Quick Start

The goal is to reach a working chat as fast as possible. The recommended path is openclaw onboard for auth and Gateway setup, then immediate validation inside Dashboard or Control UI.

Install Guide Onboarding Wizard Gateway Ops

From Zero to the First Message

0. Prepare the runtime

Make sure Node 22+ is available, and prefer WSL2 on Windows. If you need web search later, add Brave Search API with openclaw configure --section web.

1. Install the CLI

Use the official install script or global npm / pnpm install until openclaw is available in the current shell.

2. Run onboarding

Use openclaw onboard --install-daemon to choose local or remote Gateway, model auth, channels and background services.

3. Start and verify Gateway

If you installed a service, check openclaw gateway status. For foreground debugging, run openclaw gateway --port 18789 --verbose.

4. Open the chat interface

The fastest validation path is openclaw dashboard. If channels like Telegram or WhatsApp are already configured, you can also send the first message there.

High-Frequency Commands

Install and launch onboarding

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

Start a local Gateway

Use this when you do not want a background service and want the logs in the current terminal.

openclaw gateway --port 18789 --verbose

Health and status checks

Confirm the Gateway, services, providers and channels are all healthy.

openclaw status
openclaw health
openclaw status --deep

Channel pairing example

WhatsApp, Telegram and similar channels may require approval after the first direct message.

openclaw channels login
openclaw pairing list whatsapp
openclaw pairing approve whatsapp <code>

Key Decisions

Gateway

Local or remote

If the Gateway runs on this machine, choose local mode. If it lives on another host, switch to remote mode and align URL, token and tunnel settings.

Auth

OAuth or API key

The wizard supports OpenAI / Codex OAuth, Anthropic API keys or setup-token and other provider modes. Server deployments usually prefer reproducible keys or tokens.

Interface

Dashboard or chat channels

Dashboard is the fastest validation path. If daily usage will happen in WhatsApp, Telegram or Discord, continue into channel setup after validation.

Runtime

Node instead of Bun

Node is the recommended runtime, especially when you need WhatsApp or Telegram support on the Gateway.

Follow-up Reading

Onboarding Wizard

See the quick and advanced branches, step breakdown and non-interactive flags.

Gateway Configuration

Open this when you need to adjust allowFrom, workspace paths, default models or Gateway authentication.

Troubleshooting

If the openclaw command is missing, the service never starts, the UI is unauthorized or models fail, start there.