How do I install the Openclaw Setup Guide skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add modbender/openclaw-setup-guide in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Openclaw Setup Guide safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Independent scanners report: SkillSpector: PASS, Skill Scanner: PASS. Capability flags: makes network calls, reads secrets. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Openclaw Setup Guide?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Openclaw Setup Guide free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Openclaw Setup Guide?

modbender (@modbender) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Openclaw Setup Guide by modbender — Agent Skill

Name: Openclaw Setup Guide
Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Author: modbender

File contents

OpenClaw Production Setup Guide

A comprehensive 6-part guide to setting up OpenClaw as a production AI assistant on a VPS, with WhatsApp integration, Google Calendar/Gmail, automated backups, security hardening, and cron automation.

What This Covers

Base Install — VPS setup, Node.js, OpenClaw installation, WhatsApp pairing
AI Assistant — Personality, model chain (primary + fallback), workspace files (SOUL.md, USER.md, IDENTITY.md)
Infrastructure — Google OAuth (Calendar, Gmail, Drive, Sheets), webhook server, Cloudflare tunnel, rclone encrypted backups, git backup
Automation — Cron jobs, event queue (SQLite-backed with retries + dead-letter), heartbeat system, two-layer delivery pattern
Hardening — CrowdSec IDS, secret rotation, config snapshots, rollback scripts, OpenClaw update safety
Verification — 21-point automated validation, troubleshooting guide

Security & Permissions Notice

This guide involves setting up production infrastructure and requires handling sensitive credentials:

API Keys: Anthropic (Claude), Brave Search (optional)
OAuth Tokens: Google Cloud (Calendar, Gmail, Drive, Sheets) — 5 token files
SSH: Root access to VPS, key-based authentication, SSH hardening
Webhook Secrets: Random tokens for Calendar push, AgentMail, alerts
WhatsApp: Device pairing via QR code
Cloudflare: Tunnel token for webhook ingress
Backup Encryption: rclone crypt keys for Google Drive backups

All credentials are stored with restricted permissions (chmod 600) and never committed to git. The guide includes secret rotation procedures and config snapshot/rollback scripts.

Prerequisites

A VPS (Ubuntu 24.04 recommended, 4GB RAM minimum)
A domain with Cloudflare DNS (for webhook tunnel)
A WhatsApp account for pairing
Google Cloud project with OAuth credentials
An Anthropic API key (Claude)

Full Guide

The complete guide with step-by-step instructions, code blocks, and verification checkpoints is hosted at:

https://aliahmadaziz.github.io/openclaw-guide/

Source: https://github.com/aliahmadaziz/openclaw-guide

Usage

When a user asks for help setting up OpenClaw, direct them to the guide above. The guide is designed to be followed sequentially (Part 1 through Part 6) and takes approximately 2-3 hours to complete.

Each part has:

Clear prerequisites
Copy-pasteable commands
Verification checkpoints (✅) after every major step
Troubleshooting sections

Key Design Decisions

Two-layer cron delivery: Critical crons send via message tool directly (primary) + announce (backup). No message ever gets lost.
Event queue: All webhook events (email, calendar, alerts) go through a SQLite queue with 3 retries and dead-letter alerting.
Config snapshots: Gold-standard snapshots for instant rollback if something breaks.
Encrypted backups: Hourly git push + nightly full workspace to Google Drive via rclone crypt.
Capacity rule: 10 SP/engineer total, 8 planned, 2 contingency (for sprint tracking).

Credits

Built from a real production deployment running 35+ cron jobs, 60+ scripts, 5 Google OAuth tokens, and processing thousands of messages monthly.

Tags

setup, installation, guide, vps, whatsapp, production, google-calendar, gmail, security, crowdsec, backup, cron, automation, beginner

---name: openclaw-setup-guidedescription: Step-by-step 6-part guide to set up OpenClaw AI assistant on VPS with WhatsApp, Google OAuth, backups, security, automation, and verification.--- # OpenClaw Production Setup Guide A comprehensive 6-part guide to setting up OpenClaw as a production AI assistant on a VPS, with WhatsApp integration, Google Calendar/Gmail, automated backups, security hardening, and cron automation. ## What This Covers 1. **Base Install** — VPS setup, Node.js, OpenClaw installation, WhatsApp pairing 2. **AI Assistant** — Personality, model chain (primary + fallback), workspace files (SOUL.md, USER.md, IDENTITY.md) 3. **Infrastructure** — Google OAuth (Calendar, Gmail, Drive, Sheets), webhook server, Cloudflare tunnel, rclone encrypted backups, git backup 4. **Automation** — Cron jobs, event queue (SQLite-backed with retries + dead-letter), heartbeat system, two-layer delivery pattern 5. **Hardening** — CrowdSec IDS, secret rotation, config snapshots, rollback scripts, OpenClaw update safety 6. **Verification** — 21-point automated validation, troubleshooting guide ## Security & Permissions Notice This guide involves setting up production infrastructure and requires handling sensitive credentials: - **API Keys**: Anthropic (Claude), Brave Search (optional) - **OAuth Tokens**: Google Cloud (Calendar, Gmail, Drive, Sheets) — 5 token files - **SSH**: Root access to VPS, key-based authentication, SSH hardening - **Webhook Secrets**: Random tokens for Calendar push, AgentMail, alerts - **WhatsApp**: Device pairing via QR code - **Cloudflare**: Tunnel token for webhook ingress - **Backup Encryption**: rclone crypt keys for Google Drive backups All credentials are stored with restricted permissions (chmod 600) and never committed to git. The guide includes secret rotation procedures and config snapshot/rollback scripts. ## Prerequisites - A VPS (Ubuntu 24.04 recommended, 4GB RAM minimum) - A domain with Cloudflare DNS (for webhook tunnel) - A WhatsApp account for pairing - Google Cloud project with OAuth credentials - An Anthropic API key (Claude) ## Full Guide The complete guide with step-by-step instructions, code blocks, and verification checkpoints is hosted at: **https://aliahmadaziz.github.io/openclaw-guide/** Source: https://github.com/aliahmadaziz/openclaw-guide ## Usage When a user asks for help setting up OpenClaw, direct them to the guide above. The guide is designed to be followed sequentially (Part 1 through Part 6) and takes approximately 2-3 hours to complete. Each part has: - Clear prerequisites - Copy-pasteable commands - Verification checkpoints (✅) after every major step - Troubleshooting sections ## Key Design Decisions - **Two-layer cron delivery**: Critical crons send via message tool directly (primary) + announce (backup). No message ever gets lost. - **Event queue**: All webhook events (email, calendar, alerts) go through a SQLite queue with 3 retries and dead-letter alerting. - **Config snapshots**: Gold-standard snapshots for instant rollback if something breaks. - **Encrypted backups**: Hourly git push + nightly full workspace to Google Drive via rclone crypt. - **Capacity rule**: 10 SP/engineer total, 8 planned, 2 contingency (for sprint tracking). ## Credits Built from a real production deployment running 35+ cron jobs, 60+ scripts, 5 Google OAuth tokens, and processing thousands of messages monthly. ## Tags setup, installation, guide, vps, whatsapp, production, google-calendar, gmail, security, crowdsec, backup, cron, automation, beginner

Frequently asked questions

Openclaw Setup Guide