diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9e6aa391..e592f16e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -194,13 +194,19 @@ nanobot agent
   <img src="images/nanobot_webui.png" alt="nanobot webui preview" width="900">
 </p>
 
-**1. Start the gateway**
+**1. Enable the WebSocket channel in `~/.nanobot/config.json`**
+
+```json
+{ "channels": { "websocket": { "enabled": true } } }
+```
+
+**2. Start the gateway**
 
 ```bash
 nanobot gateway
 ```
 
-**2. Start the webui dev server**
+**3. Start the webui dev server**
 
 ```bash
 cd webui
diff --git a/webui/README.md b/webui/README.md
index 9d3591d2..d318c745 100644
--- a/webui/README.md
+++ b/webui/README.md
@@ -35,7 +35,15 @@ From the repository root:
 pip install -e .
 ```
 
-### 2. Start the gateway
+### 2. Enable the WebSocket channel
+
+In `~/.nanobot/config.json`:
+
+```json
+{ "channels": { "websocket": { "enabled": true } } }
+```
+
+### 3. Start the gateway
 
 In one terminal:
 
@@ -43,7 +51,7 @@ In one terminal:
 nanobot gateway
 ```
 
-### 3. Start the WebUI dev server
+### 4. Start the WebUI dev server
 
 In another terminal: