Uninstall

Uninstall (dev build)

OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI.exe embeds the SetupEngine and accepts --uninstall directly, so no installer is required to exercise this path; a local dotnet build output works. This walks a real (not just installed-via-Inno-Setup) uninstall of dev/test state: WSL gateway distro, openclaw CLI inside WSL, gateway systemd service, Tailscale state, and the tray's AppData files.

This is destructive. Confirm with the user before the final --confirm-destructive run, and call out anything it will touch that isn't disposable dev state (e.g. a WSL distro or Tailscale session actually in use).

Procedure

1. Build with the dev identity, for the matching architecture. .\build.ps1 alone defaults to release identity even in a Debug configuration, and a release-identity exe would unregister the real OpenClawGateway distro and mutate %APPDATA%\OpenClawTray instead of the -Dev copies below (the output path is identical either way, so nothing later in this procedure would catch that mistake). Always build with -DevBuild, and verify the marker before proceeding:

   .\build.ps1 -DevBuild   # skip only if you already built with -DevBuild
   
   $arm64 = [System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation]::OSArchitecture -eq
       [System.Runtime.InteropServices.Architecture]::Arm64
   $arch = if ($arm64) { 'win-arm64' } else { 'win-x64' }
   $outDir = "src\OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI\bin\Debug\net10.0-windows10.0.22621.0\$arch"
   $exe = "$outDir\OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI.exe"
   
   $identity = (Get-Content "$outDir\app-identity.txt" -Raw).Trim()
   if ($identity -ne 'dev') { throw "Build output identity is '$identity', not 'dev' - rebuild with -DevBuild." }
   
   $pathOverrides = 'OPENCLAW_TRAY_DATA_DIR',
       'OPENCLAW_TRAY_LOCALAPPDATA_DIR',
       'OPENCLAW_TRAY_LOCAL_DATA_DIR',
       'OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR'
   $activeOverrides = $pathOverrides | Where-Object {
       -not [string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace([Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable($_))
   }
   if ($activeOverrides) {
       throw "Refusing destructive uninstall while path overrides are set: $($activeOverrides -join ', ')"
   }
   

2. Stop only the dev instance, by PID. A background OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI.exe (e.g. the tray icon) holds its own log/journal files open, which makes later steps fail to delete the AppData Logs directory. A release-identity tray can share the same process name, so match on the resolved $exe path and confirm before stopping; this repo kills processes by PID only, never by name (see scripts/dev-reset-rebuild-launch.ps1):

   $exePath = (Resolve-Path $exe).Path
   $devProcs = Get-Process OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
       Where-Object { $_.Path -eq $exePath }
   $devProcs | Format-Table Id, Path -AutoSize   # confirm these are the dev instance before stopping
   $devProcs | ForEach-Object { Stop-Process -Id $_.Id -Force }
   

3. Dry-run first, capturing output and exit code (a bare shell invocation can swallow the exit code for a WinUI apphost; use Start-Process -Wait -PassThru):

   $p = Start-Process -FilePath $exe -ArgumentList '--uninstall','--dry-run' -PassThru -Wait `
       -RedirectStandardOutput out.log -RedirectStandardError err.log
   $p.ExitCode
   Get-Content out.log
   

   Review the "Would rollback: ..." lines for each of the ~37 steps. Note the --data-dir / --distro-name printed at the top; dev-branch builds use OpenClawTray-Dev / OpenClawGateway-Dev, separate from a real install's OpenClawTray / OpenClawGateway. Confirm that the printed data directories are exactly %APPDATA%\OpenClawTray-Dev and %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenClawTray-Dev. Stop if they point anywhere else.

4. Check for real state the dry-run doesn't surface, e.g. a live WSL distro:

   wsl -l -v
   

   If the distro named in step 3's output is present, flag to the user that it will be unregistered (wsl --unregister), permanently deleting its filesystem.

   The dry-run only logs rollback step IDs, not the concrete files each step would touch. If it matters to the user's situation, inspect %APPDATA%\OpenClawTray-Dev\ directly before consenting (gateway registry, windows-node-context.json, Local AI config, Tailscale state).

5. Confirm with the user, then run the real uninstall the same way:

   $p = Start-Process -FilePath $exe -ArgumentList '--uninstall','--confirm-destructive' -PassThru -Wait `
       -RedirectStandardOutput out2.log -RedirectStandardError err2.log
   $p.ExitCode
   Get-Content out2.log
   

6. Verify the specific artifacts each rollback step is supposed to clean up: not the AppData roots themselves. TrayArtifactCleanup (registry/files/settings only, no WSL calls) and the WSL/gateway rollback steps between them reset or remove selected files and records in place; neither deletes %APPDATA%\OpenClawTray[-Dev] or %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenClawTray[-Dev], so asserting those roots are gone will report a successful run as failed:

   wsl -l -v   # target distro should no longer be listed
   # The current run's own log/journal remain under Logs\Setup (they are open during
   # cleanup); success = that directory holds only uninstall-engine-<this-run> files
   Get-ChildItem "$env:APPDATA\OpenClawTray-Dev\Logs\Setup"   # only this run's uninstall-engine-* files expected
   Test-Path "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\OpenClawTray-Dev\Logs"   # should be False
   Test-Path "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\OpenClawTray-Dev\run.marker"  # should be False
   Test-Path "$env:APPDATA\OpenClawTray-Dev\exec-approvals.json"  # should be False
   Test-Path "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\OpenClawTray-Dev\windows-node-context.json"  # should be False, if it existed
   # settings.json: GatewayUrl removed; EnableNodeMode/AutoStart reset to false unless
   # other gateway records remain
   # Get-ItemProperty 'HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run' -Name OpenClawTray-Dev -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
   # should error/be absent (autostart registry key removed)
   

   The current run's own active log and journal under %APPDATA%\OpenClawTray-Dev\Logs\Setup are expected to remain: the Setup Engine still holds them open when TrayArtifactCleanup runs, so the Failed to delete AppData Logs directory warning is normal. A Failed to delete... warning naming any other file, or leftover files from earlier runs, means a process is still holding them open (see step 2).

Notes

• Log and journal for each run are printed at the end of stdout, under %APPDATA%\OpenClawTray[-Dev]\Logs\Setup\uninstall-engine-<timestamp>.jsonl.
• For a real installed app (not a dev build), the user-facing path is Settings → Apps → Installed apps → OpenClaw Companion → Uninstall; see docs/SETUP.md#uninstalling and the README's Uninstall section. This skill is for exercising the underlying CLI path directly, e.g. for dev cleanup or testing the uninstall engine itself.