1. Symptoms
The clw-router-denied error occurs when the OpenClaw router middleware rejects an incoming request based on configured access control policies. This error manifests through several observable indicators that help distinguish it from other routing failures.
When the error is triggered, the client receives an HTTP 403 Forbidden response with a JSON payload containing the error code clw-router-denied. The response body typically includes a descriptive message explaining why the request was denied, along with the affected route identifier. In a command-line context, running OpenClaw CLI commands that interact with the router will display an error message prefixed with [ROUTER DENIED] followed by specific denial rationale such as missing credentials, blacklisted IP address, or invalid route permissions.
The server-side logs will record the denial event with a severity level of WARN or ERROR, depending on configuration. The log entry contains the client identifier, source IP address, attempted route path, the applicable policy rule that caused the denial, and a timestamp for traceability. Developers frequently encounter this error during initial deployment when router policies have not been properly configured, or when changes to access control rules inadvertently block legitimate traffic.
Additional symptoms include the inability to reach specific API endpoints despite correct routing configuration, intermittent failures when requests originate from new network segments, and authentication failures even when valid credentials are provided. The error may also surface after infrastructure changes such as IP address migrations, subnet reconfigurations, or updates to the centralized route registry.
2. Root Cause
The clw-router-denied error originates from the access control enforcement layer within the OpenClaw router component. This middleware inspects incoming requests against a set of policy rules defined in the router configuration before forwarding them to their intended destinations. When a request violates one or more of these policies, the router rejects the request and returns the clw-router-denied error instead of proceeding with routing.
The root causes fall into three primary categories. The first category involves misconfigured whitelist and blacklist rules. The router maintains lists of permitted and blocked identifiers including IP addresses, client certificates, API keys, and user agent strings. Requests originating from addresses not included in the whitelist, or those matching entries in the blacklist, are denied. Configuration drift where legitimate sources were removed from the whitelist or malicious sources added to the blacklist typically causes this scenario.
The second category encompasses credential and authentication mismatches. OpenClaw router policies can mandate specific authentication mechanisms such as bearer token validation, mutual TLS verification, or OAuth 2.0 scope checking. When a request arrives without the required credentials, with malformed credentials, or with valid credentials lacking necessary permissions for the requested route, the router denies the request. Version mismatches between the authentication server and router configuration also trigger this error when token validation endpoints or signing certificate fingerprints become stale.
The third category involves policy evaluation failures caused by infrastructure issues. The router may depend on external services such as LDAP directories, OAuth authorization servers, or policy evaluation engines for real-time access decisions. Network connectivity issues between the router and these dependencies, timeouts during policy lookup, or service unavailability can cause the router to conservatively deny requests rather than risk permitting unauthorized access.
3. Step-by-Step Fix
Resolving the clw-router-denied error requires systematic investigation of the applicable policy rules and correction of the underlying configuration or infrastructure issue.
Step 1: Retrieve the Full Error Context
Obtain the complete denial message from the client response or server logs. Note the route identifier, client identifier if available, and the specific policy rule referenced in the denial message.
{
"error": "clw-router-denied",
"message": "Request denied: source IP 192.168.1.100 not in whitelist",
"route": "/api/v2/users",
"policy": "ip-whitelist-default"
}
Step 2: Examine the Router Policy Configuration
Locate the OpenClaw router configuration file, typically named router.yaml, clw-router.conf, or stored within a centralized configuration management system. Identify the policy rule named in the error message and review its definition.
Before:
policies:
ip-whitelist-default:
type: ip-whitelist
sources: []
action: deny
After:
policies:
ip-whitelist-default:
type: ip-whitelist
sources:
- 10.0.0.0/8
- 172.16.0.0/12
- 192.168.0.0/16
- 192.168.1.100
action: allow
Step 3: Update Credential Configuration If Authentication Mismatch
If the error indicates missing or invalid credentials, verify the authentication configuration and update the router policy to accept the correct credential type.
