Multi-user mode: session ownership and presence in OpenClaw agents
Learn how session ownership, live presence tracking, and creator filtering work when multiple trusted individuals collaborate using a single OpenClaw agent. This guide is for teams needing clarity on trust boundaries and usability.
Read this when
- You share one OpenClaw agent with other operators
- You need to understand session owner and presence indicators
- You are deciding whether one shared agent provides enough isolation
Multi-user mode allows multiple trusted individuals to collaborate using a single OpenClaw agent. The feature introduces session ownership, live presence tracking, and creator filtering, enabling teams to identify who initiated a session and who is currently observing it.
Trust boundary
Any user authorized to operate an agent can perform every action that agent supports. Session ownership, sidebar visibility, and presence indicators are designed for usability, not for enforcing security.
To prevent users from accessing each other's sessions, tools, credentials, or files, assign separate agents or establish distinct gateway or host trust boundaries. Do not depend on owner avatars or filters for isolation.
Ownership and presence
New sessions store a write-once createdActor when the creation path can verify the initiating party. Authenticated users are identified by their durable Gateway profile id; requesting agents and system paths populate the same actor field. Sessions initiated without a verifiable actor remain unassigned.
Human display names are resolved from the current Gateway profile at the time session rows are retrieved. OpenClaw does not store labels on session entries, so updating a profile name refreshes the ownership interface without altering session history.
The web application keeps ownership and presence visually separate:
- A solid owner avatar remains fixed for the entire duration of that session.
- Ringed or translucent presence avatars indicate people who are currently connected or observing.
- The sidebar's person filter displays sessions created by a single identity while retaining any existing custom groups.
When the loaded session list contains fewer than two distinct creators, OpenClaw removes all ownership and person-filter interface elements. A single-user gateway therefore appears unchanged.
Drafts
Launch a session as a draft to keep ongoing work hidden from teammates' sidebars until you publish it. Drafts are always visible to admins, who see other users' drafts marked with a faded ghost indicator. This feature supports coordination, not security.
Turn attribution
Turn sender attribution operates on a best-effort basis. Steering may merge input into an active turn, so the transcript cannot always reflect each person's contribution as a separate turn.