Connect Your Own OpenClaw

You can connect your own OpenClaw to any shared AI teammate or to Sidekick. Type creates the teammate, generates OpenClaw connection credentials, and waits for your OpenClaw gateway to connect back to Type over WebSocket.

Use this when you want Type to be the workspace, thread, permission, connector, skill, and task surface while keeping the OpenClaw runtime on infrastructure you control.

Shared teammate setup

For a shared teammate, start from the teammate creation dialog:

Create a new AI teammate.
Choose OpenClaw as the model or harness.
Choose Bring your own or Connect your OpenClaw.
Name the teammate and choose whether it is visible to everyone or specific people.
Create the teammate.
Copy the setup instructions from the Connect your OpenClaw step.
Apply those instructions on the machine running OpenClaw.
Use Test connection to confirm Type sees the OpenClaw WebSocket.
Click Start chatting when you are ready to open the teammate.

If you go back or close the creation flow before starting, Type discards the prepared teammate.

Sidekick setup

For Sidekick, start from Sidekick onboarding:

Open Sidekick setup.
Name your Sidekick.
Click Use your OpenClaw instead.
Review the generated OpenClaw Sidekick identity.
Confirm or edit the username before you continue.
Copy the setup instructions.
Apply those instructions on the machine running OpenClaw.
Click Start chatting to open the Sidekick thread.

For OpenClaw Sidekicks, the username is used as the OpenClaw account key in the generated openclaw.json snippet. You can edit it during setup. After the Sidekick exists, the username is locked because changing it would require updating the OpenClaw gateway config.

What Type gives you

The connection panel gives you:

Agent token: authenticates your OpenClaw runtime with Type. The full token is shown only once.
Agent ID: identifies the Type teammate or Sidekick.
WebSocket URL: the Type endpoint your OpenClaw gateway connects to.
Setup instructions: a generated OpenClaw config snippet with the correct token, agent ID, WebSocket URL, and account key.

Keep the token private. Do not paste it into teammate instructions, shared threads, public docs, or source control.

Configure OpenClaw

The generated instructions follow this shape:

Install the Type OpenClaw plugin:

mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/plugins/type
cd ~/.openclaw/plugins/type
npm init -y && npm install @type-dot-com/type-openclaw-plugin

Merge the generated config into ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:

{
  "plugins": {
    "allow": ["type"],
    "load": {
      "paths": [
        "~/.openclaw/plugins/type/node_modules/@type-dot-com/type-openclaw-plugin"
      ]
    },
    "entries": {
      "type": {
        "enabled": true
      }
    }
  },
  "channels": {
    "type": {
      "accounts": {
        "<account-key-from-type>": {
          "enabled": true,
          "token": "<agent-token-from-type>",
          "wsUrl": "<websocket-url-from-type>",
          "agentId": "<agent-id-from-type>",
          "capabilities": ["media"]
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Optional: add ownerAllowFrom if you want owner-only OpenClaw tools in Type:

"ownerAllowFrom": ["user_123"]

Ensure OpenClaw uses full verbose output:

{
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "verboseDefault": "full"
    }
  }
}

Restart the OpenClaw gateway:

openclaw gateway restart

Verify channel status:

openclaw channels status

Manage the connection later

For shared teammates, open teammate settings and go to the OpenClaw connection panel. For Sidekick, open Sidekick settings and look for OpenClaw Connection.

From settings you can copy the agent ID and WebSocket URL again. The full token is not shown again after creation; settings show only the token prefix. If you lose the token or need to rotate it, click Regenerate, then update your OpenClaw config with the new generated instructions. Rotating the token can break the old OpenClaw connection until the gateway config is updated and restarted.

Shared teammate settings also include Test connection. A connected status means Type currently sees the OpenClaw WebSocket. A degraded status means Type has partial connection state but delivery may not be healthy. Disconnected means the gateway is not currently connected.

Troubleshooting

If the teammate or Sidekick does not respond:

Confirm OpenClaw is running and the gateway was restarted after config changes.
Confirm the Type plugin is installed at the path listed in plugins.load.paths.
Confirm the token, agent ID, WebSocket URL, and account key match the latest setup instructions.
Confirm agents.defaults.verboseDefault is set to "full" so Type receives full tool output.
If you regenerated the token, make sure the old token is no longer in openclaw.json.
Run openclaw channels status and check the OpenClaw gateway logs.

Runtime responsibility

For user-hosted OpenClaw, you manage the runtime environment. That includes uptime, model credentials, local environment variables, file-system access, network access, tool permissions, OpenClaw updates, plugin updates, logs, and failures.

Type manages the workspace, teammate identity, threads, connectors, skills, tasks, permissions, and collaboration UI. Your OpenClaw runtime manages agent execution.

Report a bug