diff --git a/components/OnboardingWizard.tsx b/components/OnboardingWizard.tsx
index 567c8c7..a12f91e 100644
--- a/components/OnboardingWizard.tsx
+++ b/components/OnboardingWizard.tsx
@@ -164,15 +164,24 @@ export function OnboardingWizard({ forceOpen, onClose }: OnboardingWizardProps)
 
     // Check crons (validates gateway + openclaw binary)
     fetch('/api/crons')
-      .then(r => {
-        if (!r.ok) throw new Error(`HTTP ${r.status}`)
+      .then(async r => {
+        if (!r.ok) {
+          const body = await r.json().catch(() => null)
+          const serverMsg = body?.error
+          throw new Error(serverMsg || `HTTP ${r.status}`)
+        }
         return r.json()
       })
       .then(() => {
         setCronsStatus('ok')
       })
-      .catch(() => {
-        setCronsError('Could not reach OpenClaw gateway. Run: openclaw gateway run')
+      .catch((err: Error) => {
+        const msg = err.message || ''
+        if (msg.includes('Failed to fetch cron') || msg.includes('JSON') || msg.includes('Unexpected token')) {
+          setCronsError('Cron list failed -- OpenClaw CLI may be printing log output before JSON. Try: OPENCLAW_LOG_LEVEL=error clawport dev')
+        } else {
+          setCronsError('Could not reach OpenClaw gateway. Run: openclaw gateway run')
+        }
         setCronsStatus('error')
       })
   }
diff --git a/lib/cli-utils.test.ts b/lib/cli-utils.test.ts
index a0843da..b183075 100644
--- a/lib/cli-utils.test.ts
+++ b/lib/cli-utils.test.ts
@@ -41,4 +41,20 @@ hooks: Unrecognized key: "allowedAgentIds"
   it('throws on empty string', () => {
     expect(() => extractJson('')).toThrow()
   })
+
+  it('skips bracketed log lines like [plugins] before real JSON', () => {
+    const raw = `[plugins] [debug] Database schema initialized
+[plugins] [debug] Loading context engine
+{"jobs":[{"name":"daily-report","schedule":"0 8 * * *"}]}`
+    const result = extractJson(raw) as Record<string, unknown>
+    expect(result.jobs).toEqual([{ name: 'daily-report', schedule: '0 8 * * *' }])
+  })
+
+  it('skips bracketed log lines before JSON array', () => {
+    const raw = `[plugins] [debug] Database schema initialized
+[plugins] [info] Ready
+[{"id":"pulse","name":"daily-pulse"}]`
+    const result = extractJson(raw)
+    expect(result).toEqual([{ id: 'pulse', name: 'daily-pulse' }])
+  })
 })
diff --git a/lib/cli-utils.ts b/lib/cli-utils.ts
index c32b133..e4b916e 100644
--- a/lib/cli-utils.ts
+++ b/lib/cli-utils.ts
@@ -1,25 +1,38 @@
 /**
  * Extract a JSON value from CLI output that may contain non-JSON preamble.
  *
- * Some OpenClaw versions print validation warnings (e.g. "Unrecognized key")
- * to stdout before the JSON payload. This function finds the first `[` or `{`
- * and parses from there, so ClawPort doesn't break on noisy CLI output.
+ * Some OpenClaw versions print validation warnings or debug log lines
+ * (e.g. "[plugins] [debug] ...") to stdout before the JSON payload.
+ * This function finds the actual JSON structure by trying each `[` or `{`
+ * position until one parses successfully.
  */
 export function extractJson(raw: string): unknown {
   // Fast path: raw is already valid JSON
   const trimmed = raw.trim()
   if (trimmed.startsWith('[') || trimmed.startsWith('{')) {
-    return JSON.parse(trimmed)
+    try {
+      return JSON.parse(trimmed)
+    } catch {
+      // May start with [ but be a log line like "[plugins] ..." -- fall through
+    }
   }
 
-  // Find the first JSON structure in the output
-  const arrStart = raw.indexOf('[')
-  const objStart = raw.indexOf('{')
-  const starts = [arrStart, objStart].filter(i => i >= 0)
-  if (starts.length === 0) {
-    throw new SyntaxError('No JSON found in CLI output')
+  // Try each potential JSON start position
+  let pos = 0
+  while (pos < raw.length) {
+    const arrStart = raw.indexOf('[', pos)
+    const objStart = raw.indexOf('{', pos)
+    const candidates = [arrStart, objStart].filter(i => i >= 0)
+    if (candidates.length === 0) break
+
+    const start = Math.min(...candidates)
+    try {
+      return JSON.parse(raw.slice(start))
+    } catch {
+      // This wasn't the real JSON start -- advance past it
+      pos = start + 1
+    }
   }
 
-  const start = Math.min(...starts)
-  return JSON.parse(raw.slice(start))
+  throw new SyntaxError('No JSON found in CLI output')
 }
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index f11c60d..e0dee6a 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "clawport-ui",
-  "version": "0.8.5",
+  "version": "0.8.6",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "clawport-ui",
-      "version": "0.8.5",
+      "version": "0.8.6",
       "license": "MIT",
       "dependencies": {
         "@dagrejs/dagre": "^2.0.4",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 942a209..bed8545 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "clawport-ui",
-  "version": "0.8.5",
+  "version": "0.8.6",
   "description": "Open-source dashboard for managing, monitoring, and chatting with your OpenClaw AI agents.",
   "homepage": "https://clawport.dev",
   "repository": {