Getting Started with OpenClaw

What is OpenClaw?

OpenClaw is an open-source AI agent platform that lets you create, configure, and deploy autonomous AI agents. Agents can connect to various tools (skills), communicate through different channels, and run scheduled tasks.

Prerequisites

Installation

Quick Install (Recommended)

npm install -g openclaw

Verify the installation:

openclaw --version

From Source

git clone https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw.git

cd openclaw

npm install

npm link

Your First Agent

1. Initialize a new project

mkdir my-agent && cd my-agent

openclaw init

This creates an openclaw.json config file.

2. Configure your LLM

Edit openclaw.json and add your API key:

{

"llm": {

"provider": "anthropic",

"model": "claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929",

"api_key": "sk-ant-..."

}

}

3. Run the agent

openclaw start

You should see your agent start up in the terminal.

Installing Builds from AgentForge

Using the CLI

openclaw install agentforge/morning-briefing

Manual Installation

1. Download the build zip from AgentForge

2. Extract to your project directory

3. Run npm install if the build has dependencies

4. Configure your API keys in .env

5. Run openclaw start

Next Steps

bash
npm install -g openclaw

bash
openclaw --version

bash
git clone https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw.git
cd openclaw
npm install
npm link

bash
mkdir my-agent && cd my-agent
openclaw init

json
{
  "llm": {
    "provider": "anthropic",
    "model": "claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929",
    "api_key": "sk-ant-..."
  }
}

bash
openclaw start

bash
openclaw install agentforge/morning-briefing