Bug: OpenClaw connection fails outside local network (hardcoded .local hostname)

[juliosuas]

Bug Report: Remote Connection Failure

Description

VisionClaw hardcodes the OpenClaw gateway host as a Bonjour/mDNS .local hostname in Secrets.swift / Secrets.kt:

static let openClawHost = "http://Your-Mac.local"
static let openClawPort = 18789

This only works on the same local Wi-Fi network. As soon as the user's phone is on mobile data or a different Wi-Fi, all OpenClaw tool calls silently fail.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Configure VisionClaw with your Mac's .local hostname
2. Switch your phone to mobile data (disconnect from home Wi-Fi)
3. Ask Gemini to perform any tool call (e.g. "Send a message to John")
4. The action fails silently — Gemini acknowledges but nothing happens

Expected Behavior

The app should either:

• Connect to the gateway over Tailscale / public URL when off local network
• Surface a clear error to the user that the gateway is unreachable

Proposed Solutions

Option A — Tailscale (Recommended)
Use the Tailscale device IP instead of .local:

static let openClawHost = "http://100.x.x.x"

Option B — Public Gateway URL
Set bind: "public" in openclaw.json and document the public URL setup.

Option C — In-App URL Switcher
The settings screen already exists. Add a "local" vs "remote" toggle that swaps the gateway URL dynamically.

Severity

High — makes OpenClaw integration unusable for users away from their home network.

See BUGS.md in this repo for full documentation.

[juliosuas]

Bumping this — still hitting the issue on mobile data.

After digging deeper into the codebase, here's a more complete solution that would cover both the hostname problem and a graceful fallback:

Proposed fix: multi-endpoint resolution with fallback

// OpenClawConfig.swift
struct OpenClawConfig {
    // Priority order: Tailscale > direct local IP > mDNS .local
    static let endpoints: [String] = [
        ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["OPENCLAW_TAILSCALE_URL"] ?? "",
        ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["OPENCLAW_LAN_IP"] ?? "",
        "http://Your-Mac.local:\(openClawPort)",
    ].filter { !/bin/zsh.isEmpty }

    static let openClawPort = 18789
}

// OpenClawBridge.swift — try each endpoint in order, use first that responds
func resolveGatewayURL() async -> URL? {
    for endpoint in OpenClawConfig.endpoints {
        guard let url = URL(string: endpoint) else { continue }
        let healthURL = url.appendingPathComponent("/health")
        if let _ = try? await URLSession.shared.data(from: healthURL) {
            return url
        }
    }
    return nil  // surface error to user
}

This way:

• On home Wi-Fi → falls through to mDNS resolution (current behavior preserved)
• On mobile data/VPN → picks up Tailscale URL from env
• Offline → fails gracefully with a user-visible error instead of silent no-op

The user sets OPENCLAW_TAILSCALE_URL in Settings once. No hardcoded IPs.

Happy to open a PR if this direction looks good to you.