This doc describes the current first-run setup flow. The goal is a smooth "day 0" experience: pick where the Gateway runs, connect auth, run the wizard, and let the agent bootstrap itself. For a general overview of onboarding paths, see Onboarding Overview.

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Welcome and security notice

Security trust model:

• By default, OpenClaw is a personal agent: one trusted operator boundary.
• Shared/multi-user setups require lock-down (split trust boundaries, keep tool access minimal, and follow Security).
• Local onboarding now defaults new configs to tools.profile: "coding" so fresh local setups keep filesystem/runtime tools without forcing the unrestricted full profile.
• If hooks/webhooks or other untrusted content feeds are enabled, use a strong modern model tier and keep strict tool policy/sandboxing.

Local vs Remote

Where does the Gateway run?

• This Mac (Local only): onboarding can configure auth and write credentials locally.
• Remote (over SSH/Tailnet): onboarding does not configure local auth; credentials must exist on the gateway host. The remote gateway token field stores the token used by the macOS app to connect to that Gateway; existing non-plaintext gateway.remote.token values are preserved until you replace them.
• Configure later: skip setup and leave the app unconfigured.

Tip

Gateway auth tip:

• The wizard now generates a token even for loopback, so local WS clients must authenticate.
• If you disable auth, any local process can connect; use that only on fully trusted machines.
• Use a token for multi-machine access or non-loopback binds.

Permissions

Onboarding requests TCC permissions needed for:

• Automation (AppleScript)
• Notifications
• Accessibility
• Screen Recording
• Microphone
• Speech Recognition
• Camera
• Location

CLI

Info

This step is optional

The app can install the global openclaw CLI via npm, pnpm, or bun. It prefers npm first, then pnpm, then bun if that is the only detected package manager. For the Gateway runtime, Node remains the recommended path.

Onboarding Chat (dedicated session)

After setup, the app opens a dedicated onboarding chat session so the agent can introduce itself and guide next steps. This keeps first-run guidance separate from your normal conversation. See Bootstrapping for what happens on the gateway host during the first agent run.

Related

• Onboarding overview
• Getting started