OpenClaw Crash Loop Debugging: A 5-Point Checklist

OpenClaw Crash Loop Debugging: A 5-Point Checklist

If your OpenClaw agent or gateway starts 'flapping'—crashing and restarting in a loop—a Reddit post from r/openclaw outlines a five-step checklist to quickly narrow down the root cause.

Key Details

The checklist is designed to be followed sequentially when an incident occurs:

• 1) Capture failure shape first. Determine the type of failure: is it a startup crash, an Out-Of-Memory (OOM) event, or an authentication retry loop?
• 2) Check host pressure. Monitor the host system's metrics during the incident window. Specifically look for CPU saturation, high iowait, and swap spikes.
• 3) Compare provider latency. Analyze the latency from your AI model providers (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic) before and after the issue began. The post also advises to 'cap retry budget' to prevent runaway retries from exacerbating the problem.
• 4) Diff last known-good config. Compare the current configuration against the last configuration that was working correctly, before the repeated restarts began. This helps identify recent changes that may have triggered the instability.
• 5) Add two alerts. To catch future issues proactively, the post recommends setting up two specific alerts: one for a sustained spike in error rate, and another for a surge in failed runs over the established baseline.

The original poster, /u/ClawPulse, notes this checklist 'usually narrows it quickly' and offers to share a compact incident template if useful.