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openclaw pairing

Approve or inspect DM pairing requests for channels that support pairing (chat DMs only - node/device pairing uses openclaw devices). Related: Pairing flow The same pending requests can be reviewed in the Control UI under Settings → Channels → DM access requests. The Control UI supports approve, optional requester notification, and dismiss. Dismiss removes the current request but does not permanently block the sender.

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Commands

Use --account <accountId> to restrict either command to one channel account. If you omit --account, list shows pending requests across the channel’s accounts, and approve uses the account belonging to the matching request. Explicitly empty or whitespace-only values, such as --account "", are rejected with --account must not be blank.

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pairing list

List pending pairing requests for one channel. If multiple pairing-capable channels are configured, pass a channel positionally or with --channel. Extension channels work as long as the channel id is valid.

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pairing approve

Approve a pending pairing code and allow that sender. Usage:
  • openclaw pairing approve <channel> <code>
  • openclaw pairing approve --channel <channel> <code>
  • openclaw pairing approve <code> when exactly one pairing-capable channel is configured
Options: --channel <channel>, --account <accountId>, --notify (send a confirmation back to the requester on the same channel).

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Owner bootstrap

If commands.ownerAllowFrom is empty when you approve a pairing code, the CLI also records the approved sender as the command owner. It writes a channel-scoped entry such as telegram:123456789. This only bootstraps the first owner - later pairing approvals never replace or expand commands.ownerAllowFrom. The Control UI presents this elevation as a separate operator.admin-protected checkbox instead of applying it automatically. The command owner is the human operator account allowed to run owner-only commands and approve dangerous actions. Those actions include /diagnostics, /export-session, /export-trajectory, /config, and exec approvals. Pairing only lets a sender talk to the agent. It does not by itself grant owner privileges beyond this one-time bootstrap. If you approved a sender before the first-owner bootstrap shipped in 2026.4.29, run openclaw doctor. It warns when no command owner is configured. It also shows the exact openclaw config set commands.ownerAllowFrom ... command to fix it.