Sub-agent spawn fails with gateway token mismatch (1008)
Setup: Single VPS, one gateway running as a systemd user service with auth.mode: "device". The main agent spawns sub-agents via subagents.allowAgents (5 configured). Each sub-agent has its own workspace and Discord bot account via bindings.
Problem: Sub-agent spawning consistently fails with:
gateway closed (1008): unauthorized: gateway token mismatch
Connection is via loopback, so it's not a network issue. The main gateway is healthy, device scopes are 5/5, openclaw doctor passes.
What we've tried:
openclaw devices rotate (with gateway running, per docs)
Gateway restarts
Verifying device-auth.json matches the running gateway token
Extensive debugging across multiple sessions
Observations:
Only affects sub-agent spawning (sessions_spawn), never direct messages to the main agent
Behaves like the vdev token used for the sub-agent WebSocket connection doesn't match what the gateway expects
Sometimes works briefly after a fresh devices rotate, then breaks again
Version: v2026.2.26
Has anyone seen this pattern? Is there a known issue with vdev tokens and sub-agent spawning in multi-account setups? Any debug flags to see which token the spawn is actually sending?
Problem: Sub-agent spawning consistently fails with:
gateway closed (1008): unauthorized: gateway token mismatch
Connection is via loopback, so it's not a network issue. The main gateway is healthy, device scopes are 5/5, openclaw doctor passes.
What we've tried:
openclaw devices rotate (with gateway running, per docs)
Gateway restarts
Verifying device-auth.json matches the running gateway token
Extensive debugging across multiple sessions
Observations:
Only affects sub-agent spawning (sessions_spawn), never direct messages to the main agent
Behaves like the vdev token used for the sub-agent WebSocket connection doesn't match what the gateway expects
Sometimes works briefly after a fresh devices rotate, then breaks again
Version: v2026.2.26
Has anyone seen this pattern? Is there a known issue with vdev tokens and sub-agent spawning in multi-account setups? Any debug flags to see which token the spawn is actually sending?
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