Fix OpenClaw Telegram Exec 'allowlist miss' Error

Telegram Exec Failures After OpenClaw Update

After a recent OpenClaw update, users reported Telegram bots and channels responding normally but exec commands consistently failing with the error: exec denied: allowlist miss. This occurred even after addressing obvious permission and approval issues.

Root Cause: Three Separate Gates

The failure resulted from three configuration issues:

Telegram elevated access wasn't enabled: Elevated exec requires explicit enablement plus an allowlist for who can request it
Exec approvals weren't configured for Telegram: OpenClaw either couldn't prompt for approvals on Telegram or kept waiting for approvals not intended for use
Gateway-host exec defaulted to allowlist: When using elevated exec, execution switches to host=gateway. Without explicit tools.exec.security settings, gateway-host exec defaults to allowlist, causing the persistent error

Complete Fix Configuration

Step 1 — Enable elevated access for Telegram in openclaw.json:

"elevated": {
  "enabled": true,
  "allowFrom": {
    "telegram": [
      "YOUR_TELEGRAM_USER_ID",
      "telegram:group:YOUR_GROUP_ID"
    ]
  }
}

Step 2 — Allow shell-style commands in Telegram in openclaw.json:

"commands": {
  "text": true,
  "bash": true,
  "allowFrom": {
    "telegram": [
      "YOUR_TELEGRAM_USER_ID"
    ]
  }
}

Step 3 — Disable exec approval prompts globally in exec-approvals.json:

"defaults": {
  "security": "full",
  "ask": "off",
  "askFallback": "full"
}

Step 4 — The key fix: set exec security + host explicitly in openclaw.json:

"exec": {
  "security": "full",
  "host": "gateway"
}

Full Working Configuration

~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:

"tools": {
  "profile": "coding",
  "elevated": {
    "enabled": true,
    "allowFrom": {
      "telegram": [
        "YOUR_TELEGRAM_USER_ID",
        "telegram:group:YOUR_GROUP_ID"
      ]
    }
  },
  "exec": {
    "security": "full",
    "host": "gateway"
  }
},
"commands": {
  "native": "auto",
  "restart": true,
  "text": true,
  "bash": true,
  "allowFrom": {
    "telegram": [
      "YOUR_TELEGRAM_USER_ID"
    ]
  }
}

~/.openclaw/exec-approvals.json:

"defaults": {
  "security": "full",
  "ask": "off",
  "askFallback": "full"
}

Testing the Fix

After applying the configuration:

Restart the gateway: openclaw gateway restart
Start a fresh Telegram session with /new
Test with ! pwd

The key insight: when Telegram exec fails after an update, the issue may not be Telegram permissions or approvals. Elevated exec moves to host=gateway, and gateway exec security defaults to allowlist unless explicitly set to "full" with host: "gateway".

📖 Read the full source: r/openclaw