ClawNexus
Overview
ClawNexus is a naming and discovery layer for OpenClaw. It runs a local daemon that automatically discovers OpenClaw instances on your network and assigns them readable names, so you can refer to instances by alias (e.g., "home") instead of IP addresses.
Prerequisites
# Install and start the daemon
npm install -g clawnexus
clawnexus start
When NOT to Use
- Daemon not running → tell the user to run
clawnexus startfirst - User only has one OpenClaw instance and doesn't need discovery
- Cross-internet connections without a
.clawname (use local LAN only)
Commands
List all known instances
curl -s http://localhost:17890/instances | jq '.instances[] | {name: (.alias // .auto_name), status, address}'
Check a specific instance (by alias, auto_name, or address:port)
curl -s http://localhost:17890/instances/home
curl -s http://localhost:17890/instances/olivia
curl -s http://localhost:17890/instances/192.168.1.10:18789
Scan the local network for OpenClaw instances
curl -s -X POST http://localhost:17890/scan
Set a friendly alias for an instance
curl -s -X PUT http://localhost:17890/instances/olivia/alias \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"alias": "home"}'
Get the WebSocket URL to connect to an instance
# Get address and port, then build URL
curl -s http://localhost:17890/instances/home | jq '"ws://\(.address):\(.gateway_port)"'
Check daemon health
curl -s http://localhost:17890/health
Resolve a .claw name (Registry, requires internet + v0.2+)
curl -s http://localhost:17890/resolve/myagent.id.claw
Workflow: "Is home online?"
- Check instances:
curl -s http://localhost:17890/instances - Look for alias "home" in the response
- If
status: "online"→ confirm to user - If not found → suggest scanning:
curl -X POST http://localhost:17890/scan
Workflow: "Connect me to raspi"
- Resolve:
curl -s http://localhost:17890/instances/raspi - Build URL:
ws://<address>:<gateway_port> - Report URL to user for use with OpenClaw's gateway connect
Troubleshooting
- "Connection refused" on localhost:17890 → The ClawNexus daemon is not running. Tell the user to run
clawnexus start. - No instances found → The daemon may have just started. Run
curl -s -X POST http://localhost:17890/scanto trigger a network scan, then retry listing. - Instance shows
status: "offline"→ The OpenClaw gateway on that machine may be stopped. The instance was previously discovered but is not currently reachable.
Notes
- Instance identifiers accept:
alias,auto_name,display_name,agent_id, IP address, oraddress:port auto_nameis derived from the hostname (e.g., hostname "Olivia" → auto_name "olivia")is_self: trueinstances are the local machine (address127.0.0.1); useful for health checks- The daemon persists registry to
~/.clawnexus/registry.json