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openclaw/docs/install/index.md
Davendra Patel 2e3e12f38b docs: add pre-rendered diagram PNGs and update AGENTS.md with architecture overview 
Add 32 rendered PNG diagram images alongside existing Mermaid source
blocks (wrapped in collapsible details) across documentation pages.
Update AGENTS.md with architecture overview section and single-test
command. Update README hero banner to use rendered diagram.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-01-29 16:02:09 +05:30

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summary read_when
Install Moltbot (recommended installer, global install, or from source)
Installing Moltbot
You want to install from GitHub

Install

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

Installation Decision Tree

Diagram source (Mermaid) 
flowchart TD
    START[Install Moltbot] --> OS{Operating System?}
    OS -->|macOS| MAC[macOS]
    OS -->|Linux| LINUX[Linux]
    OS -->|Windows| WIN[Windows WSL2]
    MAC --> METHOD{Install Method?}
    LINUX --> METHOD
    WIN --> WSL[Install WSL2 First] --> METHOD
    METHOD -->|Installer Script| CURL["curl -fsSL https://molt.bot/install.sh | bash"]
    METHOD -->|npm Global| NPM[npm install -g moltbot@latest]
    METHOD -->|From Source| GIT[git clone + pnpm install + pnpm build]
    METHOD -->|Docker| DOCKER[Docker container]
    METHOD -->|Nix| NIX[Nix flake]
    CURL --> ONBOARD[moltbot onboard --install-daemon]
    NPM --> ONBOARD
    GIT --> ONBOARD

Quick install (recommended)

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

Windows (PowerShell):

iwr -useb https://molt.bot/install.ps1 | iex

Next step (if you skipped onboarding):

moltbot 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 moltbot globally via npm and runs onboarding.

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

Installer flags:

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

Details: Installer internals.

Non-interactive (skip onboarding):

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

2) Global install (manual)

If you already have Node:

npm install -g moltbot@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 moltbot@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 moltbot@latest

Then:

moltbot onboard --install-daemon

3) From source (contributors/dev)

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

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

4) Other install options

After install

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

Install method: npm vs git (installer)

The installer supports two methods:

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

CLI flags

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

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

Common flags:

  • --install-method npm|git
  • --git-dir <path> (default: ~/moltbot)
  • --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):

  • CLAWDBOT_INSTALL_METHOD=git|npm
  • CLAWDBOT_GIT_DIR=...
  • CLAWDBOT_GIT_UPDATE=0|1
  • CLAWDBOT_NO_PROMPT=1
  • CLAWDBOT_DRY_RUN=1
  • CLAWDBOT_NO_ONBOARD=1
  • SHARP_IGNORE_GLOBAL_LIBVIPS=0|1 (default: 1; avoids sharp building against system libvips)

Troubleshooting: moltbot 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 moltbot).

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