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iOS App (Node)

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What it does

• Connects to a Gateway over WebSocket (LAN or tailnet).
• Exposes node capabilities: Canvas, Screen snapshot, Camera capture, Location, Talk mode, Voice wake.
• Receives node.invoke commands and reports node status events.

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Requirements

• Gateway running on another device (macOS, Linux, or Windows via WSL2).
• Network path:
  • Same LAN via Bonjour, or
  • Tailnet via unicast DNS-SD (example domain: openclaw.internal.), or
  • Manual host/port (fallback).

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Quick start (pair + connect)

1. Start the Gateway:

openclaw gateway --port 18789

2. In the iOS app, open Settings and pick a discovered gateway (or enable Manual Host and enter host/port).
3. Approve the pairing request on the gateway host:

openclaw devices list
openclaw devices approve <requestId>

4. Verify connection:

openclaw nodes status
openclaw gateway call node.list --params "{}"

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Discovery paths

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Bonjour (LAN)

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Tailnet (cross-network)

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Manual host/port

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Canvas + A2UI

openclaw nodes invoke --node "iOS Node" --command canvas.navigate --params '{"url":"http://<gateway-host>:18789/__openclaw__/canvas/"}'

• The Gateway canvas host serves /__openclaw__/canvas/ and /__openclaw__/a2ui/.
• It is served from the Gateway HTTP server (same port as gateway.port, default 18789).
• The iOS node auto-navigates to A2UI on connect when a canvas host URL is advertised.
• Return to the built-in scaffold with canvas.navigate and {"url":""}.

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Canvas eval / snapshot

openclaw nodes invoke --node "iOS Node" --command canvas.eval --params '{"javaScript":"(() => { const {ctx} = window.__openclaw; ctx.clearRect(0,0,innerWidth,innerHeight); ctx.lineWidth=6; ctx.strokeStyle=\"#ff2d55\"; ctx.beginPath(); ctx.moveTo(40,40); ctx.lineTo(innerWidth-40, innerHeight-40); ctx.stroke(); return \"ok\"; })()"}'

openclaw nodes invoke --node "iOS Node" --command canvas.snapshot --params '{"maxWidth":900,"format":"jpeg"}'

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Voice wake + talk mode

• Voice wake and talk mode are available in Settings.
• iOS may suspend background audio; treat voice features as best-effort when the app is not active.

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Common errors

• NODE_BACKGROUND_UNAVAILABLE: bring the iOS app to the foreground (canvas/camera/screen commands require it).
• A2UI_HOST_NOT_CONFIGURED: the Gateway did not advertise a canvas host URL; check canvasHost in Gateway configuration.
• Pairing prompt never appears: run openclaw devices list and approve manually.
• Reconnect fails after reinstall: the Keychain pairing token was cleared; re-pair the node.

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Related docs

• Pairing
• Discovery
• Bonjour