OpenClaw CLI stuck in device token mismatch loop — need help
Version: 2026.2.19-2 on WSL2 (Ubuntu, WSL2 kernel)
How it started: The browser automation task caused the gateway to crash repeatedly, spawning orphaned processes and eventually triggering a device token mismatch error that broke the CLI permanently.
What we tried:
Rotated all device tokens via the Control UI — didn't fix it
Manually edited ~/.openclaw/identity/device-auth.json to insert the matching token from paired.json — gateway kept overwriting the file back to "tokens": {}
Made the file read-only — CLI still rejected
Deleted device.json to force fresh identity generation — CLI reused the old device ID anyway
Used openclaw devices clear --token [REDACTED] --yes to wipe all 6 paired devices — succeeded, cleared everything
After clearing, new tokens were generated and appeared synced between device-auth.json and paired.json with matching values — but CLI still fails with same error
Tried openclaw devices list --password [REDACTED] — still rejected with device token mismatch before password auth even runs
No --verbose or --debug flag available on the CLI
Current state:
Gateway is running fine, Control UI works, Discord channel works
CLI cannot connect at all — every attempt fails with unauthorized: device token mismatch
pending.json is empty {} so no pairing request is being submitted to approve
Tokens in device-auth.json and paired.json appear to match but gateway still rejects
Question: Is there a proper way to fully reset and re-pair the local CLI from scratch when it's stuck in this state?
How it started: The browser automation task caused the gateway to crash repeatedly, spawning orphaned processes and eventually triggering a device token mismatch error that broke the CLI permanently.
What we tried:
Rotated all device tokens via the Control UI — didn't fix it
Manually edited ~/.openclaw/identity/device-auth.json to insert the matching token from paired.json — gateway kept overwriting the file back to "tokens": {}
Made the file read-only — CLI still rejected
Deleted device.json to force fresh identity generation — CLI reused the old device ID anyway
Used openclaw devices clear --token [REDACTED] --yes to wipe all 6 paired devices — succeeded, cleared everything
After clearing, new tokens were generated and appeared synced between device-auth.json and paired.json with matching values — but CLI still fails with same error
Tried openclaw devices list --password [REDACTED] — still rejected with device token mismatch before password auth even runs
No --verbose or --debug flag available on the CLI
Current state:
Gateway is running fine, Control UI works, Discord channel works
CLI cannot connect at all — every attempt fails with unauthorized: device token mismatch
pending.json is empty {} so no pairing request is being submitted to approve
Tokens in device-auth.json and paired.json appear to match but gateway still rejects
Question: Is there a proper way to fully reset and re-pair the local CLI from scratch when it's stuck in this state?
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