You're making coffee when you receive a Slack message requesting your quarterly report. The report is right there on your home computer. You text on WhatsApp: "Find the Q4 report PDF on my computer." Thirty seconds later, you have the link and can point your colleagues to the shared drive. That's OpenClaw.
OpenClaw operates a local port connecting messaging applications to a Claude-powered programming agent. You send messages via WhatsApp, Telegram, or the terminal, and the agent responds by running commands on your computer: searching for files, executing scripts, and reading logs. This port remains running on your computer and handles switching between chat and the shell.
This guide will show you how to set up OpenClaw from scratch and explore the many tasks you can perform with it.
OpenClaw Setup Guide: Prerequisites and Installation
Now, let's learn how to set up OpenClaw.
System requirements and API costs
OpenClaw requires Node.js 22 or later and runs on macOS and Linux. Windows users need WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux), which works well but adds an extra setup step.
Minimal hardware requirements. Gateway operates with low CPU and memory usage. Any machine capable of running a modern browser can run OpenClaw.
OpenClaw itself is free and open source (MIT license). Costs come from API tokens. Anthropic charges per million tokens: approximately $3 for input and $15 for output with Claude Sonnet, higher with Opus. What does that mean in practice?
- Low usage (a few trades per day): $10 - $30/month
- Moderate usage (frequent file tasks, research): $30 - $70/month
- High usage (continuous automation, long sessions): $70 - $150/month
These numbers vary depending on the prompt's granularity and context size. If you have a Claude Pro or Max subscription, you can generate setup tokens through the Claude Code CLI and use your subscription instead of paying for each token.
Step-by-step guide to installing OpenClaw
Run the installation script:
curl -fsSL https://molt.bot/install.sh | bash
After installation, the setup wizard will automatically launch. The first thing you'll see is a security warning. The wizard links to documentation about the sandbox if you want to limit what the agent can do.
The wizard offers QuickStart (reasonable default settings) or Advanced (full control). QuickStart is suitable for most people.
Next, select your model provider. If you have a Claude Max or Pro subscription, select the setup-token option. Open a separate terminal window and run the command `Claude setup-token`, then paste the generated token into the wizard.
To set up a channel, select WhatsApp and scan the QR code with your phone ( Settings → Linked Devices → Link a Device ). Other channels such as Telegram and Discord are also available.
The wizard will then ask about configuring Skills. Skills extend the capabilities of OpenClaw, but they require additional dependencies.
Skip this step to keep the initial setup simple.
Note : Use the Space key to toggle options, then press Enter to confirm.
After skipping the hook configuration, the Gateway service will be installed automatically. The wizard will ask you how you want to "initialize" your bot. The TUI (Terminal User Interface) option will open both the terminal chat interface and the web console.
Now, try WhatsApp. Send yourself a message. Your question and OpenClaw's response will appear in all three places: Terminal, the web interface, and WhatsApp.
If you see feedback on all three interfaces, it means the system is working.
OpenClaw in action: Built-in capabilities
It only takes 10 minutes to set up and you'll have a working agent. The following examples show what OpenClaw can do right from the start.
Example 1: Find and send a hidden screenshot.
Imagine you're away from home and realize you forgot to send a file to yourself. That file is on your laptop at home.
The author tested this scenario using a screenshot taken during the setup process, showing the initial response from OpenClaw. The file, with its generic name, was mixed in with dozens of other images in the Downloads folder.
Message sent to OpenClaw:
Tôi có một ảnh chụp màn hình trong thư mục Downloads của mình về một cuộc trò chuyện WhatsApp. Bạn có thể tìm và gửi nó đến đây không?The agent analyzed each image individually. When it found a matching file, it sent it back via the chat window.
When the agent first accesses the Downloads folder, macOS requests permission. If you plan to use OpenClaw remotely, grant Full Disk Access permission first.
Example 2: Disk space reporting using a chart
Next, imagine a colleague is about to send you a large document via Dropbox . Before they do, you want to make sure your computer has enough space to download it. You could search in Finder or run commands in the terminal, but you're using your phone on a weekend trip and want a quick response.
Message sent to OpenClaw:
Kiểm tra dung lượng ổ đĩa của tôi và tạo báo cáo PDF với biểu đồ (được tạo bằng Python) hiển thị mức sử dụng theo thư mục.This task requires several steps: scanning the file system, aggregating sizes by directory, writing Python code to create the chart, and exporting everything to PDF.
The answer you need: 94GB of free space. The PDF file includes a pie chart and a bar chart showing the allocation. OpenClaw also points out that the Library folder is the biggest culprit with approximately 300GB.
OpenClaw tends to be quite cautious. Give the same request to Claude Code or another code analysis tool, and they will handle it in great detail. You can get dozens of graphs with deep directory analyses.
Here, OpenClaw has provided a concise solution: Two charts, top-level directories. If you want more detail, please ask explicitly.