openclaw/docs/concepts/presence.md

---
summary: "How OpenClaw presence entries are produced, merged, and displayed"
read_when:
  - Debugging the Instances tab
  - Investigating duplicate or stale instance rows
  - Changing gateway WS connect or system-event beacons
title: "Presence"
---

# Presence

OpenClaw “presence” is a lightweight, best‑effort view of:

- the **Gateway** itself, and
- **clients connected to the Gateway** (mac app, WebChat, CLI, etc.)

Presence is used primarily to render the macOS app’s **Instances** tab and to
provide quick operator visibility.

## Presence fields (what shows up)

Presence entries are structured objects with fields like:

- `instanceId` (optional but strongly recommended): stable client identity (usually `connect.client.instanceId`)
- `host`: human‑friendly host name
- `ip`: best‑effort IP address
- `version`: client version string
- `deviceFamily` / `modelIdentifier`: hardware hints
- `mode`: `ui`, `webchat`, `cli`, `backend`, `probe`, `test`, `node`, ...
- `lastInputSeconds`: “seconds since last user input” (if known)
- `reason`: `self`, `connect`, `node-connected`, `periodic`, ...
- `ts`: last update timestamp (ms since epoch)

## Producers (where presence comes from)

Presence entries are produced by multiple sources and **merged**.

### 1) Gateway self entry

The Gateway always seeds a “self” entry at startup so UIs show the gateway host
even before any clients connect.

### 2) WebSocket connect

Every WS client begins with a `connect` request. On successful handshake the
Gateway upserts a presence entry for that connection.

#### Why one‑off CLI commands don’t show up

The CLI often connects for short, one‑off commands. To avoid spamming the
Instances list, `client.mode === "cli"` is **not** turned into a presence entry.

### 3) `system-event` beacons

Clients can send richer periodic beacons via the `system-event` method. The mac
app uses this to report host name, IP, and `lastInputSeconds`.

### 4) Node connects (role: node)

When a node connects over the Gateway WebSocket with `role: node`, the Gateway
upserts a presence entry for that node (same flow as other WS clients).

## Merge + dedupe rules (why `instanceId` matters)

Presence entries are stored in a single in‑memory map:

- Entries are keyed by a **presence key**.
- The best key is a stable `instanceId` (from `connect.client.instanceId`) that survives restarts.
- Keys are case‑insensitive.

If a client reconnects without a stable `instanceId`, it may show up as a
**duplicate** row.

## TTL and bounded size

Presence is intentionally ephemeral:

- **TTL:** entries older than 5 minutes are pruned
- **Max entries:** 200 (oldest dropped first)

This keeps the list fresh and avoids unbounded memory growth.

## Remote/tunnel caveat (loopback IPs)

When a client connects over an SSH tunnel / local port forward, the Gateway may
see the remote address as `127.0.0.1`. To avoid overwriting a good client‑reported
IP, loopback remote addresses are ignored.

## Consumers

### macOS Instances tab

The macOS app renders the output of `system-presence` and applies a small status
indicator (Active/Idle/Stale) based on the age of the last update.

## Debugging tips

- To see the raw list, call `system-presence` against the Gateway.
- If you see duplicates:
  - confirm clients send a stable `client.instanceId` in the handshake
  - confirm periodic beacons use the same `instanceId`
  - check whether the connection‑derived entry is missing `instanceId` (duplicates are expected)