Before You Start

Hardware, OS, and prerequisites. Don't skip this.

Hardware Requirements

OpenClaw is lightweight, but here's what works best:

Minimum (Works Fine)

• Mac Mini (M1 or later) — 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD
• MacBook Air (2018 or later) — 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD
• MacBook Pro (2016 or later) — 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD
• Mac Studio — anything goes

What Actually Helps

• Memory (RAM): 16GB is comfortable. 8GB works but you'll feel it during Claude Code compilations. 32GB+ is luxury.
• Storage: 512GB SSD minimum. You'll accumulate conversation logs, memory files, and cached models.
• CPU: Apple Silicon (M1+) beats Intel for LLM inference if you use ollama. Not required.

Mac or Bust

OpenClaw officially supports macOS. Linux and Windows versions exist but are less tested. This guide assumes macOS.

Software Prerequisites

Required

Highly Recommended

• Git: brew install git — needed for version control
• jq: brew install jq — parse JSON from the command line
• pdftotext: brew install poppler — read PDFs programmatically

API Keys (Get These First)

You'll need API keys from three AI providers. Get them now before you install OpenClaw.

Anthropic (Required)

1. Go to console.anthropic.com
2. Sign up or log in
3. Go to "API Keys" in the left sidebar
4. Click "Create Key"
5. Copy the key (it starts with sk-ant-)
6. Store it safely — you'll paste it into ~/.openclaw/.env later

Cost: Pay as you go. $2-5/month for light use. Budget $50 if you're experimenting heavily.

OpenAI (Recommended)

1. Go to platform.openai.com
2. Sign up or log in
3. Create a new API key
4. Copy and store it

Cost: GPT-5.4 is expensive (~$0.10/1K output tokens). Use it for complex reasoning only, not daily chat.

Google Gemini (Optional but Useful)

1. Go to aistudio.google.com/app/apikey
2. Click "Create API Key"
3. Copy and store it

Cost: Free tier exists (50 requests/day). Paid tier is cheap for light use.

Disk Space & Cleanup

After 3 months of daily use, expect:

• OpenClaw installation: ~500MB
• Node modules: ~1GB
• Memory files and logs: ~2GB
• Model cache (if you use ollama): ~10GB+ (optional)

Network & Connectivity

Internet: Required for API calls to Anthropic, OpenAI, Google. ~50MB/month typical usage.

Firewall: OpenClaw runs on localhost:18789 by default. No inbound ports exposed. Safe to run anywhere.

VPN: Works fine. No special config needed.

Terminal Knowledge

You'll need to be comfortable with:

• Opening Terminal (Cmd+Space, type "Terminal")
• Running commands: command arg1 arg2
• Navigating directories: cd /path/to/folder
• Checking if a command exists: which commandname

What's Next

You've got your hardware, your Node.js, and your API keys. Time to install OpenClaw.