Setup

This page answers a practical question: how do you keep OpenClaw easy to update while ensuring your own config, workspace and credentials stay outside the repo? The core rule is simple: the repo is for code, ~/.openclaw is for your personal state.

Getting Started Onboarding Gateway Ops

Two Typical Workflows

macOS App Stable

Stable workflow

Install and launch OpenClaw.app so it manages the local Gateway. After permissions and onboarding, connect channels with openclaw channels login.

Cutting Edge

Development workflow

Run pnpm gateway:watch yourself in the terminal, then let the macOS app attach to the existing local Gateway for TypeScript development and hot reload.

Common Commands

Initialize personal state

openclaw setup

Develop Gateway from source

pnpm install
pnpm gateway:watch

Basic health checks

openclaw health
openclaw channels login

Rules That Keep the Setup Maintainable

Keep config and workspace in ~/.openclaw. Do not push personal prompts, memory or secrets back into the repo.

When updating source code, prefer the clean path of git pull plus pnpm install instead of stacking personal changes inside the repository.

If you run systemd user services on Linux, enable loginctl enable-linger when needed so the Gateway survives after you log out.