From 5bb26bf22a1102bf53e4962319b8841cafee65cc Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jannes Stubbemann <jannes.stubbemann@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2026 07:00:16 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] fix(browser): skip port ownership check for remote CDP
 profiles (#28780)

* fix(browser): skip port ownership check for remote CDP profiles

When a browser profile has a non-loopback cdpUrl (e.g. Browserless,
Kubernetes sidecar, or any external CDP service), the port-ownership
check incorrectly fires because we don't "own" the remote process.
This causes "Port is in use but not by openclaw" even though the
remote CDP service is working and reachable.

Guard the ownership error with !remoteCdp so remote profiles fall
through to the WebSocket retry/attach logic instead.

Fixes #15582

* fix: add TypeScript null guard for profileState.running

* chore(changelog): note remote CDP ownership fix credits

Refs #15582

* Update CHANGELOG.md

---------

Co-authored-by: Vincent Koc <vincentkoc@ieee.org>
---
 CHANGELOG.md                  |  1 +
 src/browser/server-context.ts | 13 +++++++++++--
 2 files changed, 12 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 30e6a8d5d..4bfbe123f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 
 ### Fixes
 
+- Browser/Remote CDP ownership checks: skip local-process ownership errors for non-loopback remote CDP profiles when HTTP is reachable but the websocket handshake fails, and surface the remote websocket attach/retry path instead. (#15582) Landed from contributor (#28780) Thanks @stubbi, @bsormagec, @unblockedgamesstudio and @vincentkoc.
 - Docker/Image health checks: add Dockerfile `HEALTHCHECK` that probes gateway `GET /healthz` so container runtimes can mark unhealthy instances without requiring auth credentials in the probe command. (#11478) Thanks @U-C4N and @vincentkoc.
 - Daemon/systemd checks in containers: treat missing `systemctl` invocations (including `spawn systemctl ENOENT`/`EACCES`) as unavailable service state during `is-enabled` checks, preventing container flows from failing with `Gateway service check failed` before install/status handling can continue. (#26089) Thanks @sahilsatralkar and @vincentkoc.
 - Android/Nodes reliability: reject `facing=both` when `deviceId` is set to avoid mislabeled duplicate captures, allow notification `open`/`reply` on non-clearable entries while still gating dismiss, trigger listener rebind before notification actions, and scale invoke-result ack timeout to invoke budget for large clip payloads. (#28260) Thanks @obviyus.
diff --git a/src/browser/server-context.ts b/src/browser/server-context.ts
index ce7c75a2d..7d405c8bf 100644
--- a/src/browser/server-context.ts
+++ b/src/browser/server-context.ts
@@ -333,8 +333,9 @@ function createProfileContext(
       return;
     }
 
-    // HTTP responds but WebSocket fails - port in use by something else
-    if (!profileState.running) {
+    // HTTP responds but WebSocket fails - port in use by something else.
+    // Skip this check for remote CDP profiles since we never own the remote process.
+    if (!profileState.running && !remoteCdp) {
       throw new Error(
         `Port ${profile.cdpPort} is in use for profile "${profile.name}" but not by openclaw. ` +
           `Run action=reset-profile profile=${profile.name} to kill the process.`,
@@ -356,6 +357,14 @@ function createProfileContext(
       );
     }
 
+    // At this point profileState.running is always non-null: the !remoteCdp guard
+    // above throws when running is null, and the remoteCdp path always exits via
+    // the attachOnly/remoteCdp block. Add an explicit guard for TypeScript.
+    if (!profileState.running) {
+      throw new Error(
+        `Unexpected state for profile "${profile.name}": no running process to restart.`,
+      );
+    }
     await stopOpenClawChrome(profileState.running);
     setProfileRunning(null);