Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure your Mac meets these requirements:

macOS 12.0 (Monterey) or later
Node.js 18+ (Node.js 22 recommended)
At least 500MB free disk space

💡 Tip: If you don’t have Node.js installed yet, follow the Node.js installation steps below first.

Step 1: Install Node.js

Skip this step if you already have Node.js 18 or later installed.

Option A: Using Homebrew (Recommended)

Open the Terminal app and run:

# Install Homebrew if you don't have it
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

# Install Node.js
brew install node

Option B: Using the Official Installer

Visit the Node.js website
Download the LTS version (recommended)
Double-click the downloaded .pkg file
Follow the installation wizard

Verify your installation:

node --version
# Should display v18.x.x or higher

Step 2: Install Clawdbot

Run the following command in Terminal:

npm install -g clawdbot

Once installation completes, verify it worked:

clawdbot --version

If you see a version number, you’re good to go!

Step 3: Run the Setup Wizard

Clawdbot includes an interactive setup wizard to help you configure everything:

clawdbot onboard

The wizard will guide you through:

AI Provider Setup — Choose Claude, GPT-4 or another model
API Key Configuration — Enter your API key
Messaging Channels — Connect WhatsApp, Telegram, etc.

Just follow the on-screen prompts.

Step 4: Start the Gateway

After configuration, start the Clawdbot gateway:

clawdbot gateway

You should see output similar to:

🦞 Clawdbot Gateway v2026.1.24
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
✓ Gateway running on localhost:18789
✓ WebChat available at http://localhost:18789

Next Steps

Congratulations — Clawdbot is now installed! Here’s what to do next:

Connect WhatsApp — Add AI to your WhatsApp chats
Connect Telegram — Create a Telegram bot
Configure AI Providers — Switch or add AI models

Troubleshooting

npm install fails with EACCES

If you encounter permission errors, try:

sudo npm install -g clawdbot

Or configure npm to use a user-owned directory for global packages.

Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) Compatibility

Clawdbot fully supports Apple Silicon — no additional configuration needed.

Firewall Prompt

The first time you run Clawdbot, macOS may ask for firewall permissions. Click Allow to ensure the gateway works properly.