CLI automation

Use openclaw onboard --non-interactive to script setup. It requires --accept-risk: non-interactive setup can write credentials and daemon config without a confirmation prompt, so the flag is the explicit risk acknowledgement.

Each command can install a managed Gateway with --install-daemon, require an already-running compatible Gateway by omitting daemon flags, explicitly leave the Gateway stopped with --skip-daemon, or use --skip-health for config-only setup. The explicit skip still probes for an existing Gateway and reports whether one is reachable, but an absent listener is informational rather than a setup failure.

Review required plugins

Bundled plugins and verified plugins from OpenClaw's official catalog do not require capability consent during setup. This includes the official Codex runtime installed for OpenAI setup.

Non-interactive onboarding cannot accept new third-party plugin capabilities. --accept-risk acknowledges onboarding risk only; it does not grant plugin consent. Before automating a setup that needs a third-party provider, runtime, or channel plugin, review its source and declared capabilities, then preinstall it with explicit consent:

openclaw plugins install <plugin-spec> --accept-capabilities

If onboarding reports a required plugin capability review, review and install the named plugin and rerun the same command. For an already-installed plugin that needs approval to enable it, use openclaw plugins enable <plugin-id> --accept-capabilities.

Consent applies to the reviewed plugin operation, not every subsequent install. See Capability consent for artifact review, enablement, and update rules.

Baseline non-interactive example

openclaw onboard --non-interactive --accept-risk \  --mode local \  --auth-choice apiKey \  --anthropic-api-key "$ANTHROPIC_API_KEY" \  --secret-input-mode plaintext \  --gateway-bind loopback \  --install-daemon \  --daemon-runtime node \  --skip-bootstrap \  --skip-skills

Add --json for a machine-readable summary.

• --gateway-port defaults to 18789. Only pass it to override that default.
• Local onboarding generates a Gateway secret in token mode by default and preserves existing password mode. Use --gateway-auth password with --gateway-password <value> to supply a password explicitly; the password flag also selects password mode on its own. Tailscale Funnel requires password mode.
• --skip-bootstrap skips creating default workspace files, for automation that pre-seeds its own workspace.
• --secret-input-mode ref stores new credentials as env-backed references, in the form { source: "env", provider: "default", id: "<ENV_VAR>" }. Set the provider env var when you add a credential or pass an inline key flag. Existing resolvable named profiles and their env, file, exec, or store references are reused unchanged, without a new credential write or additional provider env var. Existing plaintext is not migrated. Run openclaw secrets configure --apply, then openclaw secrets audit --check. See Secrets management.
• The gateway token follows the same mode. Setup generates that value itself, so reference mode has no env var to point at unless you supply one. With OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN exported, gateway.auth.token becomes an env ref to it. Otherwise the token goes into the SQLite secret store as OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN, and config keeps a store ref. Either way openclaw.json holds no plaintext gateway token. Inspect the entry with openclaw secrets store list.
• In reference mode, explicit --gateway-password and --remote-password must match OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_PASSWORD. --remote-token must match OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN. Missing or mismatched environment values fail before setup changes state. Matching credentials are stored as env SecretRefs.

openclaw onboard --non-interactive --accept-risk --skip-health \  --mode local \  --auth-choice openai-api-key \  --secret-input-mode ref

Provider-specific examples

openclaw onboard --non-interactive --accept-risk --skip-health \  --mode local \  --auth-choice apiKey \  --anthropic-api-key "$ANTHROPIC_API_KEY" \  --gateway-bind loopback

openclaw onboard --non-interactive --accept-risk --skip-health \  --mode local \  --auth-choice cloudflare-ai-gateway-api-key \  --cloudflare-ai-gateway-account-id "your-account-id" \  --cloudflare-ai-gateway-gateway-id "your-gateway-id" \  --cloudflare-ai-gateway-api-key "$CLOUDFLARE_AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY" \  --gateway-bind loopback

openclaw onboard --non-interactive --accept-risk --skip-health \  --mode local \  --auth-choice gemini-api-key \  --gemini-api-key "$GEMINI_API_KEY" \  --gateway-bind loopback

openclaw onboard --non-interactive --accept-risk --skip-health \  --mode local \  --auth-choice mistral-api-key \  --mistral-api-key "$MISTRAL_API_KEY" \  --gateway-bind loopback

openclaw onboard --non-interactive --accept-risk --skip-health \  --mode local \  --auth-choice moonshot-api-key \  --moonshot-api-key "$MOONSHOT_API_KEY" \  --gateway-bind loopback

openclaw onboard --non-interactive --accept-risk --skip-health \  --mode local \  --auth-choice ollama \  --custom-model-id "qwen3.5:27b" \  --gateway-bind loopback

openclaw onboard --non-interactive --accept-risk --skip-health \  --mode local \  --auth-choice opencode-zen \  --opencode-zen-api-key "$OPENCODE_API_KEY" \  --gateway-bind loopback

openclaw onboard --non-interactive --accept-risk --skip-health \  --mode local \  --auth-choice synthetic-api-key \  --synthetic-api-key "$SYNTHETIC_API_KEY" \  --gateway-bind loopback

openclaw onboard --non-interactive --accept-risk --skip-health \  --mode local \  --auth-choice ai-gateway-api-key \  --ai-gateway-api-key "$AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY" \  --gateway-bind loopback

openclaw onboard --non-interactive --accept-risk --skip-health \  --mode local \  --auth-choice zai-api-key \  --zai-api-key "$ZAI_API_KEY" \  --gateway-bind loopback

openclaw onboard --non-interactive --accept-risk --skip-health \  --mode local \  --auth-choice custom-api-key \  --custom-base-url "https://llm.example.com/v1" \  --custom-model-id "foo-large" \  --custom-api-key "$CUSTOM_API_KEY" \  --custom-provider-id "my-custom" \  --custom-compatibility anthropic \  --custom-image-input \  --gateway-bind loopback

export CUSTOM_API_KEY="your-key"openclaw onboard --non-interactive --accept-risk --skip-health \  --mode local \  --auth-choice custom-api-key \  --custom-base-url "https://llm.example.com/v1" \  --custom-model-id "foo-large" \  --secret-input-mode ref \  --custom-provider-id "my-custom" \  --custom-compatibility anthropic \  --custom-image-input \  --gateway-bind loopback

Anthropic setup-token auth remains supported, but OpenClaw prefers Claude CLI reuse when a local Claude CLI login is available. For production, prefer an Anthropic API key.

Add another agent

openclaw agents add <name> creates a separate agent with its own workspace, sessions, and auth profiles. Running it without --workspace (and no other flags) launches the interactive wizard; passing any of --workspace, --model, --agent-dir, --bind, or --non-interactive runs it non-interactively and then requires --workspace.

openclaw agents add work \  --workspace ~/.openclaw/workspace-work \  --model openai/gpt-6-astra \  --bind whatsapp:biz \  --non-interactive \  --json

Config keys it writes (agents.entries.* entry for the new agent id):

• name
• workspace
• agentDir
• model (only when --model is passed)

Notes:

• Default workspace (when --workspace is omitted in the interactive wizard): ~/.openclaw/workspace-<agentId>.
• --bind <channel[:accountId]> is repeatable; add bindings to route inbound messages to the new agent (the wizard can also do this interactively).
• The agent name is normalized to a valid agent id. main is allowed, but an existing named installation may require openclaw doctor --fix to finish legacy-session and shared-auth ownership migrations before creating it.

Related docs

• Onboarding hub: Onboarding (CLI)
• Full reference: CLI Setup Reference
• Command reference: openclaw onboard