1. Symptoms
The clw-api-invalid error occurs when OpenClaw’s API client receives a request that fails validation before being sent to the remote service. This error manifests through several distinct indicators that help identify the specific nature of the validation failure.
When this error triggers, users typically observe the following shell output:
[ERROR] clw-api-invalid: API request validation failed
Details: The request contains invalid or malformed parameters.
Endpoint: /api/v1/resource/action
Status Code: 400 (Bad Request)
Timestamp: 2025-01-15T10:30:00Z
In interactive mode, OpenClaw may display additional context about which parameter caused the validation failure:
[ERROR] clw-api-invalid: Invalid parameter 'timeout' value 'abc'
Expected: integer >= 100 and <= 300000
Received: 'abc' (string)
API Configuration:
- endpoint: https://api.example.com
- method: POST
- timeout: abc
- retry_count: 3
The error code clw-api-invalid specifically indicates that the request was rejected at the client-side validation layer, before any network communication occurred with the remote API service.
2. Root Cause
The clw-api-invalid error originates from OpenClaw’s request validation engine, which performs pre-flight checks on all API parameters before constructing and sending HTTP requests. Understanding the root causes requires examining both configuration issues and parameter validation rules.
Primary Causes:
-
Type Mismatch Errors: OpenClaw enforces strict type checking on all request parameters. Passing a string where an integer is expected, or an array where an object is required, triggers validation failure. The validation layer compares the provided value’s actual type against the expected type defined in the API schema.
-
Value Range Violations: Certain numeric parameters have defined acceptable ranges. Timeout values, retry counts, and page sizes all have minimum and maximum bounds. Values outside these ranges cause the
clw-api-invaliderror even when the type is correct. -
Missing Required Parameters: API requests may mandate certain parameters that must be present in the configuration. Omitting these required fields during request construction results in immediate validation failure before any attempt to communicate with the API endpoint.
-
Malformed JSON or YAML Configuration: When OpenClaw loads configuration from files, syntax errors in the configuration documents cause parameter values to be interpreted incorrectly. Invalid YAML indentation, missing quotes around strings with special characters, or improperly escaped JSON values all lead to validation failures.
-
Deprecated Parameter Usage: API schemas evolve over time, and OpenClaw maintains a compatibility layer that flags usage of deprecated parameters. Requests containing parameters that have been removed from the current API specification trigger validation errors indicating that the parameter is no longer valid.
-
Encoding and Character Issues: Parameters containing invalid characters, improper encoding, or malformed Unicode sequences fail validation. This commonly occurs when configuration files are saved with incorrect character encodings or when user input contains special characters that require proper escaping.
The OpenClaw validation engine performs these checks synchronously during request construction, ensuring that obviously invalid requests do not reach the network layer where they would waste bandwidth and generate unhelpful errors from the remote service.
3. Step-by-Step Fix
Resolving the clw-api-invalid error requires systematic identification and correction of the specific validation failure. Follow these steps to diagnose and fix the issue.
Step 1: Examine the Full Error Message
The error message contains critical diagnostic information. Identify which parameter triggered the validation failure and what the expected format is.
[ERROR] clw-api-invalid: Invalid parameter 'request_id' value ''
Expected: non-empty string matching pattern ^[A-Za-z0-9_-]{8,64}$
Received: '' (empty string)
Step 2: Review Configuration Files
Inspect your OpenClaw configuration files for syntax errors and incorrect parameter values.
Before:
api:
endpoint: https://api.example.com
timeout: not-a-number
retry_count: -1
page_size: 5000
After:
api:
endpoint: https://api.example.com
timeout: 30000
retry_count: 3
page_size: 100
Step 3: Validate Parameter Types
Ensure all numeric parameters are specified as numbers, not strings. OpenClaw’s YAML parser may interpret quoted numbers as strings, causing type mismatches.
Before:
timeout: "30000"
retry_count: "3"
After:
timeout: 30000
retry_count: 3
Step 4: Check for Missing Required Parameters
When constructing API requests programmatically, ensure all required parameters are included in the request object.
