openclaw/docs/install/docker.md

summary	read_when	title
Optional Docker-based setup and onboarding for OpenClaw	You want a containerized Gateway instead of local installs You are validating the Docker flow You are migrating from ClawDock shell helpers	Docker

Docker is optional. Use it for an isolated, throwaway Gateway environment or a host without local installs. If you already develop on your own machine, use the normal install flow instead.

The default Docker sandbox backend uses only the docker CLI. Set the backend to "podman" to select native Podman directly. Sandboxing is off by default and does not require the Gateway itself to run in a container. SSH and OpenShell sandbox backends are also available; see Sandboxing.

Hosting multiple users? See Multi-tenant hosting for the one-cell-per-tenant model.

Prerequisites

• Docker Desktop (or Docker Engine) + Docker Compose v2
• At least 6 GB RAM for a local source image build; pre-built images avoid this build requirement
• Enough disk for images and logs
• On a VPS/public host, review Security hardening for network exposure, especially the Docker DOCKER-USER firewall chain

Containerized Gateway

From the repo root:

```bash
./scripts/docker/setup.sh
```

This builds the Gateway image locally as `openclaw:local`. To use a pre-built image instead:

```bash
export OPENCLAW_IMAGE="ghcr.io/openclaw/openclaw:latest"
./scripts/docker/setup.sh
```

Pre-built images are published first to the [GitHub Container Registry](https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/pkgs/container/openclaw). GHCR is the primary registry for release automation, pinned deployments, and provenance checks. The same release publishes a Docker Hub mirror at `openclaw/openclaw`:

```bash
export OPENCLAW_IMAGE="openclaw/openclaw:latest"
./scripts/docker/setup.sh
```

Use `ghcr.io/openclaw/openclaw` or `openclaw/openclaw` and avoid unofficial mirrors, which don't share OpenClaw's release timing or retention policy. Version-specific tags include releases such as `2026.9.3` and prereleases such as `2026.9.1-beta.1`. Stable releases move `latest` and `main`; trailing-month Gateway releases move only `extended-stable`. Variants include `slim`, `main-slim`, `extended-stable-slim`, `latest-browser`, `main-browser`, and `extended-stable-browser`. The default images bundle the `codex` and `diagnostics-otel` plugins. A `-browser` variant also ships with Chromium baked in for the [Gateway-controlled browser](/install/docker#using-the-control-ui-browser). The agent sandbox browser uses a separate image.

On offline hosts, transfer and load the image first:

```bash
docker load -i openclaw-image.tar
export OPENCLAW_IMAGE="ghcr.io/openclaw/openclaw:latest"
./scripts/docker/setup.sh --offline
```

`--offline` verifies `OPENCLAW_IMAGE` already exists locally, disables implicit Compose pulls/builds, then runs the normal flow: `.env` sync, permission fixes, onboarding, Gateway config sync, Compose startup.

If `OPENCLAW_SANDBOX=1`, offline setup also checks the configured default and per-agent sandbox images on the daemon behind `OPENCLAW_DOCKER_SOCKET`, including the browser-contract label on Docker-backed browser images. If a required image is missing or stale, setup exits without changing sandbox config rather than reporting a broken success.

The setup script runs onboarding automatically:

- prompts for provider API keys
- generates a Gateway token and writes it to `.env`
- creates the legacy auth-profile secret key directory
- starts the Gateway via Docker Compose

Pre-start onboarding and config writes run through `openclaw-gateway` directly (with `--no-deps --entrypoint node`), since `openclaw-cli` shares the Gateway's network namespace and only works once the Gateway container exists.

Open `http://127.0.0.1:18789/` and paste the token written to `.env` into Settings. If you switched the container to password auth, use that password instead.

Need the URL again?

```bash
docker compose run --rm openclaw-cli dashboard --no-open
```

With a custom `OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_PORT`, replace port `18789` in the printed URL with your host port before opening it in the browser; keep the rest of the URL intact. Dashboard commands inside either container use the internal listener port.

```bash # WhatsApp (QR) docker compose run --rm openclaw-cli channels login

# Telegram
docker compose run --rm openclaw-cli channels add --channel telegram --token "<token>"

# Discord
docker compose run --rm openclaw-cli channels add --channel discord --token "<token>"
```

Docs: [WhatsApp](/channels/whatsapp), [Telegram](/channels/telegram), [Discord](/channels/discord)

Using the Control UI browser

The Control UI Browser panel displays a browser controlled by the Gateway. It is separate from the browser on your laptop or phone that opens the dashboard. For a local managed browser with a Docker Gateway, Chromium must be available inside the Gateway container.

