openclaw/docs/install/index.md

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Install OpenClaw (recommended installer, global install, or from source)	Installing OpenClaw 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.

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@beta

Note: Use @beta instead of @latest until npm @latest is updated. The @latest tag currently points to an old version (v0.1.0) that lacks the CLI binary.

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@beta

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@beta

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

• Docker: Docker
• Nix: Nix
• Ansible: Ansible
• Bun (CLI only): Bun

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

• Updates: Updating
• Migrate to a new machine: Migrating
• Uninstall: Uninstall