Playing with OpenClaw: Raise Your AI Lobster

Installation

npm install openclaw -g

# Uninstall
npm uninstall openclaw -g

macOS App?

If you want to use features like voice wake, you’ll need to install the official app separately. However, I personally found the app to be quite buggy — for example, its gateway conflicts with the CLI gateway — so I’ve given up on the app for now.

Upgrading

# For stability, upgrading to beta is not recommended — only for early adopters
openclaw update --channel beta

# Upgrade to the latest stable version
openclaw update

Gateway

Start the gateway:

openclaw gateway

openclaw gateway restart

openclaw gateway stop

# Check status
openclaw gateway status

Web UI Configuration

http://127.0.0.1:18789/config

Log Debugging

View logs:

cat /tmp/openclaw/openclaw-2026-02-19.log

openclaw logs --follow

# Overall status check
openclaw status

Telegram Bot

In my opinion, the most popular and useful IMs are Telegram and Discord. I currently use Telegram.

Get Your User ID

@userinfobot

Create a Bot

@BotFather

Your Telegram user id:xxxxx

Pairing code: xxxx

Ask the bot owner to approve with:
openclaw pairing approve telegram <code>

Chrome Extension

The extension needs to be installed manually:

# Install extension
openclaw browser extension install

# Extension status
openclaw browser status

Usage tips:

1. Set the profile to openclaw and manage it as a separate profile.
2. Run openclaw browser open https://x.com on first use to log in, enabling automation.
3. The extension is located at ~/.openclaw/browser/chrome-extension and must be loaded manually in Chrome.

The current extension approach has obvious drawbacks — the relay connection drops frequently and requires manually toggling it back on, which often makes remote operation impossible. Hopefully the team will improve this in the future. For this reason, I tend to use the Playwright approach instead.

Check Extension Info

http://127.0.0.1:18800/json/version

Installing Skills

1. You can install skills using natural language commands.

Configuring Multiple Models / Providers

There are times when your GPT quota runs out and you need to switch to DeepSeek or another model. It’s worth configuring multiple models/providers in advance — switching between them is very convenient.

Here’s an example of configuring Codex and DeepSeek. First, add the following to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:

"auth": {
    "profiles": {
      "openai-codex:default": {
        "provider": "openai-codex",
        "mode": "oauth"
      },
      "deepseek:default": {
        "provider": "deepseek",
        "mode": "api_key"
      }
    }
  },
"models": {
    "mode": "merge",
    "providers": {
      "deepseek": {
        "baseUrl": "https://api.deepseek.com/v1",
        "apiKey": "xxx",
        "api": "openai-completions",
        "models": [
          {
            "id": "deepseek-chat",
            "name": "deepseek-chat"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }

Multiple Agents

Running openclaw onboard from the CLI does not allow you to select multiple AI providers. So if your AI quota runs out and you want to switch services, the only option is to add another agent.

openclaw agents add work

openclaw agents delete work

openclaw agents list

Final Thoughts

There’s a lot to play with here — I’d recommend giving it a try. Raising your own AI lobster is actually pretty fun.