openclaw/docs/install/docker.md

summary, read_when, title

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	Docker

Docker (optional)

Docker is optional. Use it only if you want a containerized gateway or to validate the Docker flow.

Is Docker right for me?

• Yes: you want an isolated, throwaway gateway environment or to run OpenClaw on a host without local installs.
• No: you are running on your own machine and just want the fastest dev loop. Use the normal install flow instead.
• Sandboxing note: agent sandboxing uses Docker too, but it does not require the full gateway to run in Docker. See Sandboxing.

Prerequisites

• Docker Desktop (or Docker Engine) + Docker Compose v2
• At least 2 GB RAM for image build (pnpm install may be OOM-killed on 1 GB hosts with exit 137)
• Enough disk for images and logs
• If running on a VPS/public host, review Security hardening for network exposure, especially Docker DOCKER-USER firewall policy.

Containerized Gateway

From the repo root, run the setup script:

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

This builds the gateway image locally. 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 at the
[GitHub Container Registry](https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/pkgs/container/openclaw).
Common tags: `main`, `latest`, `<version>` (e.g. `2026.2.26`).

The setup script runs onboarding automatically. It will:

- prompt for provider API keys
- generate a gateway token and write it to `.env`
- start the gateway via Docker Compose

Open `http://127.0.0.1:18789/` in your browser and paste the token into Settings.

Need the URL again?

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

Use the CLI container to add messaging channels:

```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)

Manual flow

If you prefer to run each step yourself instead of using the setup script:

docker build -t openclaw:local -f Dockerfile .
docker compose run --rm openclaw-cli onboard
docker compose up -d openclaw-gateway

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 with `-f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.extra.yml`.

Environment variables

The setup script accepts these optional environment variables:

Variable	Purpose
OPENCLAW_IMAGE	Use a remote image instead of building locally
OPENCLAW_DOCKER_APT_PACKAGES	Install extra apt packages during build (space-separated)
OPENCLAW_EXTENSIONS	Pre-install extension deps at build time (space-separated names)
OPENCLAW_EXTRA_MOUNTS	Extra host bind mounts (comma-separated source:target[:opts])
OPENCLAW_HOME_VOLUME	Persist /home/node in a named Docker volume
OPENCLAW_SANDBOX	Opt in to sandbox bootstrap (1, true, yes, on)
OPENCLAW_DOCKER_SOCKET	Override Docker socket path

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/readyz     # readiness

The Docker image includes a built-in HEALTHCHECK that pings /healthz. If checks keep failing, Docker marks the container as unhealthy and orchestration systems can restart or replace it.

Authenticated deep health snapshot:

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

LAN vs loopback

scripts/docker/setup.sh defaults OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_BIND=lan so host access to http://127.0.0.1:18789 works with Docker port publishing.

• lan (default): host browser and host CLI can reach the published gateway port.
• loopback: only processes inside the container network namespace can reach the gateway directly.

Use bind mode values in `gateway.bind` (`lan` / `loopback` / `custom` / `tailnet` / `auto`), not host aliases like `0.0.0.0` or `127.0.0.1`.

Storage and persistence

Docker Compose bind-mounts OPENCLAW_CONFIG_DIR to /home/node/.openclaw and OPENCLAW_WORKSPACE_DIR to /home/node/.openclaw/workspace, so those paths survive container replacement.

For full persistence details on VM deployments, see Docker VM Runtime - What persists where.

Disk growth hotspots: watch media/, session JSONL files, cron/runs/*.jsonl, and rolling file logs under /tmp/openclaw/.

Shell helpers (optional)

For easier day-to-day Docker management, install ClawDock:

mkdir -p ~/.clawdock && curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openclaw/openclaw/main/scripts/shell-helpers/clawdock-helpers.sh -o ~/.clawdock/clawdock-helpers.sh
echo 'source ~/.clawdock/clawdock-helpers.sh' >> ~/.zshrc && source ~/.zshrc

Then use clawdock-start, clawdock-stop, clawdock-dashboard, etc. Run clawdock-help for all commands. See the ClawDock Helper README.

```bash export OPENCLAW_SANDBOX=1 ./scripts/docker/setup.sh ```

Custom socket path (e.g. rootless Docker):

```bash
export OPENCLAW_SANDBOX=1
export OPENCLAW_DOCKER_SOCKET=/run/user/1000/docker.sock
./scripts/docker/setup.sh
```

The script mounts `docker.sock` only after sandbox prerequisites pass. If
sandbox setup cannot complete, the script resets `agents.defaults.sandbox.mode`
to `off`.

