Boot Script with WiFi Retry

Context

The original Termux boot script (Hack #52) used sleep 15 to wait for WiFi before starting the gateway. This works most of the time: WiFi typically connects in 10-15 seconds. But on cold boot after a crash, WiFi can take 30-45 seconds. On those occasions, the gateway starts without network and fails to connect to API providers, entering a broken state.

The fix is a retry loop that actively checks for connectivity before proceeding, with graceful degradation if WiFi never comes up.

Implementation

Replace the fixed sleep with an active ping-based retry loop:

#!/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/bash
# start-pocketclaw.sh - robust boot with WiFi retry

LOG="$PREFIX/tmp/pocketclaw-boot.log"
log() { echo "$(date '+%H:%M:%S') $1" >> "$LOG"; }

log "Boot sequence started"

# Acquire wake lock
termux-wake-lock 2>/dev/null
log "Wake lock acquired"

# WiFi retry loop - 12 attempts x 5s = 60s max
RETRIES=12
WIFI_OK=0
for i in $(seq 1 $RETRIES); do
  if ping -c 1 -W 3 8.8.8.8 > /dev/null 2>&1; then
    log "WiFi ready after $i attempts"
    WIFI_OK=1
    break
  fi
  log "WiFi not ready, attempt $i/$RETRIES"
  sleep 5
done

if [ $WIFI_OK -eq 0 ]; then
  log "WARNING: WiFi not ready after $RETRIES attempts, continuing anyway"
fi

# Start sshd
sshd 2>/dev/null
log "sshd started"

# Start cron daemon
crond 2>/dev/null
log "crond started"

# Start gateway (setsid for detach)
/system/bin/setsid start-openclaw > "$PREFIX/tmp/openclaw-gateway.log" 2>&1 &
log "Gateway launched (PID: $!)"

log "Boot sequence complete"

Verification

# After reboot, check boot log:
cat $PREFIX/tmp/pocketclaw-boot.log
# Expected:
# 12:34:01 Boot sequence started
# 12:34:01 Wake lock acquired
# 12:34:06 WiFi not ready, attempt 1/12
# 12:34:11 WiFi not ready, attempt 2/12
# 12:34:16 WiFi ready after 3 attempts
# 12:34:16 sshd started
# 12:34:16 crond started
# 12:34:16 Gateway launched (PID: 1234)
# 12:34:16 Boot sequence complete

# Verify gateway is running:
pgrep -f openclaw-gateway
# Expected: PID number

Gotchas

Ping target 8.8.8.8 requires internet access, not just WiFi connection. If the router is up but WAN is down, the loop will fail all 12 attempts
The gateway starts even if WiFi never comes up (graceful degradation). The WiFi watchdog (Hack #46) will handle reconnection
Boot log is written to $PREFIX/tmp/ which is tmpfs and cleared on reboot. This is intentional: we don't want logs accumulating on limited storage
The 60-second maximum wait (12 x 5s) is designed for the worst case. Most boots complete WiFi check in 10-20 seconds

Result

Metric	Before	After
WiFi wait	Fixed 15s	Adaptive 5-60s
Boot reliability	~85%	~99%
Failure mode	Silent (broken gateway)	Logged + graceful degradation
Boot time (normal)	15s (fixed)	5-15s (adaptive)