From e6864346b836cc2902885b80986b1839e5405b3a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Peter Steinberger <steipete@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2026 19:18:47 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] docs(readme): make build step optional

---
 README.md | 5 +++--
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index beb588ea9..eb6fc474b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ Model note: while any model is supported, I strongly recommend **Anthropic Pro/M
 
 ## Recommended setup (from source)
 
-Do **not** download prebuilt binaries. Build from source.
+Do **not** download prebuilt binaries. Run from source.
 
 ```bash
 # Clone this repo
@@ -41,12 +41,13 @@ git clone https://github.com/clawdbot/clawdbot.git
 cd clawdbot
 
 bun install
-bun run build
 bun run ui:install
 bun run ui:build
 bun run clawdbot onboard
 ```
 
+Note: `bun run build` is optional here (it produces `dist/` for running via Node / the packaged `clawdbot` binary). `bun run clawdbot ...` runs TypeScript directly.
+
 ## Quick start (from source)
 
 Runtime: **Node ≥22**.