Disable Compose pseudo-TTY allocation with `-T`:

```bash
docker compose run -T --rm openclaw-cli gateway probe
docker compose run -T --rm openclaw-cli devices list --json
```

`openclaw-cli` uses `network_mode: "service:openclaw-gateway"` so CLI commands can reach the gateway over `127.0.0.1`. Treat this as a shared trust boundary. The compose config drops `NET_RAW`/`NET_ADMIN` and enables `no-new-privileges` on `openclaw-cli`. The image runs as `node` (uid 1000). If you see permission errors on `/home/node/.openclaw`, make sure your host bind mounts are owned by uid 1000:

```bash
sudo chown -R 1000:1000 /path/to/openclaw-config /path/to/openclaw-workspace
```

Order your Dockerfile so dependency layers are cached. This avoids re-running `pnpm install` unless lockfiles change:

```dockerfile
FROM node:24-bookworm
RUN curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash
ENV PATH="/root/.bun/bin:${PATH}"
RUN corepack enable
WORKDIR /app
COPY package.json pnpm-lock.yaml pnpm-workspace.yaml .npmrc ./
COPY ui/package.json ./ui/package.json
COPY scripts ./scripts
RUN pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
COPY . .
RUN pnpm build
RUN pnpm ui:install
RUN pnpm ui:build
ENV NODE_ENV=production
CMD ["node","dist/index.js"]
```

The default image is security-first and runs as non-root `node`. For a more full-featured container:

1. **Persist `/home/node`**: `export OPENCLAW_HOME_VOLUME="openclaw_home"`
2. **Bake system deps**: `export OPENCLAW_DOCKER_APT_PACKAGES="git curl jq"`
3. **Install Playwright browsers**:
   ```bash
   docker compose run --rm openclaw-cli \
     node /app/node_modules/playwright-core/cli.js install chromium
   ```
4. **Persist browser downloads**: set
   `PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH=/home/node/.cache/ms-playwright` and use
   `OPENCLAW_HOME_VOLUME` or `OPENCLAW_EXTRA_MOUNTS`.

If you pick OpenAI Codex OAuth in the wizard, it opens a browser URL. In Docker or headless setups, copy the full redirect URL you land on and paste it back into the wizard to finish auth. The main Docker image uses `node:24-bookworm` and publishes OCI base-image annotations including `org.opencontainers.image.base.name`, `org.opencontainers.image.source`, and others. See [OCI image annotations](https://github.com/opencontainers/image-spec/blob/main/annotations.md).

Running on a VPS?

See Hetzner (Docker VPS) and Docker VM Runtime for shared VM deployment steps including binary baking, persistence, and updates.

Agent Sandbox

When agents.defaults.sandbox is enabled, the gateway runs agent tool execution (shell, file read/write, etc.) inside isolated Docker containers while the gateway itself stays on the host. This gives you a hard wall around untrusted or multi-tenant agent sessions without containerizing the entire gateway.

Sandbox scope can be per-agent (default), per-session, or shared. Each scope gets its own workspace mounted at /workspace. You can also configure allow/deny tool policies, network isolation, resource limits, and browser containers.

For full configuration, images, security notes, and multi-agent profiles, see:

• Sandboxing -- complete sandbox reference
• OpenShell -- interactive shell access to sandbox containers
• Multi-Agent Sandbox and Tools -- per-agent overrides

Quick enable

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      sandbox: {
        mode: "non-main", // off | non-main | all
        scope: "agent", // session | agent | shared
      },
    },
  },
}

Build the default sandbox image:

scripts/sandbox-setup.sh

Troubleshooting

Build the sandbox image with [`scripts/sandbox-setup.sh`](https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/blob/main/scripts/sandbox-setup.sh) or set `agents.defaults.sandbox.docker.image` to your custom image. Containers are auto-created per session on demand. Set `docker.user` to a UID:GID that matches your mounted workspace ownership, or chown the workspace folder. OpenClaw runs commands with `sh -lc` (login shell), which sources `/etc/profile` and may reset PATH. Set `docker.env.PATH` to prepend your custom tool paths, or add a script under `/etc/profile.d/` in your Dockerfile. The VM needs at least 2 GB RAM. Use a larger machine class and retry. Fetch a fresh dashboard link and approve the browser device:

```bash
docker compose run --rm openclaw-cli dashboard --no-open
docker compose run --rm openclaw-cli devices list
docker compose run --rm openclaw-cli devices approve <requestId>
```

More detail: [Dashboard](/web/dashboard), [Devices](/cli/devices).

Reset gateway mode and bind:

```bash
docker compose run --rm openclaw-cli config set gateway.mode local
docker compose run --rm openclaw-cli config set gateway.bind lan
docker compose run --rm openclaw-cli devices list --url ws://127.0.0.1:18789
```