Why clawbot Get Started Use Cases FAQ Community

Quick start and first-run setup

Im stuck whats the fastest way to get unstuck
What’s the recommended way to install and set up OpenClaw
How do I open the dashboard after onboarding
How do I authenticate the dashboard token on localhost vs...
What runtime do I need
Does it run on Raspberry Pi
Any tips for Raspberry Pi installs
It is stuck on wake up my friend onboarding will not hatc...
Can I migrate my setup to a new machine Mac mini without ...
Where do I see whats new in the latest version
I cant access docs.openclaw.ai SSL error What now
What’s the difference between stable and beta
How do I install the beta version and whats the differenc...
How long does install and onboarding usually take
How do I try the latest bits
Installer stuck How do I get more feedback
Windows install says git not found or openclaw not recogn...
The docs didnt answer my question how do I get a better a...
How do I install OpenClaw on Linux
How do I install OpenClaw on a VPS
Where are the cloudVPS install guides
Can I ask OpenClaw to update itself
What does the onboarding wizard actually do
Do I need a Claude or OpenAI subscription to run this
Can I use Claude Max subscription without an API key
How does Anthropic setuptoken auth work
Where do I find an Anthropic setuptoken
Do you support Claude subscription auth (Claude Pro/Max)
Why am I seeing HTTP 429 ratelimiterror from Anthropic
Is AWS Bedrock supported
How does Codex auth work
Do you support OpenAI subscription auth Codex OAuth
How do I set up Gemini CLI OAuth
Is a local model OK for casual chats
How do I keep hosted model traffic in a specific region
Do I have to buy a Mac Mini to install this
Do I need a Mac mini for iMessage support
If I buy a Mac mini to run OpenClaw can I connect it to m...
Telegram what goes in allowFrom
Can multiple people use one WhatsApp number with differen...
Can I run a fast chat agent and an Opus for coding agent
Does Homebrew work on Linux
What’s the difference between the hackable git install an...
Can I switch between npm and git installs later
Should I run the Gateway on my laptop or a VPS
How important is it to run OpenClaw on a dedicated machine
What are the minimum VPS requirements and recommended OS
Can I run OpenClaw in a VM and what are the requirements

What is OpenClaw

What is OpenClaw in one paragraph
What’s the value proposition
I just set it up what should I do first
What are the top five everyday use cases for OpenClaw
Can OpenClaw help with lead gen outreach ads and blogs fo...
What are the advantages vs Claude Code for web development

Skills and automation

How do I customize skills without keeping the repo dirty
Can I load skills from a custom folder
How can I use different models for different tasks
The bot freezes while doing heavy work How do I offload that
Cron or reminders do not fire What should I check
How do I install skills on Linux
Can OpenClaw run tasks on a schedule or continuously in t...
Do you have a Notion or HeyGen integration
How do I install the Chrome extension for browser takeover

Sandboxing and memory

Is there a dedicated sandboxing doc
How do I bind a host folder into the sandbox
How does memory work
Memory keeps forgetting things How do I make it stick
Does semantic memory search require an OpenAI API key
Does memory persist forever What are the limits

Where things live on disk

Is all data used with OpenClaw saved locally
Where does OpenClaw store its data
Where should AGENTSmd SOULmd USERmd MEMORYmd live
What’s the recommended backup strategy
How do I completely uninstall OpenClaw
Can agents work outside the workspace
Im in remote mode where is the session store

Config basics

What format is the config Where is it
I set gatewaybind lan or tailnet and now nothing listens ...
Why do I need a token on localhost now
Do I have to restart after changing config
How do I enable web search and web fetch
How do I run a central Gateway with specialized workers a...
Can the OpenClaw browser run headless
How do I use Brave for browser control

Remote gateways + nodes

How do commands propagate between Telegram the gateway an...
How can my agent access my computer if the Gateway is hos...
Tailscale is connected but I get no replies What now
Can two OpenClaw instances talk to each other local VPS
Do I need separate VPSes for multiple agents
Is there a benefit to using a node on my personal laptop ...
Should I install on a second laptop or just add a node
Do nodes run a gateway service
Is there an API RPC way to apply config
configapply wiped my config How do I recover and avoid this
What’s a minimal sane config for a first install
How do I set up Tailscale on a VPS and connect from my Mac
How do I connect a Mac node to a remote Gateway Tailscale...

