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

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 ', ')"
}

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 }
```
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.
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).

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

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.

About this skill

Procedure

Notes