#deployment #docker #multi-agent #browser

Openclaw Genie

Use when the user asks about OpenClaw — installation, configuration, agents, channels, memory, tools, hooks, skills, deployment, Docker, multi-agent, OAuth, gateway, CLI, browser, exec, PDF, voice, secrets, sandboxing, sessions, cron, webhooks, heartbeat, sub-agents, nodes, companion devices, canvas, camera, or messaging platform integration.

Fabricio Cavalcante@fcsouza

Install

openclaw skills install @fcsouza/openclaw-genie

OpenClaw Genie

OpenClaw is a self-hosted personal AI agent gateway (MIT license, open source). It connects LLM agents to 22+ messaging platforms natively (WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack, Signal, iMessage, MS Teams, Matrix, and more) with 50+ integrations (Gmail, GitHub, Obsidian, Spotify, and more) through a single Gateway process. All data stays local.

Quick Start

bash

# One-liner install (macOS/Linux, requires Node 22+)
curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash

# Or via npm
npm install -g openclaw@latest

# Interactive setup — gateway, workspace, channels, skills
openclaw onboard --install-daemon

# Verify
openclaw status
openclaw gateway status

Web Control UI: http://127.0.0.1:18789/

Core Architecture

text

Channels (WhatsApp, Discord, Telegram, Slack, Signal, …)
        ↓
    Gateway  ← WebSocket control plane (port 18789), single source of truth
        ↓
    Agents   ← isolated workspaces, sessions, memory, tools
        ↓
    Tools    ← exec, browser, skills, hooks, messaging, sub-agents
        ↓
    Nodes    ← companion devices (macOS/iOS/Android): camera, canvas, screen

Gateway: Multiplexed port (WebSocket + HTTP + Control UI). Hot-reloads config.
Agents: Fully isolated — own workspace, session store, memory, auth profiles, sandbox.
Channels: 22+ native adapters run simultaneously. Deterministic routing: replies return to origin.
Nodes: Paired companion devices that expose canvas.*, camera.*, screen.*, device.*, notifications.* via node.invoke.
Sessions: Key format agent:<agentId>:<channel>:<scope>:<chatId>. DM scopes: main, per-peer, per-channel-peer, per-account-channel-peer.

Agent Configuration

Workspace files in ~/.openclaw/workspace/ (default agent) or ~/.openclaw/workspace-<agentId>/:

File	Purpose
`SOUL.md`	Agent personality and system prompt
`IDENTITY.md`	Name, emoji, avatar
`USER.md`	User profile information
`MEMORY.md`	Curated long-term memory
`memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md`	Daily append-only session logs
`TOOLS.md`	Tool usage guidance
`BOOTSTRAP.md`	One-time init tasks (deleted after first run)
`HEARTBEAT.md`	Periodic check-in instructions

Bootstrap injection: IDENTITY → SOUL → USER → MEMORY → daily log → skills → session. Limits: 20,000 chars/file, 150,000 chars total (configurable).

Multi-agent config uses agents.list[] and bindings[] in openclaw.json (see references/multi-agent.md).

Configuration — openclaw.json

Location: ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (JSON5 — comments and trailing commas OK).

jsonc

{
  "models": {           // primary, fallbacks, aliases, image model
    "primary": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5",
    "fallbacks": ["openai/gpt-4o"]
  },
  "channels": { },      // discord, telegram, whatsapp, slack, signal, …
  "agents": { },        // list, defaults, bindings, broadcast, subagents
  "tools": { },         // profiles, allow/deny, loop detection, exec config
  "skills": { },        // entries, load dirs, install manager
  "browser": { },       // profiles, SSRF policy, executable path
  "sandbox": { },       // mode (off/non-main/all), scope, Docker hardening
  "gateway": { },       // port, auth, discovery, binding
  "automation": { },    // cron, webhooks, heartbeat
  "hooks": { },         // internal hooks config
  "session": { },       // dmScope, resets, sendPolicy, maintenance
  "auth": { }           // OAuth profiles, key rotation, order
}

Env vars: ~/.openclaw/.env, ${VAR} substitution in config strings.
$include: Nested file inclusion (up to 10 levels).
Hot reload: hybrid mode (default) — safe changes hot-apply, critical ones auto-restart. Debounce 300ms.
Strict validation: Unknown keys prevent Gateway startup.