For a new installation, use the official browser-equipped image with the normal Compose setup; no custom Dockerfile is needed:

export OPENCLAW_IMAGE="ghcr.io/openclaw/openclaw:latest-browser"
./scripts/docker/setup.sh

For a pinned deployment, choose a release's -browser tag instead of the moving latest-browser tag. For an existing Compose installation, change OPENCLAW_IMAGE in its .env to the browser variant, then pull and recreate the Gateway using the same Compose files and overlays as your current deployment:

docker compose pull openclaw-gateway openclaw-cli
docker compose up -d openclaw-gateway

Keep your existing volumes, ports, and other settings. Do not rerun setup with an empty shell environment to change only the image: setup rewrites .env from the current shell and defaults.

An existing home volume or bind mount covering /home/node/.cache/ms-playwright can hide the image's bundled Chromium. If browser discovery still fails after the image switch, check those mounts. Preserve the data, then either provision Chromium in the mounted home or adjust the mounts to leave the image's browser cache visible; recreating the container does not refresh a populated home volume.

For a new installation from a local source build, bake Chromium into the image:

OPENCLAW_IMAGE=openclaw:local OPENCLAW_INSTALL_BROWSER=1 ./scripts/docker/setup.sh

This build-time option installs Chromium and Xvfb; setting it on an already-built container does not install a browser.

The image supplies Chromium, not a replacement for your browser configuration:

• Keep browser control enabled (browser.enabled). Use a local managed profile such as openclaw for the container's Chromium, not an extension, attach-only, or remote-CDP profile intended for another browser.
• OpenClaw auto-detects the image's Playwright-managed Chromium on Linux. An explicit browser.executablePath or profile executable path must point to a binary inside the container; a path from your laptop will not work there.
• A headless container needs headless browser operation. Check explicit browser.headless, profile headless settings, and OPENCLAW_BROWSER_HEADLESS overrides if startup reports a missing display. See Browser configuration.
• Connect with operator.admin access to a Gateway advertising browser.request. Open + → Browser in the Chat side panel, navigate to a page, and confirm that its snapshot loads and navigation works. Loading the dashboard alone does not verify that Chromium can start.

This is not the separate sandboxed browser container used by sandboxed agent sessions. Selecting a Gateway -browser image does not build or configure that sandbox image.

Headless bootstrap

For an unattended container host, put provider, Gateway, and channel credentials in the Compose .env file so both the one-shot bootstrap container and the long-running Gateway receive the same values:

OPENAI_API_KEY=<provider-key>
OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN=<gateway-token>
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=<bot-token>

Run onboarding and channel provisioning without a pseudo-TTY, then start the Gateway:

docker compose run -T --rm --no-deps --entrypoint node openclaw-gateway \
  dist/index.js onboard --non-interactive --accept-risk --skip-health \
  --mode local \
  --auth-choice openai-api-key \
  --secret-input-mode ref \
  --gateway-auth token \
  --gateway-token-ref-env OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN \
  --skip-channels \
  --no-install-daemon
docker compose run -T --rm --no-deps --entrypoint node openclaw-gateway \
  dist/index.js channels add --channel telegram --use-env
docker compose up -d openclaw-gateway

The channel command fails before changing config if a plugin-declared environment variable is missing. Keep TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN in .env after bootstrap: --use-env leaves credential lookup to the environment without copying the token into openclaw.json, and the running Gateway needs the same variable. When channel config changes after startup, the Gateway's config watcher hot-reloads the affected channel automatically.

See openclaw channels for credential-flag alternatives and other channel plugins.

