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OpenClaw requires Node 22 or newer.

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Install

npm install -g openclaw@latest

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Onboard and run the Gateway

1

Onboard and install the service

openclaw onboard --install-daemon
2

Pair WhatsApp

openclaw channels login
3

Start the Gateway

openclaw gateway --port 18789
After onboarding, the Gateway runs via the user service. You can still run it manually with openclaw gateway.
Switching between npm and git installs later is easy. Install the other flavor and run openclaw doctor to update the gateway service entrypoint.

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From source (development)

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
If you do not have a global install yet, run onboarding via pnpm openclaw ... from the repo.

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Multi instance quickstart (optional)

OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH=~/.openclaw/a.json \
OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR=~/.openclaw-a \
openclaw gateway --port 19001

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Send a test message

Requires a running Gateway. 
openclaw message send --target +15555550123 --message "Hello from OpenClaw"