Signal (signal-cli)

Status: external CLI integration. Gateway talks to signal-cli over HTTP JSON-RPC + SSE.

Quick setup (beginner)

  1. Use a separate Signal number for the bot (recommended).
  2. Install signal-cli (Java required).
  3. Link the bot device and start the daemon:
    • signal-cli link -n "OpenClaw"
  4. Configure OpenClaw and start the gateway.

Minimal config:

{
  channels: {
    signal: {
      enabled: true,
      account: "+15551234567",
      cliPath: "signal-cli",
      dmPolicy: "pairing",
      allowFrom: ["+15557654321"]
    }
  }
}

What it is

  • Signal channel via signal-cli (not embedded libsignal).
  • Deterministic routing: replies always go back to Signal.
  • DMs share the agent's main session; groups are isolated (agent:<agentId>:signal:group:<groupId>).

Config writes

By default, Signal is allowed to write config updates triggered by /config set|unset (requires commands.config: true).

Disable with:

{
  channels: { signal: { configWrites: false } }
}

The number model (important)

  • The gateway connects to a Signal device (the signal-cli account).
  • If you run the bot on your personal Signal account, it will ignore your own messages (loop protection).
  • For "I text the bot and it replies," use a separate bot number.

Setup (fast path)

  1. Install signal-cli (Java required).
  2. Link a bot account:
    • signal-cli link -n "OpenClaw" then scan the QR in Signal.
  3. Configure Signal and start the gateway.

Example:

{
  channels: {
    signal: {
      enabled: true,
      account: "+15551234567",
      cliPath: "signal-cli",
      dmPolicy: "pairing",
      allowFrom: ["+15557654321"]
    }
  }
}

Multi-account support: use channels.signal.accounts with per-account config and optional name. See gateway/configuration for the shared pattern.

External daemon mode (httpUrl)

If you want to manage signal-cli yourself (slow JVM cold starts, container init, or shared CPUs), run the daemon separately and point OpenClaw at it:

{
  channels: {
    signal: {
      httpUrl: "http://127.0.0.1:8080",
      autoStart: false
    }
  }
}

This skips auto-spawn and the startup wait inside OpenClaw. For slow starts when auto-spawning, set channels.signal.startupTimeoutMs.

Access control (DMs + groups)

DMs:

  • Default: channels.signal.dmPolicy = "pairing".
  • Unknown senders receive a pairing code; messages are ignored until approved (codes expire after 1 hour).
  • Approve via:
    • openclaw pairing list signal
    • openclaw pairing approve signal <CODE>
  • Pairing is the default token exchange for Signal DMs. Details: Pairing
  • UUID-only senders (from sourceUuid) are stored as uuid:<id> in channels.signal.allowFrom.

Groups:

  • channels.signal.groupPolicy = open | allowlist | disabled.
  • channels.signal.groupAllowFrom controls who can trigger in groups when allowlist is set.

How it works (behavior)

  • signal-cli runs as a daemon; the gateway reads events via SSE.
  • Inbound messages are normalized into the shared channel envelope.
  • Replies always route back to the same number or group.

Media + limits

  • Outbound text is chunked to channels.signal.textChunkLimit (default 4000).
  • Optional newline chunking: set channels.signal.chunkMode="newline" to split on blank lines (paragraph boundaries) before length chunking.
  • Attachments supported (base64 fetched from signal-cli).
  • Default media cap: channels.signal.mediaMaxMb (default 8).
  • Use channels.signal.ignoreAttachments to skip downloading media.
  • Group history context uses channels.signal.historyLimit (or channels.signal.accounts.*.historyLimit), falling back to messages.groupChat.historyLimit. Set 0 to disable (default 50).

Typing + read receipts

  • Typing indicators: OpenClaw sends typing signals via signal-cli sendTyping and refreshes them while a reply is running.
  • Read receipts: when channels.signal.sendReadReceipts is true, OpenClaw forwards read receipts for allowed DMs.
  • Signal-cli does not expose read receipts for groups.

Reactions (message tool)

  • Use message action=react with channel=signal.
  • Targets: sender E.164 or UUID (use uuid:<id> from pairing output; bare UUID works too).
  • messageId is the Signal timestamp for the message you’re reacting to.
  • Group reactions require targetAuthor or targetAuthorUuid.

Examples:

message action=react channel=signal target=uuid:123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000 messageId=1737630212345 emoji=πŸ”₯
message action=react channel=signal target=+15551234567 messageId=1737630212345 emoji=πŸ”₯ remove=true
message action=react channel=signal target=signal:group:<groupId> targetAuthor=uuid:<sender-uuid> messageId=1737630212345 emoji=βœ…

Config:

  • channels.signal.actions.reactions: enable/disable reaction actions (default true).
  • channels.signal.reactionLevel: off | ack | minimal | extensive.
    • off/ack disables agent reactions (message tool react will error).
    • minimal/extensive enables agent reactions and sets the guidance level.
  • Per-account overrides: channels.signal.accounts.<id>.actions.reactions, channels.signal.accounts.<id>.reactionLevel.

Delivery targets (CLI/cron)

  • DMs: signal:+15551234567 (or plain E.164).
  • UUID DMs: uuid:<id> (or bare UUID).
  • Groups: signal:group:<groupId>.
  • Usernames: username:<name> (if supported by your Signal account).

Configuration reference (Signal)

Full configuration: Configuration

Provider options:

  • channels.signal.enabled: enable/disable channel startup.
  • channels.signal.account: E.164 for the bot account.
  • channels.signal.cliPath: path to signal-cli.
  • channels.signal.httpUrl: full daemon URL (overrides host/port).
  • channels.signal.httpHost, channels.signal.httpPort: daemon bind (default 127.0.0.1:8080).
  • channels.signal.autoStart: auto-spawn daemon (default true if httpUrl unset).
  • channels.signal.startupTimeoutMs: startup wait timeout in ms (cap 120000).
  • channels.signal.receiveMode: on-start | manual.
  • channels.signal.ignoreAttachments: skip attachment downloads.
  • channels.signal.ignoreStories: ignore stories from the daemon.
  • channels.signal.sendReadReceipts: forward read receipts.
  • channels.signal.dmPolicy: pairing | allowlist | open | disabled (default: pairing).
  • channels.signal.allowFrom: DM allowlist (E.164 or uuid:<id>). open requires "*". Signal has no usernames; use phone/UUID ids.
  • channels.signal.groupPolicy: open | allowlist | disabled (default: allowlist).
  • channels.signal.groupAllowFrom: group sender allowlist.
  • channels.signal.historyLimit: max group messages to include as context (0 disables).
  • channels.signal.dmHistoryLimit: DM history limit in user turns. Per-user overrides: channels.signal.dms["<phone_or_uuid>"].historyLimit.
  • channels.signal.textChunkLimit: outbound chunk size (chars).
  • channels.signal.chunkMode: length (default) or newline to split on blank lines (paragraph boundaries) before length chunking.
  • channels.signal.mediaMaxMb: inbound/outbound media cap (MB).

Related global options:

  • agents.list[].groupChat.mentionPatterns (Signal does not support native mentions).
  • messages.groupChat.mentionPatterns (global fallback).
  • messages.responsePrefix.
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