Summary
Open Claw gateway starts without errors and shows the web interface correctly, but all chat messages remain unanswered. The Anthropic API is working (verified with direct API calls), but Open Claw appears unable to communicate with it.
Steps to reproduce

Install Open Claw: npm install -g @openclaw/cli
Set API key as environment variable: $env:ANTHROPIC_API_KEY = "sk-ant-..."
Configure model in openclaw.json: "primary": "anthropic/claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022"
Start gateway: openclaw gateway
Open browser at http://127.0.0.1:18789
Send any message in Chat (e.g., "Hello")
Wait indefinitely - no response ever appears

Expected behavior
Claude should respond to chat messages within a few seconds.
Actual behavior

Gateway starts successfully
Web interface loads correctly
Messages appear in chat UI
Assistant shows as typing but never responds
Logs show: [diagnostic] lane wait exceeded: lane=session:agent:main:main waitedMs=10871 queueAhead=0
No error messages about API connection or authentication

Environment

OS: Windows 11
Open Claw version: 2026.2.1
Node.js version: (check with node --version)
Model: anthropic/claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022
API Key: Valid and working (verified with direct curl test to Anthropic API)

Additional context

Direct API test to Anthropic works perfectly:

powershell Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "https://api.anthropic.com/v1/messages" -Method Post -Headers $headers -Body $body

  Returns proper response: `"Hello! How can I help you today?"`

- Network connectivity confirmed: `Test-NetConnection -ComputerName api.anthropic.com -Port 443` succeeds
- No proxy or firewall blocking
- Tried multiple solutions:
  - ✅ Different API keys
  - ✅ System environment variable configuration
  - ✅ Multiple model names
  - ✅ Disabled Discord plugin
  - ✅ Fresh reinstall
  - ✅ PC restart
  - ✅ maxConcurrent set to 1
  - ❌ Problem persists in all cases

- `npm list -g @openclaw/cli` shows `(empty)` despite `openclaw --version` working

## Logs

06:01:01 [diagnostic] lane wait exceeded: lane=session:agent:main:main waitedMs=10871 queueAhead=0
No other errors appear in logs.