2026.2.19-2
just spent like 2 hours debugging a "pairing required" error after updating openclaw to 2026.2.19-2 on my ubuntu VPS, figured id share incase anyone else hits this
if you run sudo openclaw update and then get pairing required (1008) when trying to run any CLI command, the issue is that v2026.2.19 changed auth to default to token mode now, and the update running as sudo messes up file ownership + creates root-owned cache files. your CLI ends up with a stale device identity that has the wrong scopes for the new version.
the fix that actually worked:
the key thing i was missing were clearing both ~/.openclaw/devices/ AND ~/.openclaw/identity/. just deleting one of them dosent work because the CLI keeps reconnecting with its old device identity that has outdated scopes, and the gateway rejects the scope upgrade with "pairing required".
also heads up -- the systemctl --user unavailable: Failed to connect to bus error you see right after sudo openclaw update is normal and harmless - I hope? sudo cant access your user dbus session, thats just how linux works. you restart the gateway yourself afterwords as your normal user.
protip: always run openclaw gateway install --force after updating. the systemd unit doesnt auto-update and will still point to the old version's entry point, which causes MODULE_NOT_FOUND crashes.
I guess the fact that my assistant-partner-wingman does not have access to root contributes to this?
if you run sudo openclaw update and then get pairing required (1008) when trying to run any CLI command, the issue is that v2026.2.19 changed auth to default to token mode now, and the update running as sudo messes up file ownership + creates root-owned cache files. your CLI ends up with a stale device identity that has the wrong scopes for the new version.
the fix that actually worked:
the key thing i was missing were clearing both ~/.openclaw/devices/ AND ~/.openclaw/identity/. just deleting one of them dosent work because the CLI keeps reconnecting with its old device identity that has outdated scopes, and the gateway rejects the scope upgrade with "pairing required".
also heads up -- the systemctl --user unavailable: Failed to connect to bus error you see right after sudo openclaw update is normal and harmless - I hope? sudo cant access your user dbus session, thats just how linux works. you restart the gateway yourself afterwords as your normal user.
protip: always run openclaw gateway install --force after updating. the systemd unit doesnt auto-update and will still point to the old version's entry point, which causes MODULE_NOT_FOUND crashes.
I guess the fact that my assistant-partner-wingman does not have access to root contributes to this?
