clawdbot/docs/install/index.md

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Install Clawdbot (recommended installer, global install, or from source)	Installing Clawdbot You want to install from GitHub

Install

Runtime baseline: Node >=22.

If the installer says it succeeded but you later see clawdbot: command not found, it’s usually a Node/npm PATH issue (global npm bin dir not on PATH). See the section below.

Node.js + npm (PATH sanity)

Quick diagnosis:

node -v
npm -v
npm bin -g
echo "$PATH"

If the output of npm bin -g is not present inside echo "$PATH", your shell can’t find global npm binaries (including clawdbot).

Fix: add it to your shell startup file (zsh: ~/.zshrc, bash: ~/.bashrc):

export PATH="/path/from/npm/bin/-g:$PATH"

Then open a new terminal (or rehash in zsh / hash -r in bash).

Recommended (installer script)

curl -fsSL https://clawd.bot/install.sh | bash

This installs the clawdbot CLI globally via npm and then starts onboarding.

See installer flags:

curl -fsSL https://clawd.bot/install.sh | bash -s -- --help

Details: Installer internals.

Non-interactive (skip onboarding):

curl -fsSL https://clawd.bot/install.sh | bash -s -- --no-onboard

Install method: npm vs git

The installer supports two methods:

• npm (default): npm install -g clawdbot@latest
• git: clone/build from GitHub and run from a source checkout

CLI flags

# Explicit npm
curl -fsSL https://clawd.bot/install.sh | bash -s -- --install-method npm

# Install from GitHub (source checkout)
curl -fsSL https://clawd.bot/install.sh | bash -s -- --install-method git

Common flags:

• --install-method npm|git
• --git-dir <path> (default: ~/clawdbot)
• --no-git-update (skip git pull when using an existing checkout)
• --no-prompt (disable prompts; required in CI/automation)
• --dry-run (print what would happen; make no changes)
• --no-onboard (skip onboarding)

Environment variables

Equivalent env vars (useful for automation):

• CLAWDBOT_INSTALL_METHOD=git|npm
• CLAWDBOT_GIT_DIR=...
• CLAWDBOT_GIT_UPDATE=0|1
• CLAWDBOT_NO_PROMPT=1
• CLAWDBOT_DRY_RUN=1
• CLAWDBOT_NO_ONBOARD=1
• SHARP_IGNORE_GLOBAL_LIBVIPS=0|1 (default: 1; avoids sharp building against system libvips)

Global install (manual)

If you already have Node:

npm install -g clawdbot@latest

If you have libvips installed globally (common on macOS via Homebrew) and sharp fails to install, force prebuilt binaries:

SHARP_IGNORE_GLOBAL_LIBVIPS=1 npm install -g clawdbot@latest

Or:

pnpm add -g clawdbot@latest

Then:

clawdbot onboard --install-daemon