Adapted community discussion: Paraphrased and condensed from an anonymized public OpenClaw Discord support conversation from September 2026. Technical guidance was reviewed for OpenClaw 2026.9.3.
My OpenClaw Gateway and existing workspace are on a Mac, but I prefer chatting with it through Discord from my Windows PC. If I update OpenClaw, do I have to use the interface on the Mac? Would it be better to move the Gateway back to the PC and use the Mac as a node?
You can keep the Gateway on the Mac and continue using Discord from the PC. The Gateway host stores and runs the OpenClaw service, while Discord is simply one of the remote conversation surfaces.
Keep the Gateway where the current config, workspace, and history already live. Update OpenClaw on that host after running openclaw update --dry-run and creating a verified backup. Moving the Gateway just to use Discord adds unnecessary migration risk. Use the Mac as a node only when the Gateway runs elsewhere and you specifically need capabilities exposed by that Mac.