Onboarding Wizard

The onboarding wizard is the recommended path for new installs. It walks through gateway setup, workspace creation, channel pairing, and skill selection in your terminal.

Run it

openclaw onboard --install-daemon

--install-daemon registers the Gateway as a user service (launchd on macOS, systemd on Linux) so it starts on login.

What the wizard does

• Creates ~/.openclaw/ and the default workspace.
• Configures Gateway bind, port, and auth.
• Walks through channel pairing (WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, etc.).
• Picks an initial model/auth profile (OAuth or API key).
• Installs the Gateway daemon (when --install-daemon is passed).
• Selects starter skills.

Daemon vs foreground

The wizard installs a user service so the Gateway stays up across reboots. You can still run a foreground Gateway alongside for development:

openclaw gateway --port 18789 --verbose

Re-running the wizard

The wizard is idempotent — re-running it picks up existing state and only prompts for changes. Use it after major upgrades or when adding a new channel.

Skipping the wizard

If you prefer manual config, edit ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json directly. See Gateway configuration for the schema.