Openclaw browser not working 2026.2.6
β
Solved
Chrome extension relay not reachable on Mac (remote gateway setup)
Setup: Gateway v2026.2.6 in Docker on Hetzner VPS (port 18789), Mac CLI node host v2026.2.6-3
connected via Tailscale with browser cap, sandbox-browser container on VPS at 172.18.0.10:9222.
Gateway side (inside container):
- curl :18791 β nothing (browser control service not listening)
- curl :18792 β returns OK
- Browser profile openclaw: running: true, cdpUrl: http://172.18.0.10:9222
- Sandbox: off, but browser is in default deny tool list
Mac side:
- Nothing listens on 18792 or 18800
- openclaw browser --browser-profile chrome start says "relay running, no tab connected" but port
never binds
- Node logs: constant tick timeout / gateway closed
- Extension Options: "Relay not reachable at http://127.0.0.1:18792/"
Tried: Updated CLI (1.30β2.6-3), reinstalled node LaunchAgent, restarted node, ran node foreground
(connects fine, no relay binds), started chrome profile, changed extension ports, restarted Chrome.
Related issues: #5047, #7282, #10689
Question: For remote gateway + local Mac node host, how does the extension relay actually start
locally? CLI node connects with browser cap but never binds the relay port.
Setup: Gateway v2026.2.6 in Docker on Hetzner VPS (port 18789), Mac CLI node host v2026.2.6-3
connected via Tailscale with browser cap, sandbox-browser container on VPS at 172.18.0.10:9222.
Gateway side (inside container):
- curl :18791 β nothing (browser control service not listening)
- curl :18792 β returns OK
- Browser profile openclaw: running: true, cdpUrl: http://172.18.0.10:9222
- Sandbox: off, but browser is in default deny tool list
Mac side:
- Nothing listens on 18792 or 18800
- openclaw browser --browser-profile chrome start says "relay running, no tab connected" but port
never binds
- Node logs: constant tick timeout / gateway closed
- Extension Options: "Relay not reachable at http://127.0.0.1:18792/"
Tried: Updated CLI (1.30β2.6-3), reinstalled node LaunchAgent, restarted node, ran node foreground
(connects fine, no relay binds), started chrome profile, changed extension ports, restarted Chrome.
Related issues: #5047, #7282, #10689
Question: For remote gateway + local Mac node host, how does the extension relay actually start
locally? CLI node connects with browser cap but never binds the relay port.
Solution
Resolved - Chrome extension relay not reachable (remote gateway + Mac node)
Root cause: gateway.nodes.browser.mode was set to off on the gateway. This prevented the gateway
from routing browser requests to the Mac node host, so the node never spun up the local relay.
Likely got reset to off during a gateway update from 2026.2.3 β 2026.2.6.
Fix:
# On gateway:
openclaw config set gateway.nodes.browser.mode auto
# Then restart gateway
docker restart openclaw
After that, running openclaw browser tabs from the Mac triggered the first proxied request, the node
started the local relay on 18792, and the extension connected.
Other things we tried that didn't help: updating CLI (1.30β2.6-3), reinstalling node LaunchAgent,
restarting node, running node foreground, starting chrome browser profile manually, changing
extension port settings. None of these mattered because the gateway was never routing to the node in
the first place.
Thanks to the Discord help for pointing us at gateway.nodes.browser.mode!
Root cause: gateway.nodes.browser.mode was set to off on the gateway. This prevented the gateway
from routing browser requests to the Mac node host, so the node never spun up the local relay.
Likely got reset to off during a gateway update from 2026.2.3 β 2026.2.6.
Fix:
# On gateway:
openclaw config set gateway.nodes.browser.mode auto
# Then restart gateway
docker restart openclaw
After that, running openclaw browser tabs from the Mac triggered the first proxied request, the node
started the local relay on 18792, and the extension connected.
Other things we tried that didn't help: updating CLI (1.30β2.6-3), reinstalling node LaunchAgent,
restarting node, running node foreground, starting chrome browser profile manually, changing
extension port settings. None of these mattered because the gateway was never routing to the node in
the first place.
Thanks to the Discord help for pointing us at gateway.nodes.browser.mode!
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