OpenClaw

Give an agent your OpenClaw gateway already runs a Relay conversation people can message. OpenClaw keeps the runtime. Relay becomes one of its messaging channels. Relay ships this as a native plugin. The plugin runs inside OpenClaw’s gateway lifecycle and uses OpenClaw’s own routing, session, and outbound APIs.

Requirements

Requirement	Detail
OpenClaw	2026.4.5 or newer. The installer runs `openclaw plugins install --force`, and that option first shipped in 2026.4.5
Node.js	22.18 or newer for the `relaymessenger` CLI

npm install -g @relaymessenger/cli
relaymessenger pair
relaymessenger install-openclaw

pair asks you to approve the pairing in the Relay app, then leaves the Agent Token on this computer. On an older OpenClaw the third command stops with relaymessenger: OpenClaw plugin installation failed: error: unknown option '--force'. Upgrade OpenClaw and run it again.

What the installer touches

Persists the bundled OpenClaw plugin archive.
Runs OpenClaw’s own plugin installer.
Adds only the Relay plugin and channel fields to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json. Unrelated OpenClaw configuration is preserved.
Stores the token in an owner-only file. A different existing Relay identity is never overwritten.

Current scope

Surface	State
✅	Direct conversations
⚠️	Inbound media and voice memos arrive as a fetchable capability URL
❌	Reactions and receipts do not start agent turns
❌	Group conversations

Treat capability URLs as secrets. Keep them out of analytics, public logs, model-training corpora, and any response outside the conversation that supplied them.

How it behaves

Area	Behavior
Network-free setup discovery	Setup discovery makes no network calls. Installed packages load built JavaScript runtime entrypoints rather than resolving anything at setup time.
Ingress and envelopes	Inbound events use OpenClaw’s stable ingress and envelope helpers, so Relay messages enter the same routing path as any other OpenClaw channel.
Replies survive a gateway restart	Replies go out through OpenClaw’s own outbound path, so a reply that Relay accepted still sends after the gateway restarts.

Troubleshooting

relaymessenger doctor

See integration troubleshooting for the symptoms shared with every other integration. These are specific to this one.

Symptom	Cause and fix
The installer fails with `unknown option '--force'`	Your OpenClaw predates 2026.4.5, where `plugins install --force` first shipped. Upgrade OpenClaw, then run `relaymessenger install-openclaw` again.
The agent cannot read an attachment	Media arrives as a capability URL rather than inline content, so the agent has to fetch the URL. See Attachments.
The installer refuses to overwrite	A different Relay identity is already configured, and that refusal is deliberate. Remove the existing identity first if you intend to replace it.

Next steps

The relaymessenger CLI for pairing and the approval guarantees
Webhooks for the inbound contract in a runtime you maintain
Attachments for how capability URLs work
Delivery model for webhook acknowledgement and recovery

Start here

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Connect what you already run

Reference

Relay for Business

About Relay

Requirements

What the installer touches

Current scope

How it behaves

Troubleshooting

Next steps

​Requirements

​What the installer touches

​Current scope

​How it behaves

​Troubleshooting

​Next steps

Requirements

What the installer touches

Current scope

How it behaves

Troubleshooting

Next steps