getting-started beginner 5 minutes

Quick Start Guide - Install OpenClaw in 5 Minutes

Get OpenClaw up and running quickly with this streamlined installation guide for beginners.

By CoClaw Team •

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

  • Node.js 22+ (Node 22 LTS recommended) installed on your system
  • A terminal or command prompt
  • Basic familiarity with command-line tools

Installation Steps

1. Install Node.js

If you don’t have Node.js installed, download it from nodejs.org.

# Verify Node.js installation
node --version

2. Install OpenClaw

# Using npm
npm install -g openclaw@latest

# Or using pnpm (recommended)
pnpm add -g openclaw@latest

3. Run the Setup Wizard

openclaw onboard --install-daemon

This creates your config at ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json and installs a per-user Gateway service.

4. Open the Dashboard

openclaw dashboard

You can also open http://127.0.0.1:18789/. If you see “unauthorized”, run openclaw dashboard and use the tokenized link it prints (?token=...).

Next Steps

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues: