Install

Use the installer unless you have a reason not to. It sets up the CLI and runs onboarding.

Quick install (recommended)

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

Windows (PowerShell):

iwr -useb https://openclaw.ai/install.ps1 | iex

Next step (if you skipped onboarding):

openclaw onboard --install-daemon

System requirements

  • Node >=22
  • macOS, Linux, or Windows via WSL2
  • pnpm only if you build from source

Choose your install path

1) Installer script (recommended)

Installs openclaw globally via npm and runs onboarding.

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

Installer flags:

curl -fsSL https://openclaw.bot/install.sh | bash -s -- --help

Details: Installer internals.

Non-interactive (skip onboarding):

curl -fsSL https://openclaw.bot/install.sh | bash -s -- --no-onboard

2) Global install (manual)

If you already have Node:

npm install -g openclaw@latest

If you have libvips installed globally (common on macOS via Homebrew) and sharp fails to install, force prebuilt binaries:

SHARP_IGNORE_GLOBAL_LIBVIPS=1 npm install -g openclaw@latest

If you see sharp: Please add node-gyp to your dependencies, either install build tooling (macOS: Xcode CLT + npm install -g node-gyp) or use the SHARP_IGNORE_GLOBAL_LIBVIPS=1 workaround above to skip the native build.

Or:

pnpm add -g openclaw@latest

Then:

openclaw onboard --install-daemon

3) From source (contributors/dev)

git clone https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw.git
cd openclaw
pnpm install
pnpm ui:build # auto-installs UI deps on first run
pnpm build
openclaw onboard --install-daemon

Tip: if you don’t have a global install yet, run repo commands via pnpm openclaw ....

4) Other install options

After install

  • Run onboarding: openclaw onboard --install-daemon
  • Quick check: openclaw doctor
  • Check gateway health: openclaw status + openclaw health
  • Open the dashboard: openclaw dashboard

Install method: npm vs git (installer)

The installer supports two methods:

  • npm (default): npm install -g openclaw@latest
  • git: clone/build from GitHub and run from a source checkout

CLI flags

# Explicit npm
curl -fsSL https://openclaw.bot/install.sh | bash -s -- --install-method npm

# Install from GitHub (source checkout)
curl -fsSL https://openclaw.bot/install.sh | bash -s -- --install-method git

Common flags:

  • --install-method npm|git
  • --git-dir <path> (default: ~/openclaw)
  • --no-git-update (skip git pull when using an existing checkout)
  • --no-prompt (disable prompts; required in CI/automation)
  • --dry-run (print what would happen; make no changes)
  • --no-onboard (skip onboarding)

Environment variables

Equivalent env vars (useful for automation):

  • OPENCLAW_INSTALL_METHOD=git|npm
  • OPENCLAW_GIT_DIR=...
  • OPENCLAW_GIT_UPDATE=0|1
  • OPENCLAW_NO_PROMPT=1
  • OPENCLAW_DRY_RUN=1
  • OPENCLAW_NO_ONBOARD=1
  • SHARP_IGNORE_GLOBAL_LIBVIPS=0|1 (default: 1; avoids sharp building against system libvips)

Troubleshooting: openclaw not found (PATH)

Quick diagnosis:

node -v
npm -v
npm prefix -g
echo "$PATH"

If $(npm prefix -g)/bin (macOS/Linux) or $(npm prefix -g) (Windows) is not present inside echo "$PATH", your shell can’t find global npm binaries (including openclaw).

Fix: add it to your shell startup file (zsh: ~/.zshrc, bash: ~/.bashrc):

# macOS / Linux
export PATH="$(npm prefix -g)/bin:$PATH"

On Windows, add the output of npm prefix -g to your PATH.

Then open a new terminal (or rehash in zsh / hash -r in bash).

Update / uninstall

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