Pairing

OpenClaw uses pairing to control who can talk to the assistant and how device nodes join the Gateway. Based on official Pairing.

DM pairing

By default, unknown senders in DMs receive a pairing code instead of being processed. You approve them locally to add them to the allowlist.

Approve pairing

openclaw pairing approve <channel> <code>

Replace <channel> with the channel name (e.g. whatsapp, telegram) and <code> with the code the user received.

Policies

• pairing (default): Unknown senders must pair first; recommended for DMs
• open: No sender restriction (requires explicit allowlist in channel config, e.g. allowFrom: ["*"])

See official docs and per-channel config.

Device node pairing

iOS/Android nodes and the macOS companion app connect via the Gateway WebSocket and a pairing flow:

1. Node and Gateway are on the same network (or reachable via Tailscale/SSH)
2. Start pairing on the node; the Gateway shows the request
3. Approve the node in the Control UI or CLI

See Nodes and Discovery.

See also

• Getting Started
• Remote access
• Official Pairing