Env vars and .env loading

How does OpenClaw load environment variables
I started the Gateway via the service and my env vars dis...
I set COPILOTGITHUBTOKEN but models status shows Shell en...

Sessions & multiple chats

How do I start a fresh conversation
Do sessions reset automatically if I never send new
Is there a way to make a team of OpenClaw instances one C...
Why did context get truncated midtask How do I prevent it
How do I completely reset OpenClaw but keep it installed
Im getting context too large errors how do I reset or com...
Why am I seeing LLM request rejected messagesNcontentXtoo...
Why am I getting heartbeat messages every 30 minutes
Do I need to add a bot account to a WhatsApp group
How do I get the JID of a WhatsApp group
Why doesnt OpenClaw reply in a group
Do groupsthreads share context with DMs
How many workspaces and agents can I create
Can I run multiple bots or chats at the same time Slack a...

Models: defaults, selection, aliases, switching

What is the default model
What model do you recommend
Can I use selfhosted models llamacpp vLLM Ollama
How do I switch models without wiping my config
What do OpenClaw, Flawd, and Krill use for models
How do I switch models on the fly without restarting
Can I use GPT 5.2 for daily tasks and Codex 5.2 for coding
Why do I see Model is not allowed and then no reply
Why do I see Unknown model minimaxMiniMaxM21
Can I use MiniMax as my default and OpenAI for complex tasks
Are opus sonnet gpt builtin shortcuts
How do I defineoverride model shortcuts aliases
How do I add models from other providers like OpenRouter ...
How does failover work
What does this error mean
Fix checklist for No credentials found for profile anthro...
Why did it also try Google Gemini and fail

Auth profiles: what they are and how to manage them

What is an auth profile
What are typical profile IDs
Can I control which auth profile is tried first
OAuth vs API key whats the difference
What port does the Gateway use
Why does openclaw gateway status say Runtime running but ...
Why does openclaw gateway status show Config cli and Conf...
What does another gateway instance is already listening mean
How do I run OpenClaw in remote mode client connects to a...
The Control UI says unauthorized or keeps reconnecting Wh...
I set gatewaybind tailnet but it cant bind nothing listens
Can I run multiple Gateways on the same host
What does invalid handshake code 1008 mean

Logging and debugging

How do I startstoprestart the Gateway service
I closed my terminal on Windows how do I restart OpenClaw
The Gateway is up but replies never arrive What should I ...
Disconnected from gateway no reason what now
Telegram setMyCommands fails with network errors What sho...
TUI shows no output What should I check
How do I completely stop then start the Gateway
ELI5 openclaw gateway restart vs openclaw gateway
What’s the fastest way to get more details when something...

Media & attachments

My skill generated an imagePDF but nothing was sent

Security and access control

Is it safe to expose OpenClaw to inbound DMs
Is prompt injection only a concern for public bots
Should my bot have its own email GitHub account or phone ...
Can I give it autonomy over my text messages and is that ...
Can I use cheaper models for personal assistant tasks
I ran start in Telegram but didnt get a pairing code
WhatsApp will it message my contacts How does pairing work
How do I stop internal system messages from showing in chat
How do I stopcancel a running task
How do I send a Discord message from Telegram Crosscontex...
Why does it feel like the bot ignores rapidfire messages
Answer the exact question from the screenshot/chat log

Home › FAQ › Quick start and first-run setup

What runtime do I need

Node >= 22 is required. pnpm is recommended. Bun is not recommended for the Gateway.

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