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Gateway on macOS (external launchd)

Moltbot.app no longer bundles Node/Bun or the Gateway runtime. The macOS app expects an external moltbot CLI install, does not spawn the Gateway as a child process, and manages a per‑user launchd service to keep the Gateway running (or attaches to an existing local Gateway if one is already running).

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Install the CLI (required for local mode)

You need Node 22+ on the Mac, then install moltbot globally: 
npm install -g moltbot@<version>
The macOS app’s Install CLI button runs the same flow via npm/pnpm (bun not recommended for Gateway runtime).

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Launchd (Gateway as LaunchAgent)

Label:
  • com.clawdbot.gateway (or com.clawdbot.<profile>)
Plist location (per‑user):
  • ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.clawdbot.gateway.plist (or ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.clawdbot.<profile>.plist)
Manager:
  • The macOS app owns LaunchAgent install/update in Local mode.
  • The CLI can also install it: moltbot gateway install.
Behavior:
  • “Moltbot Active” enables/disables the LaunchAgent.
  • App quit does not stop the gateway (launchd keeps it alive).
  • If a Gateway is already running on the configured port, the app attaches to it instead of starting a new one.
Logging:
  • launchd stdout/err: /tmp/moltbot/moltbot-gateway.log

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Version compatibility

The macOS app checks the gateway version against its own version. If they’re incompatible, update the global CLI to match the app version.

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Smoke check

moltbot --version

CLAWDBOT_SKIP_CHANNELS=1 \
CLAWDBOT_SKIP_CANVAS_HOST=1 \
moltbot gateway --port 18999 --bind loopback
Then: 
moltbot gateway call health --url ws://127.0.0.1:18999 --timeout 3000