openclaw approvals

Manage exec approvals for the local host, gateway host, or a node host. By default, commands target the local approvals file on disk. Use --gateway to target the gateway, or --node to target a specific node.

Alias: openclaw exec-approvals

Related:

• Exec approvals: Exec approvals
• Nodes: Nodes

openclaw exec-policy

openclaw exec-policy is the local convenience command for keeping the requested tools.exec.* config and the local host approvals file aligned in one step.

Use it when you want to:

• inspect the local requested policy, host approvals file, and effective merge
• apply a local preset such as YOLO or deny-all
• synchronize local tools.exec.* and local ~/.openclaw/exec-approvals.json

Examples:

openclaw exec-policy show
openclaw exec-policy show --json

openclaw exec-policy preset yolo
openclaw exec-policy preset cautious --json

openclaw exec-policy set --host gateway --security full --ask off --ask-fallback full

Output modes:

• no --json: prints the human-readable table view
• --json: prints machine-readable structured output

Current scope:

• exec-policy is local-only
• it updates the local config file and the local approvals file together
• it does not push policy to the gateway host or a node host
• --host node is rejected in this command because node exec approvals are fetched from the node at runtime and must be managed through node-targeted approvals commands instead
• openclaw exec-policy show marks host=node scopes as node-managed at runtime instead of deriving an effective policy from the local approvals file

If you need to edit remote host approvals directly, keep using openclaw approvals set --gateway or openclaw approvals set --node <id|name|ip>.

Common commands

openclaw approvals get
openclaw approvals get --node <id|name|ip>
openclaw approvals get --gateway

openclaw approvals get now shows the effective exec policy for local, gateway, and node targets:

• requested tools.exec policy
• host approvals-file policy
• effective result after precedence rules are applied

Precedence is intentional:

• the host approvals file is the enforceable source of truth
• requested tools.exec policy can narrow or broaden intent, but the effective result is still derived from the host rules
• --node combines the node host approvals file with gateway tools.exec policy, because both still apply at runtime
• if gateway config is unavailable, the CLI falls back to the node approvals snapshot and notes that the final runtime policy could not be computed

Replace approvals from a file

openclaw approvals set --file ./exec-approvals.json
openclaw approvals set --stdin <<'EOF'
{ version: 1, defaults: { security: "full", ask: "off" } }
EOF
openclaw approvals set --node <id|name|ip> --file ./exec-approvals.json
openclaw approvals set --gateway --file ./exec-approvals.json

set accepts JSON5, not only strict JSON. Use either --file or --stdin, not both.

"Never prompt" / YOLO example

For a host that should never stop on exec approvals, set the host approvals defaults to full + off:

openclaw approvals set --stdin <<'EOF'
{
  version: 1,
  defaults: {
    security: "full",
    ask: "off",
    askFallback: "full"
  }
}
EOF

Node variant:

openclaw approvals set --node <id|name|ip> --stdin <<'EOF'
{
  version: 1,
  defaults: {
    security: "full",
    ask: "off",
    askFallback: "full"
  }
}
EOF

This changes the host approvals file only. To keep the requested OpenClaw policy aligned, also set:

openclaw config set tools.exec.host gateway
openclaw config set tools.exec.security full
openclaw config set tools.exec.ask off

Why tools.exec.host=gateway in this example:

• host=auto still means "sandbox when available, otherwise gateway".
• YOLO is about approvals, not routing.
• If you want host exec even when a sandbox is configured, make the host choice explicit with gateway or /exec host=gateway.

This matches the current host-default YOLO behavior. Tighten it if you want approvals.

Local shortcut:

openclaw exec-policy preset yolo

That local shortcut updates both the requested local tools.exec.* config and the local approvals defaults together. It is equivalent in intent to the manual two-step setup above, but only for the local machine.

Allowlist helpers

openclaw approvals allowlist add "~/Projects/**/bin/rg"
openclaw approvals allowlist add --agent main --node <id|name|ip> "/usr/bin/uptime"
openclaw approvals allowlist add --agent "*" "/usr/bin/uname"

openclaw approvals allowlist remove "~/Projects/**/bin/rg"

Common options

get, set, and allowlist add|remove all support:

• --node <id|name|ip>
• --gateway
• shared node RPC options: --url, --token, --timeout, --json

Targeting notes:

• no target flags means the local approvals file on disk
• --gateway targets the gateway host approvals file
• --node targets one node host after resolving id, name, IP, or id prefix

allowlist add|remove also supports:

• --agent <id> (defaults to *)

Notes

• --node uses the same resolver as openclaw nodes (id, name, ip, or id prefix).
• --agent defaults to "*", which applies to all agents.
• The node host must advertise system.execApprovals.get/set (macOS app or headless node host).
• Approvals files are stored per host at ~/.openclaw/exec-approvals.json.

Related

• CLI reference
• Exec approvals