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Vendor OpenClaw source as Adolf fork baseline
Adolf is a fork/vendored clone of github.com/openclaw/openclaw (v2026.6.11),
free to diverge. Tree copied sans upstream .git; upstream remote added for
future syncs. Node pinned to 24 (.nvmrc); engines already require >=22.19.
Preserves docs/ARCHITECTURE.md.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01LeqyaxJF2nbRXJtae2kNB2
2026-07-05 09:36:54 +00:00

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---
summary: "Current integration path for external apps, scripts, dashboards, CI jobs, and IDE extensions"
title: "Gateway integrations for external apps"
sidebarTitle: "External apps"
read_when:
- You are building an external app, script, dashboard, CI job, or IDE extension that talks to OpenClaw
- You are choosing between Gateway RPC and the Plugin SDK
- You are integrating with Gateway agent runs, sessions, events, approvals, models, or tools
---
External apps talk to OpenClaw through the Gateway protocol: WebSocket
transport plus RPC methods. Use it when a script, dashboard, CI job, IDE
extension, or another process wants to start agent runs, stream events, wait
for results, cancel work, or inspect Gateway resources.
<Warning>
There is no public npm client package yet. Do not add OpenClaw client package
names as application dependencies until release notes announce a published
package and this page includes install instructions.
</Warning>
<Note>
This page is for code outside the OpenClaw process. Plugin code that runs
inside OpenClaw should use documented `openclaw/plugin-sdk/*` subpaths instead.
</Note>
## What is available today
| Surface | Status | Use it for |
| --------------------------------------- | ------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [Gateway protocol](/gateway/protocol) | Ready | WebSocket transport, connect handshake, auth scopes, protocol versioning, and events. |
| [Gateway RPC reference](/reference/rpc) | Ready | Current Gateway methods for agents, sessions, tasks, models, tools, artifacts, and approvals. |
| [`openclaw agent`](/cli/agent) | Ready | One-shot script integration when shelling out to the CLI is enough. |
| [`openclaw message`](/cli/message) | Ready | Sending messages or channel actions from scripts. |
A future client library package is in progress internally, but it is not a
public install surface yet. Treat it as preview implementation detail until a
release announces a published, versioned package.
## Recommended path
1. Run or discover a Gateway.
2. Connect over the [Gateway protocol](/gateway/protocol).
3. Call documented RPC methods from [Gateway RPC reference](/reference/rpc).
4. Pin the OpenClaw version you test against.
5. Recheck the RPC reference when upgrading OpenClaw.
For agent runs, start with the `agent` RPC and pair it with `agent.wait` for a
terminal result. For durable conversation state, use the `sessions.*` methods.
For UI integrations, subscribe to Gateway events and render only the event
families your app understands.
## App code vs plugin code
Use Gateway RPC when code lives outside OpenClaw:
- Node scripts that start or observe agent runs
- CI jobs that call a Gateway
- dashboards and admin panels
- IDE extensions
- external bridges that do not need to become channel plugins
- integration tests with fake or real Gateway transports
Use the Plugin SDK when code runs inside OpenClaw:
- provider plugins
- channel plugins
- tool or lifecycle hooks
- agent harness plugins
- trusted runtime helpers
External apps should not import `openclaw/plugin-sdk/*`; those subpaths are for
plugins loaded by OpenClaw.
## Related
- [Gateway protocol](/gateway/protocol)
- [Gateway RPC reference](/reference/rpc)
- [CLI agent command](/cli/agent)
- [CLI message command](/cli/message)
- [Agent loop](/concepts/agent-loop)
- [Agent runtimes](/concepts/agent-runtimes)
- [Sessions](/concepts/session)
- [Background tasks](/automation/tasks)
- [ACP agents](/tools/acp-agents)
- [Plugin SDK overview](/plugins/sdk-overview)