Getting Started

This is the first stop for the OpenClaw documentation site: environment checks, installation paths, the CLI onboarding flow and your first message. Finish install and onboarding first, then decide whether to connect WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord or a remote Gateway host.

Install Guide Quick Start Docs Overview

Recommended Path

If this is your first time with OpenClaw, this order is the least error-prone.

Guided Recommended

Install Guide

See prerequisites, install commands, wizard launch and first verification by platform and install method.

Open install guide

CLI Route

Quick Start

Best for developers who want the shortest path from zero to openclaw onboard, openclaw gateway and the first message.

Open quick start

Interactive Wizard

Onboarding Wizard

Understand how the wizard configures authentication, workspace, Gateway, channels, background services and Skills, including quick and advanced branches.

View the wizard flow

Platform Planning

Platforms

Choose whether OpenClaw should run on your local machine, WSL2, a Linux host or a VPS, and see which companion apps fit each route.

View supported platforms

Get It Working in Three Steps

This is the most common and safest command sequence.

1. Install the CLI

Use the official install script first. If you already have Node 22+, npm and pnpm are fine too.

curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash

2. Run onboarding and install services

The wizard will guide you through model auth, Gateway settings, channel setup and background service install.

openclaw onboard --install-daemon

3. Verify Gateway and the console

Confirm the Gateway is healthy, then open Dashboard or Control UI and send your first message.

openclaw gateway status
openclaw dashboard

If you are using a remote host, verify the remote URL, auth token and local tunnel all point to the same Gateway.

Go Deeper

After installation, continue from the branch that matches your goal.

Resources

Official entry points, model links, deployment platforms, community examples and the Skills ecosystem.

Features

A quick overview of channels, media, multi-agent routing, mobile nodes and the web control interface.

Gateway Ops

If you will keep OpenClaw running locally or on a remote host, this becomes the most-used operations entry point.

Help Center

When install, auth, port, logs or model calls go wrong, start here instead of guessing.