Before:
policies:
api-authentication:
type: bearer-token
validation:
endpoint: https://auth.internal.corp/api/v1/validate
timeout: 2000
required_scopes:
- read:users
After:
policies:
api-authentication:
type: bearer-token
validation:
endpoint: https://auth.internal.corp/api/v2/validate
timeout: 5000
required_scopes:
- read:users
- read:profiles
Step 4: Verify External Service Connectivity
When infrastructure issues cause the error, confirm connectivity to dependent services. Test DNS resolution, validate TLS certificate validity, and measure response times from the router host to authentication and policy evaluation endpoints.
curl -v --connect-timeout 5 https://auth.internal.corp/api/v2/validate
openssl s_client -connect auth.internal.corp:443 -showcerts
Step 5: Reload Router Configuration
After modifying the configuration, trigger a configuration reload through the router management API or CLI to apply changes without requiring a full service restart.
clw-routerctl config reload --policy-name ip-whitelist-default
4. Verification
Confirming the resolution of the clw-router-denied error involves both automated testing and manual validation of the corrected policies.
Execute the OpenClaw router diagnostic command to verify that the policy rules have been loaded correctly and are in the expected state.
clw-routerctl policy verify --name ip-whitelist-default
The command should return a status of LOADED with the current source list matching your intended configuration. Next, submit a test request to the previously denied route using credentials or source address that matches the updated policy.
curl -X GET https://router.internal.corp/api/v2/users \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $VALID_TOKEN" \
-w "\nHTTP Status: %{http_code}\n"
A successful resolution produces an HTTP 200 response or the appropriate success status code for the endpoint. The server logs should no longer contain clw-router-denied entries for the corrected client source or credentials. Monitor the router access logs for a period of at least fifteen minutes following the fix to ensure that intermittent denials do not reappear, which would indicate residual configuration drift or dependency unavailability.
5. Common Pitfalls
Several recurring mistakes complicate the resolution of clw-router-denied errors and should be avoided during troubleshooting.
Addressing only the immediate symptom without investigating the underlying policy is a frequent error. Adding a source to a whitelist without understanding why it was excluded originally can reintroduce security vulnerabilities. Always review the original rationale for policy rules before modifying them, and document any exceptions with appropriate security sign-off.
Configuration reload failures often escape notice. Developers may update the router configuration file but neglect to trigger the reload command, causing the running router to continue enforcing stale policies. Always verify that the reload operation completes successfully and that the active configuration matches the on-disk version.
Network topology changes that alter source IP addresses of legitimate clients frequently cause unexpected denials.容器化 deployments and load balancer configurations may present different source addresses to the router than the original client IP, resulting in whitelist mismatches. Use X-Forwarded-For header processing or proxy protocol configuration to ensure that the router can identify the true client origin regardless of intermediate hops.
Time synchronization drift between the router and authentication servers causes token validation failures that manifest as authentication mismatches. JWT tokens include timestamp claims that must be evaluated within a narrow tolerance window. Ensure that NTP synchronization is active on all infrastructure components involved in authentication and routing.
6. Related Errors
The clw-router-denied error frequently appears alongside several related routing and configuration errors in OpenClaw deployments.
clw-router-timeout: This error indicates that the router failed to receive a response from a backend service within the configured timeout period. Unlike clw-router-denied which involves access control decisions, clw-router-timeout results from network latency, backend overload, or configuration errors in upstream service discovery. The resolution approach focuses on identifying the slow backend component rather than modifying access policies.
clw-router-invalid-route: This error occurs when the router cannot locate a matching route definition for the requested path. Configuration errors such as missing route entries, malformed route patterns, or conflicting route definitions cause this error. Developers should verify that the route registry is synchronized across all router instances and that route patterns use correct syntax according to the OpenClaw routing specification.
clw-config-invalid: This error signals that the router configuration file contains syntax errors or references to undefined entities. Schema violations, circular policy dependencies, and missing required fields trigger this error before the router can start or reload. The resolution involves validating the configuration file against the OpenClaw configuration schema and correcting identified violations.