in a large silent gap after "starting..." and before the first plugin command is registered. Other Claw runtimes on the same machine do not show this kind of startup delay.
Steps to reproduce
- Install OpenClaw 2026.4.15 on Windows
- Run "openclaw gateway run"
- Observe ~39 seconds of silence before "ready" appears
Expected behavior
Startup should be much faster (under 10s), or at minimum provide detailed logs during the slow phase so users can understand what is happening.
Actual behavior
The process appears to hang silently for ~37.5 seconds between "[gateway] starting..." and the first "Registered plugin command..." log line. There is zero log output during this gap.
Startup log:
2026-04-19T01:05:49.592+08:00 [gateway] loading configuration…
2026-04-19T01:05:50.895+08:00 [gateway] force: killed pid 1172 on port 18789
2026-04-19T01:05:50.904+08:00 [gateway] resolving authentication…
2026-04-19T01:05:50.960+08:00 [gateway] starting...
2026-04-19T01:06:28.489+08:00 Registered plugin command: /pair (plugin: device-pair)
2026-04-19T01:06:28.524+08:00 Registered plugin command: /phone (plugin: phone-control)
2026-04-19T01:06:28.577+08:00 Registered plugin command: /bot-logs (plugin: qqbot)
2026-04-19T01:06:28.615+08:00 Registered plugin command: /voice (plugin: talk-voice)
2026-04-19T01:06:28.633+08:00 [gateway] starting HTTP server...
2026-04-19T01:06:28.719+08:00 bonjour: starting (hostname=openclaw, instance="SKY-20191026YJJ (OpenClaw)", gatewayPort=18789, minimal=true)
2026-04-19T01:06:28.756+08:00 [health-monitor] started (interval: 300s, startup-grace: 60s, channel-connect-grace: 120s)
2026-04-19T01:06:29.802+08:00 [gateway] agent model: glm/GLM-5.1
2026-04-19T01:06:29.804+08:00 [gateway] ready (6 plugins: acpx, browser, device-pair, phone-control, qqbot, talk-voice; 38.8s)
OpenClaw version
2026.4.15 (041266a)
Operating system
Windows Server
Install method
npm global
Model
glm/GLM-5.1
Provider / routing chain
openclaw -> DawnLoadAI proxy -> GLM-5.1
Additional provider/model setup details
Default config, no custom modifications to startup or plugin loading.
Logs, screenshots, and evidence
Impact and severity
Affected: All Windows users
Severity: Medium (not blocking but very annoying)
Frequency: 100% of startups
This has been slow for several releases now with no improvement.
Additional information
Add startup profiling/logging to identify where the ~37s is spent. Consider lazy-loading plugins or parallelizing initialization.
Bug type
Regression (worked before, now fails)
Beta release blocker
No
Summary
OpenClaw startup is unexpectedly slow on Windows, and this has not improved across several versions.
Startup takes about 38.8 seconds before the gateway becomes ready. Most of the delay happens in a large silent gap after "starting..." and before the first plugin command is registered. Other Claw runtimes on the same machine do not show this kind of startup delay.
Steps to reproduce
Expected behavior
Startup should be much faster (under 10s), or at minimum provide detailed logs during the slow phase so users can understand what is happening.
Actual behavior
The process appears to hang silently for ~37.5 seconds between "[gateway] starting..." and the first "Registered plugin command..." log line. There is zero log output during this gap.
Startup log:
2026-04-19T01:05:49.592+08:00 [gateway] loading configuration…
2026-04-19T01:05:50.895+08:00 [gateway] force: killed pid 1172 on port 18789
2026-04-19T01:05:50.904+08:00 [gateway] resolving authentication…
2026-04-19T01:05:50.960+08:00 [gateway] starting...
2026-04-19T01:06:28.489+08:00 Registered plugin command: /pair (plugin: device-pair)
2026-04-19T01:06:28.524+08:00 Registered plugin command: /phone (plugin: phone-control)
2026-04-19T01:06:28.577+08:00 Registered plugin command: /bot-logs (plugin: qqbot)
2026-04-19T01:06:28.615+08:00 Registered plugin command: /voice (plugin: talk-voice)
2026-04-19T01:06:28.633+08:00 [gateway] starting HTTP server...
2026-04-19T01:06:28.719+08:00 bonjour: starting (hostname=openclaw, instance="SKY-20191026YJJ (OpenClaw)", gatewayPort=18789, minimal=true)
2026-04-19T01:06:28.756+08:00 [health-monitor] started (interval: 300s, startup-grace: 60s, channel-connect-grace: 120s)
2026-04-19T01:06:29.802+08:00 [gateway] agent model: glm/GLM-5.1
2026-04-19T01:06:29.804+08:00 [gateway] ready (6 plugins: acpx, browser, device-pair, phone-control, qqbot, talk-voice; 38.8s)
OpenClaw version
2026.4.15 (041266a)
Operating system
Windows Server
Install method
npm global
Model
glm/GLM-5.1
Provider / routing chain
openclaw -> DawnLoadAI proxy -> GLM-5.1
Additional provider/model setup details
Default config, no custom modifications to startup or plugin loading.
Logs, screenshots, and evidence
Impact and severity
Affected: All Windows users
Severity: Medium (not blocking but very annoying)
Frequency: 100% of startups
This has been slow for several releases now with no improvement.
Additional information
Add startup profiling/logging to identify where the ~37s is spent. Consider lazy-loading plugins or parallelizing initialization.