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Hi! Just to share how I set it up on my side (for your reference): I didn’t add any extra environment variables. I only configured the WhatsApp channel in the OpenClaw config and then completed the login flow.

Here’s my exact setup:

1. Update the OpenClaw config to allow your WhatsApp number (allowFrom), then restart:

{
 "channels": {
 "whatsapp": {
 "selfChatMode": true,
 "dmPolicy": "allowlist",
 "allowFrom": ["+15551234567"]
 }
 }
}

• dmPolicy: "allowlist" + allowFrom is important, otherwise messages may be blocked.
• If you only have one phone number, keep selfChatMode: true so you can test by chatting with yourself.

2. Open a terminal inside the OpenClaw container and run: openclaw channels login

This will print a QR code. Scan it using WhatsApp to finish linking.

3. Restart OpenClaw, then send a message to yourself on WhatsApp (self chat) to verify it works.

If it still fails after this, could you paste the logs around the openclaw channels login step (and the screenshot you mentioned)? That should help confirm whether it’s a config path issue, provider initialization issue (e.g. baileys), or QR / gateway-related behavior.

More details: https://docs.openclaw.ai/channels/whatsapp#login-+-credentials

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