Manual flow

BUILD_GIT_COMMIT="$(git rev-parse HEAD)"
BUILD_TIMESTAMP="$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)"
docker build \
  --build-arg "GIT_COMMIT=${BUILD_GIT_COMMIT}" \
  --build-arg "OPENCLAW_BUILD_TIMESTAMP=${BUILD_TIMESTAMP}" \
  -t openclaw:local -f Dockerfile .
docker compose run --rm --no-deps --entrypoint node openclaw-gateway \
  dist/index.js onboard --mode local --no-install-daemon
docker compose run --rm --no-deps --entrypoint node openclaw-gateway \
  dist/index.js config set --batch-json '[{"path":"gateway.mode","value":"local"},{"path":"gateway.bind","value":"lan"},{"path":"gateway.controlUi.allowedOrigins","value":["http://localhost:18789","http://127.0.0.1:18789"]}]'
docker compose up -d openclaw-gateway

The Docker context excludes .git. Pass the source identity as build arguments as shown above so the image's About screen reports the checked-out commit and one build timestamp. scripts/docker/setup.sh resolves and passes both values automatically.

Run `docker compose` from the repo root. If you enabled `OPENCLAW_EXTRA_MOUNTS` or `OPENCLAW_HOME_VOLUME`, the setup script writes `docker-compose.extra.yml`; include it after any `docker-compose.override.yml` you maintain yourself, e.g. `-f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.override.yml -f docker-compose.extra.yml`.

Upgrading container images

When you replace the OpenClaw image but keep the same mounted state/config, the new Gateway runs startup-safe upgrade migrations and plugin convergence before readiness. Routine image upgrades should not require a separate openclaw doctor --fix pass.

If startup cannot complete those repairs safely, the Gateway exits instead of reporting healthy. With a restart policy, Docker, Podman, or Kubernetes may show the Gateway container restarting. Keep the mounted state volume, then run the same image once with openclaw doctor --fix as the container command, using the same state/config mounts the Gateway uses:

docker run --rm -v <openclaw-state>:/home/node/.openclaw <image> openclaw doctor --fix
podman run --rm -v <openclaw-state>:/home/node/.openclaw <image> openclaw doctor --fix

After doctor finishes, restart the Gateway container with its default command. In Kubernetes, run the same command in a one-off Job or debug pod mounted to the same PVC, then restart the Deployment or StatefulSet.

After the container is running again, run the read-only deployment preflight against the same mounted state:

docker compose run --rm openclaw-cli doctor --json

Source-built images with selected plugins

OPENCLAW_EXTENSIONS selects plugin manifest ids from the source checkout; existing source-directory names are also accepted when they differ. The Docker build resolves the selection to source directories once, installs production dependencies, links each selected plugin's own runtime dependencies under its packaged root in /app/dist/extensions/<id>, and includes the selected plugin runtime in the image. Source checkouts also compile first-party plugins published separately with openclaw.build.bundledDist: false; that marker still preserves the plugin's external npm or ClawHub ownership and does not change either artifact contract. Unknown, invalid, or ambiguous ids fail the image build. This includes WhatsApp: OPENCLAW_EXTENSIONS=whatsapp compiles and packages its runtime. Ordinary source builds generate its runtime through the separate external-plugin build path; root npm artifacts continue to exclude it. Selected plugins must compile successfully; unselected external plugin source and runtime output are pruned.

For example, these commands build separate, multi-architecture standalone FakeCo Gateway images for ClickClack, Slack, and Microsoft Teams. ClawRouter is already part of the root OpenClaw runtime, so the ClickClack image selects only clickclack. The explicit empty browser argument keeps the default image free of Chromium:

SOURCE_SHA="$(git rev-parse HEAD)"
BUILD_TIMESTAMP="$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)"
REGISTRY="registry.example.com/fakeco"

build_gateway_image() {
  gateway="$1"
  selected_plugin="$2"
  docker buildx build \
    --platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 \
    --build-arg "GIT_COMMIT=${SOURCE_SHA}" \
    --build-arg "OPENCLAW_BUILD_TIMESTAMP=${BUILD_TIMESTAMP}" \
    --build-arg "OPENCLAW_EXTENSIONS=${selected_plugin}" \
    --build-arg OPENCLAW_INSTALL_BROWSER= \
    --provenance=mode=max \
    --sbom=true \
    --tag "${REGISTRY}/openclaw-${gateway}:${SOURCE_SHA}" \
    --push \
    .
}

build_gateway_image clickclack clickclack
build_gateway_image slack slack
build_gateway_image teams msteams

Use --platform linux/arm64 --load or --platform linux/amd64 --load for a single native local build. Multi-platform output and attached SBOM/provenance require a registry or another Buildx output that preserves attestations. After pushing, inspect the manifest and deploy the immutable digest rather than the mutable source-SHA tag:

docker buildx imagetools inspect \
  "${REGISTRY}/openclaw-clickclack:${SOURCE_SHA}"
# Deploy: registry.example.com/fakeco/openclaw-clickclack@sha256:<manifest-digest>

These images are for standalone OCI-based Gateways and generic Docker users. Crabhelm-managed Gateways do not consume them: that delivery path builds a separate x86_64 appliance archive containing an OpenClaw npm tarball and pins the Node, archive, and manifest digests. Build that appliance independently from the same landed OpenClaw source.

