Quick Start¶

Runtime: Node 22 or later.

TL;DR¶

openclaw onboard --install-daemon

openclaw gateway --port 18789 --verbose

# Send a message
openclaw message send --to +1234567890 --message "Hello from OpenClaw"

# Talk to the assistant (optionally deliver back to any connected channel)
openclaw agent --message "Ship checklist" --thinking high

Upgrading? See Updating (and run openclaw doctor).

Open the dashboard¶

After the Gateway starts, open the browser Control UI:

Local default: http://127.0.0.1:18789/
Remote access: see Remote and Tailscale.

Optional configuration¶

Config lives at ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json.

If you do nothing, OpenClaw uses the bundled Pi binary in RPC mode with per-sender sessions.
If you want to lock it down, start with channels.whatsapp.allowFrom and (for groups) mention rules.

Example:

{
  channels: {
    whatsapp: {
      allowFrom: ["+15555550123"],
      groups: { "*": { requireMention: true } },
    },
  },
  messages: { groupChat: { mentionPatterns: ["@openclaw"] } },
}

See Gateway configuration for the full surface.

Multi-tenant quick start¶

# Create a tenant
openclaw tenants create demo

# Connect as tenant
OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN="tenant:demo:xxxxx" openclaw chat

Full guide: Multi-Tenancy.