Install OpenClaw, run onboarding, and chat with your AI assistant in about 5 minutes. By the end you will have a running Gateway, configured auth, and a working chat session.

What you need

• Node.js 22.22.3+, 24.15+, or 25.9+ (24 is the recommended default)
• An API key from a model provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, etc.) — onboarding will prompt you

Quick setup

<Note>
Other install methods (Docker, Nix, npm): [Install](/install).
</Note>

The wizard walks you through choosing a model provider, setting an API key,
and configuring the Gateway. QuickStart is usually only a few minutes, but
provider sign-in, channel pairing, daemon install, network downloads, skills,
or optional plugins can make full onboarding take longer. Skip optional
steps and return later with `openclaw configure`.

See [Onboarding (CLI)](/start/wizard) for the full reference.

You should see the Gateway listening on port 18789.

This opens the Control UI in your browser. If it loads, everything is working.

Want to chat from your phone instead? The fastest channel to set up is
[Telegram](/channels/telegram) (just a bot token). See [Channels](/channels)
for all options.

mkdir -p "$HOME/.openclaw/control-ui-custom"
# Copy your built static files into that directory.

Then set:

{
  "gateway": {
    "controlUi": {
      "enabled": true,
      "root": "$HOME/.openclaw/control-ui-custom"
    }
  }
}

Restart the gateway and reopen the dashboard:

openclaw gateway restart
openclaw dashboard

What to do next

• OPENCLAW_HOME — home directory for internal path resolution
• OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR — override the state directory
• OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH — override the config file path

Full reference: Environment variables.

Related

• Install overview
• Channels overview
• Setup

Source: docs/start/getting-started.md