To test bundled plugin source against a packaged image, mount one plugin source directory over its packaged source path, e.g. OPENCLAW_EXTRA_MOUNTS=/path/to/fork/extensions/synology-chat:/app/extensions/synology-chat:ro. That overrides the matching compiled /app/dist/extensions/synology-chat bundle for the same plugin id. Restart the Gateway after adding or changing a mount; runtime loading and setup use the mounted source.

Observability

OpenTelemetry export is outbound from the Gateway container to your OTLP collector; it needs no published Docker port. To include the bundled exporter in a locally built image:

export OPENCLAW_EXTENSIONS="diagnostics-otel"
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT="http://otel-collector:4318"
export OTEL_SERVICE_NAME="openclaw-gateway"
./scripts/docker/setup.sh

Official prebuilt images already bundle diagnostics-otel; install clawhub:@openclaw/diagnostics-otel yourself only if you removed it. To enable export, allow and enable the diagnostics-otel plugin in config, then set diagnostics.otel.enabled=true (see the full example in OpenTelemetry export). Collector auth headers go through diagnostics.otel.headers, not Docker environment variables.

Prometheus metrics reuse the already-published Gateway port. Install clawhub:@openclaw/diagnostics-prometheus, enable the diagnostics-prometheus plugin, then scrape:

http://<gateway-host>:18789/api/diagnostics/prometheus

The route is protected by Gateway authentication; don't expose a separate public /metrics port or unauthenticated reverse-proxy path. See Prometheus metrics.

Health checks

Container probe endpoints (no auth required):

curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:18789/healthz   # liveness
curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:18789/startupz  # startup and traffic admission
curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:18789/readyz    # deep, channel-aware readiness

The image's built-in HEALTHCHECK pings /healthz; repeated failures mark the container unhealthy so orchestrators can restart or replace it. Use /startupz for an orchestrator startup or readiness probe so a failed channel account does not remove the otherwise healthy Gateway and Control UI from service. Use /readyz for monitoring that intentionally treats hard channel failures as not ready. See Health checks for response details.

Authenticated deep health snapshot:

docker compose exec openclaw-gateway sh -lc 'node dist/index.js gateway health --token "$OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN"'

Detailed topics

The full variable table, apt/pip build extras, and build-memory tuning. LAN vs loopback, host.docker.internal, Claude CLI, Bonjour, and mounted state. Compose command table, sandbox/CI/DNS/EACCES accordions, and image refreshes. Enabling the agent sandbox plus the Docker troubleshooting accordions.

• Environment variables
• LAN vs loopback
• Host local providers
• Claude CLI backend in Docker
• Bonjour / mDNS
• Storage and persistence
• ClawDock migration
  • Enable agent sandbox for Docker gateway
  • Automation / CI (non-interactive)
  • Shared-network security note
  • Docker Desktop DNS failures in openclaw-cli
  • Permissions and EACCES
  • Faster rebuilds
  • Power-user container options
  • OpenAI Codex OAuth (headless Docker)
  • Base image metadata
• Image contents and security scanning
• Weekly image refreshes
• Running on a VPS?
• Agent sandbox
  • Quick enable
• Troubleshooting
  • Image missing or sandbox container not starting
  • Permission errors in sandbox
  • Custom tools not found in sandbox
  • OOM-killed during image build (exit 137)
  • Unauthorized or pairing required in Control UI
  • Gateway target shows ws://172.x.x.x or pairing errors from Docker CLI

Related

• Install Overview — all installation methods
• Podman — Podman alternative to Docker
• Kubernetes — a minimal Kustomize starting point for running the Gateway on a cluster
• Ansible — automated server deployment with Tailscale VPN and firewall isolation
• Cloudflare Containers — experimental Worker plus container deployment with Litestream backups to R2
• Updating — keeping OpenClaw up to date
• Configuration — Gateway configuration after install