Fix OpenClaw WhatsApp Proxy Error | Generated by AI

Home 2026.04

Question: How do I fix the OpenClaw gateway error “channels.whatsapp: Unrecognized key: proxy” in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json?

Answer:

Root Cause

The proxy key under channels.whatsapp is not yet a supported configuration option in OpenClaw. As of February 2026, a feature request (Issue #23500) was filed to add proxy support for WhatsApp connections — similar to how channels.telegram.proxy already works — but it has not been implemented yet.

This means if you manually added "proxy": "..." to your channels.whatsapp config (perhaps inspired by the Telegram proxy config, or by following an outdated guide), OpenClaw’s config validator will reject it as an unrecognized key and refuse to start.

How to Fix It

Option 1 — Run the auto-repair command (recommended first step)

openclaw doctor --fix

The doctor --fix command automatically migrates known deprecated or invalid keys. After running it, retry the gateway restart.

Option 2 — Manually remove the proxy key from the config

  1. Open the config file:
nano ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
  1. Find the channels.whatsapp section. It likely looks something like:
"channels": {
  "whatsapp": {
    "proxy": "http://127.0.0.1:7890",
    ...
  }
}

  1. Delete the "proxy": "..." line entirely, save, and exit.

  2. Restart the gateway:

openclaw gateway restart

Option 3 — Validate the config structure first

Run this to see all invalid keys before editing:

openclaw config validate

Then fix each reported key.

Workaround for Proxy Needs (if you’re in a restricted region)

Since WhatsApp proxy support is not yet implemented in OpenClaw, users in regions where WhatsApp is blocked (e.g., mainland China) should instead set system-level proxy environment variables before launching OpenClaw:

export http_proxy="http://127.0.0.1:7890"
export https_proxy="http://127.0.0.1:7890"
openclaw gateway restart

This routes all outbound connections (including WhatsApp WebSocket) through your proxy at the OS level, without touching the OpenClaw config file.

Summary Table

Step Command
Auto-fix config openclaw doctor --fix
Manual edit Remove "proxy" from channels.whatsapp in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
Restart gateway openclaw gateway restart
System proxy workaround export http_proxy=... before starting OpenClaw

References:

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