Skip to content
OpenClaw Docs

Getting Started

Getting Started

Section titled “Getting Started”

Install OpenClaw, run onboarding, and chat with your AI assistant — all in about 5 minutes. By the end you will have a running Gateway, configured auth, and a working chat session.

What you need

Section titled “What you need”
  • Node.js — Node 24 recommended (Node 22.14+ also supported)
  • An API key from a model provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, etc.) — onboarding will prompt you

Quick setup

Section titled “Quick setup”

  1. Install OpenClaw

    Terminal window
    curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash
    Install Script Process

  2. Run onboarding

    Terminal window
    openclaw onboard --install-daemon

    The wizard walks you through choosing a model provider, setting an API key, and configuring the Gateway. It takes about 2 minutes.

    See Onboarding (CLI) for the full reference.

  3. Verify the Gateway is running

    Terminal window
    openclaw gateway status

    You should see the Gateway listening on port 18789.

  4. Open the dashboard

    Terminal window
    openclaw dashboard

    This opens the Control UI in your browser. If it loads, everything is working.

  5. Send your first message

    Type a message in the Control UI chat and you should get an AI reply.

    Want to chat from your phone instead? The fastest channel to set up is Telegram (just a bot token). See Channels for all options.

Advanced: mount a custom Control UI build

If you maintain a localized or customized dashboard build, point gateway.controlUi.root to a directory that contains your built static assets and index.html.

Terminal window
mkdir -p "$HOME/.openclaw/control-ui-custom"
# Copy your built static files into that directory.

Then set:

{
  "gateway": {
    "controlUi": {
      "enabled": true,
      "root": "$HOME/.openclaw/control-ui-custom"
    }
  }
}

Restart the gateway and reopen the dashboard:

Terminal window
openclaw gateway restart
openclaw dashboard

What to do next

Section titled “What to do next”
Connect a channel

Discord, Feishu, iMessage, Matrix, Microsoft Teams, Signal, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, Zalo, and more.

Pairing and safety

Control who can message your agent.

Configure the Gateway

Models, tools, sandbox, and advanced settings.

Browse tools

Browser, exec, web search, skills, and plugins.
Advanced: environment variables

If you run OpenClaw as a service account or want custom paths:

  • OPENCLAW_HOME — home directory for internal path resolution
  • OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR — override the state directory
  • OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH — override the config file path

Full reference: Environment variables.