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241 lines
8.4 KiB
Markdown
241 lines
8.4 KiB
Markdown
---
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summary: "OpenClaw is a multi-channel gateway for AI agents that runs on any OS."
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read_when:
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- Introducing OpenClaw to newcomers
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title: "OpenClaw"
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---
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# OpenClaw 🦞
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<p align="center">
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<img
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src="/assets/openclaw-hero-light.png"
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alt="OpenClaw"
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width="500"
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class="dark:hidden"
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/>
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<img
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src="/assets/openclaw-hero-dark.png"
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alt="OpenClaw"
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width="500"
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class="hidden dark:block"
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/>
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</p>
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> _"EXFOLIATE! EXFOLIATE!"_ — A space lobster, probably
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<p align="center">
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<strong>Any OS gateway for AI agents across Discord, Google Chat, iMessage, Matrix, Microsoft Teams, Signal, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, Zalo, and more.</strong><br />
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Send a message, get an agent response from your pocket. Run one Gateway across channel plugins, WebChat, and mobile nodes.
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</p>
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<Columns>
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<Card title="Get Started" href="/start/getting-started" icon="rocket">
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Install OpenClaw and bring up the Gateway in minutes.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Run Onboarding" href="/start/wizard" icon="list-checks">
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Guided setup with `openclaw onboard` and pairing flows.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Connect a Channel" href="/channels" icon="message-circle">
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Link Discord, Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp, and more to chat from anywhere.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Open the Control UI" href="/web/control-ui" icon="layout-dashboard">
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Launch the browser dashboard for chat, config, and sessions.
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</Card>
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</Columns>
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## Browse docs
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Mobile browsers may show the section menu without the full desktop tab bar. Use
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these hub links to reach the same top-level docs areas from the page body.
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<Columns>
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<Card title="Get started" href="/" icon="rocket">
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Overview, showcase, first steps, and setup guides.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Install" href="/install" icon="download">
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Install paths, updates, containers, hosting, and advanced setup.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Channels" href="/channels" icon="messages-square">
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Messaging channels, pairing, routing, access groups, and channel QA.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Agents" href="/concepts/architecture" icon="bot">
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Architecture, sessions, context, memory, and multi-agent routing.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Capabilities" href="/tools" icon="wand-sparkles">
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Tools, skills, cron, webhooks, and automation capabilities.
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</Card>
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<Card title="ClawHub" href="/clawhub" icon="store">
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Plugin marketplace, publishing, curation, and trust guidance.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Models" href="/providers" icon="brain">
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Providers, model configuration, failover, and local model services.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Platforms" href="/platforms" icon="monitor-smartphone">
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macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, nodes, and web surfaces.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Gateway & Ops" href="/gateway" icon="server">
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Gateway configuration, security, diagnostics, and operations.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Reference" href="/cli" icon="terminal">
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CLI reference, schemas, RPC, release notes, and templates.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Help" href="/help" icon="life-buoy">
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Troubleshooting, FAQs, testing, diagnostics, and environment checks.
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</Card>
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</Columns>
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## What is OpenClaw?
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OpenClaw is a **self-hosted gateway** that connects your favorite chat apps — Discord, Google Chat, iMessage, Matrix, Microsoft Teams, Signal, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, Zalo, and more via channel plugins — to AI coding agents. You run a single Gateway process on your own machine (or a server), and it becomes the bridge between your messaging apps and an always-available AI assistant.
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**Who is it for?** Developers and power users who want a personal AI assistant they can message from anywhere — without giving up control of their data or relying on a hosted service.
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**What makes it different?**
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- **Self-hosted**: runs on your hardware, your rules
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- **Multi-channel**: one Gateway serves every configured channel plugin simultaneously
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- **Agent-native**: built for coding agents with tool use, sessions, memory, and multi-agent routing
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- **Open source**: MIT licensed, community-driven
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**What do you need?** Node 24.15+ (recommended), Node 22 LTS (`22.22.3+`) for compatibility, or Node 25.9+, an API key from your chosen provider, and 5 minutes. For best quality and security, use the strongest latest-generation model available.
