OpenClaw Installation & Setup Guide¶

This guide outlines the steps to manually install, configure, and initialize OpenClaw on a KNEO Pi.

Important

This document is a simplified extraction of the installation and setup flow from the official OpenClaw documentation . For complete instructions, advanced configurations, and additional details, please refer to the official OpenClaw website.

1. System Preparation¶

Ensure the system is fully updated before proceeding.

sudo pacman -Syu

Encounter a lock error after rebooting during pacman -Syu?

Run: sudo rm /var/lib/pacman/db.lck
Re-run: sudo pacman -Syu

2. Core Installation¶

The following steps replace the automated script and must be run to set up dependencies, the AUR helper, and the OpenClaw framework.

2.1: Install Dependencies¶

Install the required base packages and development tools as root (or using sudo).

sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel git go nodejs npm

2.2: Install `yay` (AUR Helper)¶

Arch requires AUR packages to be built by a non-root user (e.g., your alarm user). Run these commands as your standard user, not as root:

cd /tmp
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay
makepkg -si

Note:
makepkg -si will build the package and automatically prompt for sudo access to install it.

Clean up the build directory afterward:

cd ~
rm -rf /tmp/yay

2.3: Install Brave Browser¶

OpenClaw relies on WebRTC and currently supports only Chromium-based browsers. Installed Firefox may not function correctly due to differences in WebRTC behavior.

Use yay to install the Brave browser binary from the AUR.

yay -S brave-bin

2.4: Install OpenClaw¶

Finally, download and execute the official OpenClaw installation script.

curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash

Troubleshooting Installation

Metadata Errors: If you see error: missing package metadata in /var/cache/private/yay/:

Run: sudo rm -rf /var/cache/private/*

Setup Hangs: If stuck in the setup menu during the OpenClaw install:

Press Ctrl+C
Run: openclaw doctor --fix

3. Configuration & Onboarding¶

Start the onboarding wizard.

openclaw onboard

Onboarding Flow:¶

Understand risk? → Yes
Onboarding mode → QuickStart
Config handling → Use existing values
Model/auth provider → Select your model
Filter models → All providers
Model Selection → Select your model

4. Integration Setup¶

Configure the browser executable and pair external services.

# Set Brave as the default browser
openclaw config set browser.executablePath "/usr/bin/brave"

# Approve Telegram pairing (replace <code> with your actual code)
openclaw pairing approve telegram <code>

# Initialize extension installation
openclaw browser extension install

5. Dashboard & Browser Setup via VNC¶

Access the KNEO Pi desktop via VNC viewer and open a terminal.

Launch Brave Browser¶

brave %U --no-sandbox --password-store=basic

Open Dashboard¶

Run openclaw dashboard in the terminal.
Copy the URL from the terminal output.
Paste the URL into the Brave browser.

In the dashboard,

Verify the browser path is /usr/bin/brave,
Ensure it is enabled, and set default.profile to chrome.