Before:
const request = {
endpoint: '/api/resource',
method: 'POST'
// Missing: body, headers, timeout
};
After:
const request = {
endpoint: '/api/resource',
method: 'POST',
body: { action: 'create', data: payload },
headers: {
'Authorization': `Bearer ${token}`,
'Content-Type': 'application/json'
},
timeout: 30000
};
Step 5: Update Deprecated Parameters
Check the OpenClaw documentation for API schema changes and replace deprecated parameter names.
Before:
api:
use_ssl: true
max_connections: 10
After:
api:
ssl_verify: true
connection_limit: 10
Step 6: Sanitize User Input
When accepting parameters from user input, validate and sanitize values before passing them to the OpenClaw API client.
// Validate timeout value
const timeout = parseInt(userInput.timeout);
if (isNaN(timeout) || timeout < 100 || timeout > 300000) {
throw new Error('Invalid timeout value');
}
4. Verification
After applying fixes to resolve the clw-api-invalid error, verify that API requests are processed correctly by performing the following checks.
Validate Configuration Syntax:
Run OpenClaw’s configuration validation command to ensure the configuration file is syntactically correct:
clw validate --config config.yaml
A successful validation produces no error output and returns exit code 0.
Test API Connectivity:
Execute a simple API request to confirm that the validation layer accepts the configuration:
clw api call --endpoint /api/v1/health --method GET
The command should complete without the clw-api-invalid error and return a valid response from the API endpoint.
Run Diagnostic Mode:
Enable verbose logging to observe detailed validation steps:
clw api call --debug --endpoint /api/v1/resource --method POST --body '{"key":"value"}'
The debug output shows each validation step and confirms which parameters pass validation successfully.
Test Error Recovery:
Intentionally introduce an invalid parameter to confirm that the error message has changed or that the system properly rejects the request:
clw api call --timeout abc --endpoint /api/v1/test
The error message should clearly identify timeout as invalid, confirming that validation is functioning as expected.
5. Common Pitfalls
When resolving clw-api-invalid errors, developers frequently encounter several recurring issues that complicate the debugging process.
Quoted Numeric Values in YAML: YAML parsers treat quoted numbers as strings. Many developers inadvertently specify timeout values as strings by enclosing them in quotes, causing type validation to fail. Always use unquoted numeric literals for integer and floating-point values in YAML configuration files.
Silent Type Coercion: OpenClaw does not automatically coerce types. If your code passes a string to a parameter that expects a number, the validation fails immediately. Explicitly convert values to the correct type before passing them to the API client.
Outdated Documentation: When API schemas change, the behavior of certain parameters may shift. Relying on old documentation or examples can lead to using deprecated parameters that trigger validation errors. Cross-reference current API documentation when configuring OpenClaw.
Environment Variable Interpolation: When configuration values come from environment variables, ensure that the interpolated values match the expected type. An environment variable containing “30000” is a string, not a number, and may cause type validation failures.
Partial Configuration Updates: When updating only specific configuration sections, ensure that dependent parameters remain consistent. Changing an endpoint URL without updating related timeout values can lead to unexpected validation behavior.
Encoding Mismatches: Configuration files saved with different character encodings than expected can corrupt parameter values. Use UTF-8 encoding consistently and verify that special characters in parameter values are properly encoded.
6. Related Errors
clw-auth-expired: This error occurs when the authentication token used for API requests has expired. Unlike clw-api-invalid, which relates to parameter validation, clw-auth-expired indicates that the request reached the remote service but was rejected due to credential validity issues. The authentication error typically includes a timestamp indicating when the token expired and instructions for obtaining a fresh token.
clw-api-timeout: This error surfaces when API requests take longer than the configured timeout threshold. While clw-api-invalid relates to the request configuration before transmission, clw-api-timeout relates to the response timeline during transmission. Adjusting timeout values often resolves timeout issues, but the values must still pass the same validation rules that cause clw-api-invalid errors.
clw-request-malformed: This error indicates that the HTTP request itself is malformed at the protocol level, such as missing required headers or invalid HTTP method names. While clw-api-invalid catches parameter-level validation issues before request construction, clw-request-malformed catches protocol-level issues during the final request assembly phase.