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## How it works
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```mermaid
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flowchart LR
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A["Chat apps + plugins"] --> B["Gateway"]
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B --> C["OpenClaw agent"]
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B --> D["CLI"]
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B --> E["Web Control UI"]
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B --> F["macOS app"]
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B --> G["iOS and Android nodes"]
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```
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The Gateway is the single source of truth for sessions, routing, and channel connections.
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## Key capabilities
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<Columns>
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<Card title="Multi-channel gateway" icon="network" href="/channels">
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Discord, iMessage, Signal, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, WebChat, and more with a single Gateway process.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Plugin channels" icon="plug" href="/tools/plugin">
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Channel plugins add Matrix, Nostr, Twitch, Zalo, and more; official plugins install on demand.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Multi-agent routing" icon="route" href="/concepts/multi-agent">
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Isolated sessions per agent, workspace, or sender.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Media support" icon="image" href="/nodes/images">
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Send and receive images, audio, and documents.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Web Control UI" icon="monitor" href="/web/control-ui">
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Browser dashboard for chat, config, sessions, and nodes.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Mobile nodes" icon="smartphone" href="/nodes">
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Pair iOS and Android nodes for Canvas, camera, and voice-enabled workflows.
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</Card>
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</Columns>
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## Quick start
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<Steps>
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<Step title="Install OpenClaw">
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```bash
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npm install -g openclaw@latest
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```
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</Step>
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<Step title="Onboard and install the service">
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```bash
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openclaw onboard --install-daemon
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```
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</Step>
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<Step title="Chat">
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Open the Control UI in your browser and send a message:
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```bash
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openclaw dashboard
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```
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Or connect a channel ([Telegram](/channels/telegram) is fastest) and chat from your phone.
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</Step>
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</Steps>
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Need the full install and dev setup? See [Getting Started](/start/getting-started).
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## Dashboard
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Open the browser Control UI after the Gateway starts.
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- Local default: [http://127.0.0.1:18789/](http://127.0.0.1:18789/)
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- Remote access: [Web surfaces](/web) and [Tailscale](/gateway/tailscale)
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<p align="center">
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<img src="/whatsapp-openclaw.jpg" alt="OpenClaw" width="420" />
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</p>
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## Configuration (optional)
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Config lives at `~/.openclaw/openclaw.json`.
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- If you **do nothing**, OpenClaw uses the bundled OpenClaw agent runtime; DMs share the agent's main session, and each group chat gets its own session.
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- If you want to lock it down, start with `channels.whatsapp.allowFrom` and (for groups) mention rules.
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Example:
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```json5
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{
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channels: {
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whatsapp: {
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allowFrom: ["+15555550123"],
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groups: { "*": { requireMention: true } },
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},
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},
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messages: { groupChat: { mentionPatterns: ["@openclaw"] } },
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}
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```
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## Start here
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<Columns>
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<Card title="Docs hubs" href="/start/hubs" icon="book-open">
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All docs and guides, organized by use case.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Configuration" href="/gateway/configuration" icon="settings">
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Core Gateway settings, tokens, and provider config.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Remote access" href="/gateway/remote" icon="globe">
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SSH and tailnet access patterns.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Channels" href="/channels/telegram" icon="message-square">
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Channel-specific setup for Discord, Feishu, Microsoft Teams, Telegram, WhatsApp, and more.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Nodes" href="/nodes" icon="smartphone">
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iOS and Android nodes with pairing, Canvas, camera, and device actions.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Help" href="/help" icon="life-buoy">
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Common fixes and troubleshooting entry point.
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</Card>
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</Columns>
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## Learn more
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<Columns>
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<Card title="Full feature list" href="/concepts/features" icon="list">
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Complete channel, routing, and media capabilities.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Multi-agent routing" href="/concepts/multi-agent" icon="route">
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Workspace isolation and per-agent sessions.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Security" href="/gateway/security" icon="shield">
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Tokens, allowlists, and safety controls.
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</Card>
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<Card title="Troubleshooting" href="/gateway/troubleshooting" icon="wrench">
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Gateway diagnostics and common errors.
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</Card>
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<Card title="About and credits" href="/reference/credits" icon="info">
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Project origins, contributors, and license.
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</Card>
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</Columns>
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