OpenClaw Quick Start — install, onboard, run

Prerequisites

• Node 24.16+ or 26.1+ (Node 26 recommended). Node 22 and 23, 24 before 24.16, and 25 are unsupported since 2026.9.3. The installer script installs Node for you if it's missing.
• An API key for your model provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter and others), or a local model server such as Ollama.
• A terminal. On Windows, use PowerShell or WSL2, or the Windows Hub desktop app.

Install

Recommended: the installer script. It detects your OS, installs Node if needed, installs OpenClaw and launches onboarding:

# macOS / Linux / WSL2
curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash

# Windows (PowerShell)
iwr -useb https://openclaw.ai/install.ps1 | iex

Or with npm, if you manage Node yourself:

npm install -g openclaw
openclaw --version

Prefer an app? OpenClaw ships a macOS menu-bar app and a Windows Hub companion that can set up a local Gateway on first run.

Onboard

openclaw onboard

Onboarding sets up your provider and model, the workspace (~/.openclaw/workspace) and the Gateway. Config lives in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (JSON5). Check it after edits with openclaw config validate. Reconfigure later with openclaw configure.

Run the Gateway

openclaw gateway install      # install and start it as a background service
openclaw gateway status
openclaw gateway restart      # after config changes

Installing the service is the supported way to keep the Gateway running across SSH disconnects and reboots. There's no need for tmux. The Gateway listens on 127.0.0.1:18789 by default; keep it on loopback on a VPS.

Connect a channel

OpenClaw's docs suggest starting with Telegram, which needs only a bot token and no plugin:

openclaw channels add --channel telegram --token <bot-token>
openclaw channels status --probe

Unknown senders get a pairing code by default; approve yours with openclaw pairing approve telegram <code>. Full walkthrough: Telegram setup. WhatsApp uses QR pairing.

Check everything

openclaw doctor          # config, channels, credentials, skills
openclaw doctor --fix    # repair what it safely can
openclaw agent --message "Say hello and tell me which model you are"

Choosing a model

Prices per million input/output tokens, from our cost calculator data (Anthropic's published rates):

Set the default with agents.defaults.model.primary and add agents.defaults.model.fallbacks for when a provider rate-limits you. See cost optimisation.

What it costs

OpenClaw is free and MIT-licensed. You pay for the model provider (or run local models) and, if you use one, a VPS. A small VPS is typically $5–12 a month. Model spend depends almost entirely on how much the agent talks, so check it weekly with openclaw gateway usage-cost --days 7.

Updating (2026.9.7 and later)

• Back up first, and verify it. openclaw backup create --verify checks that every agent database recorded at capture is present. A config-only export is not a recovery backup, and older archives may have unknown completeness.
• Installed before June 2026? You must upgrade through 2026.9.5 before installing the latest version: stop OpenClaw, follow the docs' very old versions steps with the same account, profile and paths, and run openclaw doctor --fix on 2026.9.5 before continuing.
• Rollback is automatic only for eligible failed updates. Restoring databases needs a snapshot captured while OpenClaw was stopped, with the new version never started. A failed or unverified update keeps its snapshots and may leave OpenClaw stopped. Snapshots need substantial free disk space and can block an otherwise compatible update. If it goes wrong, see rolling back after an update.
• Tasks and TaskFlow were removed in 2026.9.7. Use subagent controls, ACP sessions, background processes, Cron history or Lobster pipelines instead.

Source: the 2026.9.7 release notes and the updating guide.

Quick fixes

• "port already in use": another Gateway is running. Run openclaw gateway status / stop, or find the process with lsof -i :18789 (macOS/Linux) or netstat -ano | findstr :18789 (Windows).
• Update or install fails on Node: upgrade Node to 24.16+ or 26.1+ before updating OpenClaw.
• Bot doesn't answer: check pairing and allowFrom. See troubleshooting.
• Switching providers: run openclaw configure or change agents.defaults.model.primary. Your workspace and sessions stay.

Correction 2026-09-27: earlier versions of this page listed Node 22, installed "healthcheck" and "tmux" skills by bare name, pointed to onlycrabs.ai, and called the config YAML.