For full reference, read references/configuration.md.

Channels Quick Reference

Channel	Setup	Notes
Discord	`openclaw channels add discord`	Bot API + Gateway; servers, DMs, threads, slash commands, voice
Telegram	`openclaw channels add telegram`	grammY; groups, forums, inline buttons, webhook mode
WhatsApp	`openclaw channels add whatsapp`	Baileys; QR pairing, media, polls
Slack	`openclaw channels add slack`	Bolt SDK; socket or HTTP mode, native streaming
Signal	`openclaw channels add signal`	signal-cli; privacy-focused, auto-daemon
iMessage	`openclaw channels add bluebubbles`	BlueBubbles; reactions, edits, groups
Google Chat	`openclaw channels add googlechat`	HTTP webhook app
IRC	`openclaw channels add irc`	NickServ, channels + DMs
MS Teams	`openclaw plugins install @openclaw/msteams`	Adaptive Cards, polls
Matrix	`openclaw plugins install @openclaw/matrix`	E2EE, threads, rooms
Mattermost	`openclaw plugins install @openclaw/mattermost`	Self-hosted
Nextcloud Talk	`openclaw plugins install @openclaw/nextcloud-talk`	Self-hosted
WebChat	Built-in web UI	Browser-based access at gateway URL

Access control: DM policy (pairing/allowlist/open/disabled), group policy, mention gating. Multi-account per channel supported.

For per-channel details, read references/channels.md.

Memory System

Daily logs: memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md — today + yesterday loaded at session start
Long-term: MEMORY.md — curated facts, decisions, preferences (private sessions only)
Tools: memory_search (vector recall, ~400-token chunks) and memory_get (file reads)
Hybrid search: BM25 (exact tokens) + vector (semantic) with configurable weights
Post-processing: MMR deduplication (lambda 0.7) + temporal decay (30-day half-life)
Providers: auto-selects local → OpenAI → Gemini → Voyage → Mistral
QMD backend: Optional local-first sidecar (BM25 + vectors + reranking)
Auto flush: Silent agentic turn before context compaction preserves important memories

For full memory config, read references/memory.md.

Tools Overview

Tool	Purpose
`exec`	Shell commands (sandbox/gateway/node hosts)
`process`	Background process management
`browser`	Chromium automation (navigate, click, type, screenshot)
`web_search`	Brave Search API queries
`web_fetch`	URL → markdown extraction
`memory_search`	Semantic vector search over memory
`memory_get`	Direct memory file reads
`message`	Cross-channel messaging (send, react, thread, pin, poll)
`sessions_spawn`	Sub-agent runs (one-shot or persistent, up to depth 5)
`canvas`	Node Canvas UI (HTML display on connected devices)
`nodes`	Paired device control: camera snap/clip, screen record, notifications, canvas A2UI
`pdf`	Native PDF analysis (up to 10 PDFs, Anthropic/Google native mode, extraction fallback)

Access control: Profiles (minimal, coding, messaging, full), allow/deny lists, tool groups (group:fs, group:runtime, group:sessions, group:web, group:ui, group:automation). Default profile (since v2026.3.2): onboarding defaults to messaging (not coding).

For full tools, skills, and hooks reference, read references/tools.md.

Hooks & Automation

Hooks — event-driven TypeScript handlers in <workspace>/hooks/:

Event	Trigger
`command:new/reset/stop`	Session lifecycle
`agent:bootstrap`	Pre-injection (can mutate bootstrap files)
`gateway:startup`	After channels load
`message:received/sent`	Message lifecycle
`tool_result_persist`	Synchronous tool result transform

Automation — built into Gateway:

Cron: Scheduled jobs (cron expressions, intervals, one-shot). Isolated or main-session.
Webhooks: /hooks/wake (system events), /hooks/agent (isolated turns), custom mapped endpoints.
Heartbeat: Periodic check-ins (default 30min), batches multiple checks per turn.

Voice — macOS/iOS wake word + talk mode overlay; continuous voice on Android with ElevenLabs or system TTS; OpenAI-compatible STT endpoint (messages.tts.openai.baseUrl).

Deployment Options