Trusted Proxy Auth

⚠️ Security-sensitive feature. This mode delegates authentication entirely to your reverse proxy. Misconfiguration can expose your Gateway to unauthorized access. Read this page carefully before enabling.

When to Use

Use trusted-proxy auth mode when:

You run OpenClaw behind an identity-aware proxy (Pomerium, Caddy + OAuth, nginx + oauth2-proxy, Traefik + forward auth)
Your proxy handles all authentication and passes user identity via headers
You’re in a Kubernetes or container environment where the proxy is the only path to the Gateway
You’re hitting WebSocket 1008 unauthorized errors because browsers can’t pass tokens in WS payloads

When NOT to Use

If your proxy doesn’t authenticate users (just a TLS terminator or load balancer)
If there’s any path to the Gateway that bypasses the proxy (firewall holes, internal network access)
If you’re unsure whether your proxy correctly strips/overwrites forwarded headers
If you only need personal single-user access (consider Tailscale Serve + loopback for simpler setup)

How It Works

Your reverse proxy authenticates users (OAuth, OIDC, SAML, etc.)
Proxy adds a header with the authenticated user identity (e.g., x-forwarded-user: nick@example.com)
OpenClaw checks that the request came from a trusted proxy IP (configured in gateway.trustedProxies)
OpenClaw extracts the user identity from the configured header
If everything checks out, the request is authorized

Configuration

{
  gateway: {
    // Must bind to network interface (not loopback)
    bind: "lan",

    // CRITICAL: Only add your proxy's IP(s) here
    trustedProxies: ["10.0.0.1", "172.17.0.1"],

    auth: {
      mode: "trusted-proxy",
      trustedProxy: {
        // Header containing authenticated user identity (required)
        userHeader: "x-forwarded-user",

        // Optional: headers that MUST be present (proxy verification)
        requiredHeaders: ["x-forwarded-proto", "x-forwarded-host"],

        // Optional: restrict to specific users (empty = allow all)
        allowUsers: ["nick@example.com", "admin@company.org"],
      },
    },
  },
}

Configuration Reference

Field	Required	Description
`gateway.trustedProxies`	Yes	Array of proxy IP addresses to trust. Requests from other IPs are rejected.
`gateway.auth.mode`	Yes	Must be `"trusted-proxy"`
`gateway.auth.trustedProxy.userHeader`	Yes	Header name containing the authenticated user identity
`gateway.auth.trustedProxy.requiredHeaders`	No	Additional headers that must be present for the request to be trusted
`gateway.auth.trustedProxy.allowUsers`	No	Allowlist of user identities. Empty means allow all authenticated users.

Proxy Setup Examples

Pomerium

Pomerium passes identity in x-pomerium-claim-email (or other claim headers) and a JWT in x-pomerium-jwt-assertion.

{
  gateway: {
    bind: "lan",
    trustedProxies: ["10.0.0.1"], // Pomerium's IP
    auth: {
      mode: "trusted-proxy",
      trustedProxy: {
        userHeader: "x-pomerium-claim-email",
        requiredHeaders: ["x-pomerium-jwt-assertion"],
      },
    },
  },
}

Pomerium config snippet:

routes:
  - from: https://openclaw.example.com
    to: http://openclaw-gateway:18789
    policy:
      - allow:
          or:
            - email:
                is: nick@example.com
    pass_identity_headers: true

Caddy with OAuth

Caddy with the caddy-security plugin can authenticate users and pass identity headers.

{
  gateway: {
    bind: "lan",
    trustedProxies: ["127.0.0.1"], // Caddy's IP (if on same host)
    auth: {
      mode: "trusted-proxy",
      trustedProxy: {
        userHeader: "x-forwarded-user",
      },
    },
  },
}

Caddyfile snippet:

openclaw.example.com {
    authenticate with oauth2_provider
    authorize with policy1

    reverse_proxy openclaw:18789 {
        header_up X-Forwarded-User {http.auth.user.email}
    }
}

nginx + oauth2-proxy

oauth2-proxy authenticates users and passes identity in x-auth-request-email.

{
  gateway: {
    bind: "lan",
    trustedProxies: ["10.0.0.1"], // nginx/oauth2-proxy IP
    auth: {
      mode: "trusted-proxy",
      trustedProxy: {
        userHeader: "x-auth-request-email",
      },
    },
  },
}

nginx config snippet:

location / {
    auth_request /oauth2/auth;
    auth_request_set $user $upstream_http_x_auth_request_email;

    proxy_pass http://openclaw:18789;
    proxy_set_header X-Auth-Request-Email $user;
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
}

Traefik with Forward Auth

{
  gateway: {
    bind: "lan",
    trustedProxies: ["172.17.0.1"], // Traefik container IP
    auth: {
      mode: "trusted-proxy",
      trustedProxy: {
        userHeader: "x-forwarded-user",
      },
    },
  },
}

Security Checklist

Before enabling trusted-proxy auth, verify:

Proxy is the only path: The Gateway port is firewalled from everything except your proxy
trustedProxies is minimal: Only your actual proxy IPs, not entire subnets
Proxy strips headers: Your proxy overwrites (not appends) x-forwarded-* headers from clients
TLS termination: Your proxy handles TLS; users connect via HTTPS
allowUsers is set (recommended): Restrict to known users rather than allowing anyone authenticated

Security Audit

openclaw security audit will flag trusted-proxy auth with a critical severity finding. This is intentional — it’s a reminder that you’re delegating security to your proxy setup.

The audit checks for: