Install & Set Up Clawdbot (Now OpenClaw) — Your Own AI Agent

A complete walkthrough for installing Clawdbot — now officially rebranded to OpenClaw (formerly Moltbot) — the viral autonomous AI assistant that works while you sleep.

Before You Start

Prerequisites

Make sure you have the following ready before starting the installation:

A Cloud VPS Running Ubuntu/Linux with SSH access. If you don't have one yet, check out our VPS setup guide.

Anthropic API Key Get one from console.anthropic.com. You'll need a payment method on file.

Terminal Access SSH into your VPS from your PC or connect via Termius on your phone.

WhatsApp (Optional) If you want to control your bot via WhatsApp, have your phone ready to scan a QR code.

Step 1

Install Node.js & OpenClaw

OpenClaw requires Node.js 22 or higher. SSH into your VPS and run the following commands to install Node.js:

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | bash -
apt-get install -y nodejs

Verify the installation:

node --version

Now install OpenClaw globally:

npm install -g openclaw@latest

Once installed, launch the onboarding wizard:

openclaw onboard --install-daemon

You'll see the OpenClaw banner and a security warning. Read it carefully, then select Yes to continue.

OpenClaw onboarding launch and security warning

Step 2

Select Onboarding Mode

You'll be asked to choose between QuickStart and Manual mode. Select QuickStart — it sets sensible defaults and you can configure advanced settings later with openclaw configure.

Use arrow keys to navigate the menu options and press Enter to select.

QuickStart will automatically configure your gateway port, bind address, and auth settings.

Step 3

Choose Your AI Model Provider

OpenClaw supports multiple AI providers. Select Anthropic from the list — it's the recommended choice for autonomous agent tasks.

Step 4

Authenticate with Your API Key

Select Anthropic API key as your auth method.

Paste in your Anthropic API key when prompted. You can get your key from console.anthropic.com/settings/keys.

Keep your API key private. Never share it publicly or commit it to a repository.

Step 5

Select Your Default Model

Keep the default: anthropic/claude-opus-4-5. It's the strongest model available and recommended for autonomous agent tasks that require complex reasoning.

You can change the model later or set up a hybrid routing system where simple tasks use cheaper models and complex tasks use Opus.

Step 6

Connect a Communication Channel

OpenClaw supports over 15 messaging platforms. Select WhatsApp to control your bot from your phone — it's the most popular choice.

Confirm to link WhatsApp. The wizard will display a QR code.

Scan the QR Code

On your phone, open WhatsApp > Settings > Linked Devices > Link a Device, then scan the QR code displayed in your terminal.

Have your phone ready before the QR code appears — it times out quickly. If it expires, see the troubleshooting section below.

After scanning, enter your WhatsApp phone number (with country code) so OpenClaw can allowlist you as the owner.

Enter WhatsApp phone number and skip skills

WhatsApp Troubleshooting

If the QR code times out during onboarding or doesn't render properly, don't worry — you can link WhatsApp separately after onboarding is complete.

The working command to link WhatsApp:

openclaw channels login

This will display a fresh QR code in your terminal. Scan it with WhatsApp > Settings > Linked Devices > Link a Device.

After linking, restart the gateway to activate the connection:

openclaw gateway restart

You should see a confirmation message that WhatsApp is connected.

Commands that don't work:
openclaw whatsapp link — returns "unknown command whatsapp"
openclaw channel add whatsapp — may not exist in all versions

The correct command is openclaw channels login.

QR code not displaying? The QR code may not render in the TUI or web UI. Always use a direct terminal session (SSH) to run openclaw channels login for the best results.

Step 7

Skills & Hooks (Skip for Now)

The wizard will ask if you want to configure skills (plugins like file management, web browsing, etc.) and hooks (automated scripts triggered by events).

Select No for skills and Skip for now for hooks. You can add these later once your bot is up and running:

openclaw configure skills
openclaw configure hooks

Step 8

Hatch Your Bot

The final step — choose how to launch your bot. Select Hatch in TUI (recommended) to open the terminal interface where you can interact with your bot directly.

Your Bot is Alive

OpenClaw will launch and your bot will greet you with "Wake up, my friend!" — it's asking you to define its identity. This is where you give it:

A name — what you want to call your bot
A personality — sharp and efficient, warm and chatty, or something custom
Your name — so it knows how to address you
Your full prompt — detailed instructions on what it should do autonomously

If you have a long prompt, save it as a text file on your VPS (e.g., /root/prompt.txt) and tell the bot: "Read my prompt from /root/prompt.txt and use that as your instructions." This avoids paste issues in SSH terminals.

Next Steps

What's Next?

Fix WhatsApp — If your QR code timed out, run openclaw channels login then openclaw gateway restart to reconnect.
Add skills — Enable web browsing, file management, and more with openclaw configure skills.
Set up persona — Refine your bot's personality with openclaw configure persona.
Run a security audit — Keep things locked down with openclaw security audit --deep.
Use tmux — Run OpenClaw inside a tmux session so it stays alive when you disconnect. See our VPS guide for tmux setup.

OpenClaw is still in beta. Always review what your bot does before pushing anything live. Set clear boundaries in your prompt — tell it to create PRs for review rather than deploying directly.

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