Manage and Execute Commands on OpenClaw Nodes

Managing a fleet of devices often feels like a guessing game. You need to know which nodes are active, which ones are waiting for approval, and how to trigger specific actions without jumping through hoops.

The openclaw nodes command is your main tool for handling paired devices and triggering their capabilities. Here is how you can get started.

Related:

• Nodes overview: Nodes
• Camera: Camera nodes
• Images: Image nodes

Common options: --url, --token, --timeout, --json

Common commands

The first thing you usually need to do is check the state of your network. You can quickly see which nodes are pending or already paired.

openclaw nodes list
openclaw nodes list --connected
openclaw nodes list --last-connected 24h
openclaw nodes pending
openclaw nodes approve <requestId>
openclaw nodes status
openclaw nodes status --connected
openclaw nodes status --last-connected 24h

When you run nodes list, you get tables showing both pending and paired nodes. The paired rows show the “Last Connect” age, which helps you spot inactive devices. If you want to filter the noise, use --connected to see only live nodes. You can also use --last-connected <duration> (like 24h or 7d) to find nodes that checked in within a specific timeframe.

Invoke

When you need to trigger a specific capability on a node, use the invoke command. This is built for direct RPC calls.

openclaw nodes invoke --node &lt;id|name|ip&gt; --command <command> --params <json>

Here are the flags you can use:

• --params <json>: Pass a JSON object string (it defaults to {}).
• --invoke-timeout <ms>: Set the timeout for the call (default is 15000).
• --idempotency-key <key>: Use this if you need to ensure an operation isn’t repeated.
• system.run and system.run.prepare are blocked here; use the exec tool with host=node for shell execution.

If you need to run shell commands on a node, you should use the exec tool with host=node instead of openclaw nodes run. The nodes CLI focuses on capabilities like camera, screen, location, canvas, and notifications.

AI Setup Assistant

Next steps

• Nodes overview
• Camera nodes
• Image nodes