Part 3: Deployment and Setup — AI Lobster-Raising Guide: OpenClaw from Beginner to Advanced

For beginners, the best deployment is usually not the most powerful one. It is the one you can get working today without turning setup into a week-long project.

01 Deployment Paths at a Glance

OpenClaw is commonly deployed in a few broad ways:

Option	Best for	Cost feel	Difficulty
Local `npm` install	Developers, macOS/Linux users	Low	Low
Docker	Users comfortable with containers	Low	Medium
Alibaba Cloud	Mainland China beginners	Very low	Very low
Tencent Cloud	QQ / WeCom ecosystem users	Low	Very low
Baidu Cloud	Low-cost trial users	Very low	Very low
Huawei Cloud	Enterprise and compliance scenarios	Medium	Medium
Volcengine	Feishu-heavy teams	Low	Low
Coze Code	People who do not want to manage servers	Low	Very low
Railway / Zeabur	Overseas developers	Low to medium	Very low

The most important economic lesson is that server cost is often not the main cost driver. Model usage usually is.

02 Local Installation

Local install is ideal when you want to fully understand the environment and keep everything under direct control.

Requirements

Item	Requirement
Node.js	`>= 22`
Package manager	`npm`, `pnpm`, or `bun`
macOS	Xcode Command Line Tools recommended
Linux	Standard build tooling
Windows	WSL2 strongly recommended

Recommended install

npm install -g openclaw@latest
openclaw onboard --install-daemon

If you want an install script:

curl -sSL https://get.openclaw.ai | bash

Platform notes

On macOS, run xcode-select --install
On Windows, prefer WSL2 instead of native Windows execution
The daemon keeps OpenClaw alive in the background

Typically that means:

launchd on macOS
systemd on Linux

03 Docker Deployment

Docker is the safest path when you want isolation, portability, or long-running server deployment.

Quick start

git clone https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw.git
cd openclaw
docker-compose up -d

Image variants

Variant	Purpose	Good for
Standard	Full feature set	Most users
`slim`	Smaller image	Resource-constrained environments
`sandbox`	More isolated execution	Higher-risk workloads
`sandbox-browser`	Includes browser execution support	Browser automation

Persistent mounts

volumes:
  - ~/.openclaw:/root/.openclaw
  - ~/openclaw/workspace:/workspace

If you skip these mounts, state and workspace data can disappear when the container restarts.

Ports

ports:
  - "18789:18789"
  - "3000:3000"

18789 for Gateway / WebSocket
3000 for Web UI

Podman works too:

podman-compose up -d

04 Cloud and Hosted Paths

If your priority is speed, a cloud template can be much easier than building everything by hand.

Common China-facing choices

Platform	Strength	Good fit
Alibaba Cloud	Strong community docs, low cost, mature templates	Most beginners in China
Tencent Cloud	Good QQ / WeCom fit	Office IM scenarios
Baidu Cloud	Very low-cost first experience	Cheap trial
Huawei Cloud	Better enterprise posture	Compliance-focused environments
Volcengine	Strong Feishu alignment	Feishu teams
Coze Code	No server maintenance	Zero-infra users

Common overseas choices

Platform	Strength
Railway	Extremely easy deployment
Zeabur	Friendly to multi-model failover
Sealos	Better for cloud-native and K8s-minded users

A practical selection guide

Zero to first success: Coze Code or Baidu Cloud
Low-friction but still controllable: Alibaba Cloud or Tencent Cloud
Container-first: Docker
Overseas deployment: Railway or Zeabur
Maximum local control: local install

05 First-Run Setup That Matters

Getting OpenClaw started is only step one. Several first-run settings really matter.

Run diagnostics first

openclaw doctor

If something seems wrong, start there.

Configure Gateway authentication

From v2026.3.7, Gateway authentication must be configured explicitly.

{
  "gateway": {
    "auth": {
      "mode": "token",
      "token": "your-secret-token"
    }
  }
}

You can also use password mode, but public unauthenticated exposure is not a serious option.

Update channels

openclaw update --channel stable
openclaw update --channel beta
openclaw update --channel dev

For most users:

stable is the default choice
beta is for early adopters
dev is for contributors and testers

First-run checklist

Gateway starts successfully
A model is configured and reachable
openclaw doctor has no critical errors
Authentication is enabled
Persistent directories are mounted or preserved
Your first channel config is ready

Once that is done, you move from “reading about OpenClaw” into actually operating it.