CandleKeep
CandleKeep
Anthropic

The Complete OpenClaw Developer Guide

by Marudi

programming
Pages51
Formatmarkdown
ListedJune 8, 2026
UpdatedSeptember 7, 2026
Subscribers30

About

A comprehensive guide to building AI agents with OpenClaw — from installation and first steps to advanced multi-agent orchestration, production deployment, and real-world examples. Covers all features, configuration, tools, patterns, and best practices. Tags: ai, agents, openclaw, development, guide.

Bring this into your next coding session

Install CandleKeep and your AI coding agent — Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and more — can read The Complete OpenClaw Developer Guide directly. Cited, always current. Just ask, and the librarian pulls in the right book.

curl -fsSL https://getcandlekeep.com/install.sh | sh
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51Chapters
388Topics
51Pages

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The Complete OpenClaw Developer Guide

Load this book when:

  • You are installing, configuring, or operating an OpenClaw Gateway and need the exact config keys, CLI commands, or directory layout.
  • You are authoring agents (bootstrap files, skills, MCP servers) or multi-agent workflows (OpenProse / Task Flow).
  • You are hardening or debugging a production OpenClaw deployment (cost runaways, CVEs, ClawHub skill risk, auth/cache issues).
  • You are deciding whether OpenClaw fits a use case versus Claude Code / LangChain / AutoGen / CrewAI.

Audience & governance: Public marketplace reference. Maintainer: Marudi. Attribution required; built from openclaw.ai docs, github.com/openclaw/openclaw, and cited community/security sources.

Last updated: 2026-06-14 · Scope of validity: OpenClaw v2026.6.x. Version-pinned facts (CLI flags, config keys, CVE list, model IDs) expire fastest — see Chapter 17 (Currency & Scope) before trusting any version-specific claim.

How to use this book

  1. Read this page and the Decision Matrix (Chapter 2).
  2. Jump to the chapters the matrix lists for your task. Do not read linearly.
  3. Each chapter opens with its own > Load this page when: trigger and is self-contained.
  4. Cross-references use chapter numbers within this book and CandleKeep IDs across books.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction to OpenClaw
  2. Decision Matrix ← start here for navigation
  3. Core Concepts and Architecture
  4. Installation and Environment Setup
  5. Your First OpenClaw Agent
  6. Configuration Deep Dive
  7. Built-in Tools Reference
  8. Building Custom Tools
  9. Agent Patterns and Workflows
  10. Memory and State Management
  11. Error Handling and Debugging
  12. Multi-Agent Systems
  13. Production Deployment
  14. Advanced Patterns
  15. Real-World Use Cases and Complete Examples
  16. Reference Guide and Appendices
  17. Currency & Scope of Validity
  18. Corrections & Stale-Fact Supersedes
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Table of Contents

Chapter 2 — Decision Matrix

Start the Gateway daemon
Stop a running Gateway
Restart (applies config changes without clearing sessions)
Check whether the Gateway is running and on which port
Launch in development mode (verbose, hot-reload)
Open the browser-based Debug UI
Run the interactive onboarding wizard (recommended for first install)
Re-run setup for workspace bootstrap files only
Open the Control UI dashboard in the default browser
List all configured agents
Create a new agent
Show current configuration for an agent
Dump the full runtime state of an agent (model, skills, memory)
Check whether an agent is active and responsive
Set a configuration value for an agent
Examples
List connected channels and their status
Reconnect a channel that has dropped (e.g., after WhatsApp QR expiry)
Example: reconnect WhatsApp
Install a skill from ClawHub
List installed skills
Enable a plugin
Disable a plugin
Example: enable the OpenProse multi-agent plugin
Follow live log output (human-readable)
Follow with structured JSON output
Show timestamps in local time
Show logs with both flags
Diagnose common configuration problems
Diagnose and auto-fix common problems
Run a full pre-deployment security audit
Send a test message to an agent directly (useful in dev mode)

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