An OpenClaw plugin that turns the Gateway into a full-featured workspace — resilient chat, embedded IDE, browser terminal, and file API, all in one tab.
Why this plugin
OpenClaw Gateway is great for chatting with models, but when sockets drop, you need to edit files, or you want a terminal — your flow breaks. Better Gateway keeps sessions alive and puts everything you need right inside the Gateway UI.
Features
Auto-Reconnect & Reliability
- Automatic WebSocket recovery — disconnects are detected and retried transparently
- Visual status indicator — connected / reconnecting / disconnected state always visible
- Network awareness — detects online/offline transitions and retries when connectivity returns
- Click-to-refresh fallback — fast manual recovery when automatic retry is exhausted
- Enhanced Gateway route — drop-in improved UI at
/better-gateway/with all enhancements pre-injected
Embedded IDE (Monaco)
- Full Monaco editor in the browser — syntax highlighting for 30+ languages
- Sidebar file explorer — tree navigation with open-folder and refresh controls
- Multi-tab editing — open, switch, close, and reorder tabs
- Keyboard shortcuts — Ctrl+S save, Ctrl+B toggle sidebar, Ctrl+P quick-open, Ctrl+W close tab, Ctrl+Tab cycle tabs
- State persistence — open tabs, active tab, and workspace root remembered across reloads
- Gateway-native navigation — IDE appears as a nav item; click for split view (IDE + chat), Shift+click for IDE-only
Embedded Terminal (xterm.js + node-pty)
- Real PTY backend — full interactive terminal via
node-pty(vim, htop, tab completion, colors, everything) - xterm.js frontend — 256-color support, scrollback, clickable links, proper resize handling
- SSE + POST transport — runs entirely on the main gateway port; no extra ports, no extra SSH tunnel config
- Gateway-native navigation — CLI nav item; click for split view (terminal + chat), Shift+click for terminal-only
- Keyboard shortcuts — Ctrl+` toggles terminal, Ctrl+L toggles chat sidebar
File API
- Read / Write / List / Delete / Mkdir — full workspace file operations over HTTP
- Tested implementation with strong coverage in repo tests
Keyboard Shortcuts (all views)
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+L | Toggle chat sidebar (works from IDE and terminal) |
| Ctrl+` | Toggle terminal |
| Shift+click IDE | IDE fullscreen |
| Shift+click CLI | Terminal fullscreen |
Installation
openclaw plugins install @thisisjeron/openclaw-better-gateway
Then restart your gateway.
From source
git clone https://github.com/ThisIsJeron/openclaw-better-gateway.git cd openclaw-better-gateway npm install && npm run build openclaw plugins install -l .
Note: The terminal feature requires node-pty (native module). It's listed as an optional dependency — if it fails to compile, everything else still works, and the terminal page will tell you what's missing.
Usage
After installation and gateway restart:
https://<YOUR_GATEWAY>/better-gateway/
Endpoints
| Path | Method | Description |
|---|---|---|
/better-gateway/ |
GET | Enhanced gateway UI with auto-reconnect and nav items |
/better-gateway/ide |
GET | Standalone IDE page (Monaco + file explorer) |
/better-gateway/terminal |
GET | Standalone terminal page (xterm.js) |
/better-gateway/terminal/stream |
GET | Terminal SSE stream (PTY output) |
/better-gateway/terminal/input |
POST | Terminal input (keystrokes to PTY) |
/better-gateway/terminal/resize |
POST | Terminal resize (cols/rows to PTY) |
/better-gateway/api/files |
GET | List files in a directory |
/better-gateway/api/files/read |
GET | Read a file |
/better-gateway/api/files/write |
POST | Write a file |
/better-gateway/api/files |
DELETE | Delete a file |
/better-gateway/help |
GET | Help / installation page |
/better-gateway/inject.js |
GET | Standalone injection script |
/better-gateway/userscript.user.js |
GET | Tampermonkey userscript download |
Configuration
In your OpenClaw config (openclaw.json):
{
"plugins": {
"entries": {
"openclaw-better-gateway": {
"enabled": true,
"reconnectIntervalMs": 3000,
"maxReconnectAttempts": 10,
"maxFileSize": 10485760
}
}
}
}How it works
The plugin:
- Proxies the original gateway UI under
/better-gateway/and injects reconnect/status behavior - Serves the IDE (Monaco) and terminal (xterm.js) as standalone pages, embedded via iframes in the nav
- Bridges the terminal to a server-side PTY using SSE (server-to-browser) and POST (browser-to-server) — all on the main gateway port
- Exposes a file API for workspace read/write/list/delete operations
When a WebSocket connection drops, Better Gateway retries automatically. If recovery fails, the status indicator gives a quick click-to-refresh fallback.
Development
# Install dependencies npm install # Build npm run build # Run tests npm test # Watch mode npm run dev
Contributing
PRs welcome! Please include tests for new features.
License
MIT
Built with 🐾 by ThisIsJeron and Clawd