NemoClaw Quickstart with OpenClaw

Follow these steps to get started with NemoClaw and your first sandboxed OpenClaw agent.

Note:

Make sure you have completed reviewing the Prerequisites before following this guide.

Run Your First Agent Prompt

You can chat with the agent from the terminal or the browser.

Open the OpenClaw UI in a Browser to Chat with the Agent

The onboard wizard starts a background port forward to the sandbox dashboard, then prints the dashboard URL in the install summary. The default host port is 18789. If that port is already taken, NemoClaw uses the next free dashboard port, such as 18790, and prints that port in the final URL. If the chosen port becomes occupied after the sandbox build starts, onboarding rolls back the newly-created sandbox and asks you to retry instead of printing an unreachable dashboard URL. The install transcript does not print the gateway token. If the browser requires authentication, use the dashboard-url --quiet command to print a complete URL explicitly.

nemoclaw my-gpt-claw dashboard-url --quiet

Open the dashboard URL in your browser. If the browser asks for authentication, run nemoclaw my-gpt-claw dashboard-url --quiet and open the returned URL. Treat the authenticated URL like a password.

Chat with the Agent from the Terminal

Connect to the sandbox and use the OpenClaw CLI.

nemoclaw my-assistant connect
# inside the sandbox:
openclaw tui

References

• Load references/quickstart-hermes.md when users ask for Hermes setup, NemoHermes onboarding, or running Hermes inside OpenShell. Installs NemoClaw, selects the Hermes agent, and launches a sandboxed Hermes API endpoint.
• Load references/prerequisites.md when verifying prerequisites before installation. Lists the hardware, software, and container runtime requirements for running NemoClaw.
• Load references/windows-preparation.md when preparing a Windows machine for NemoClaw, enabling WSL 2, configuring Docker Desktop for Windows, or troubleshooting a Windows-specific install error. Covers Windows-only preparation steps required before the Quickstart.
• Load references/quickstart-details.md when you need detailed steps for Respond to the Onboard Wizard.

Related Skills

• nemoclaw-user-overview — NemoClaw Overview (use the nemoclaw-user-overview skill) to learn what NemoClaw is and its capabilities

Install NemoClaw and Onboard OpenClaw Agent

Download and run the installer script. The script installs Node.js if it is not already present, then runs the guided onboard wizard to create a sandbox, configure inference, and apply security policies.

Note:

NemoClaw creates a fresh OpenClaw instance inside the sandbox during the onboarding process.

curl -fsSL https://www.nvidia.com/nemoclaw.sh | bash

The piped installer prompts through your terminal. In headless scripts or CI, pass explicit acceptance to the bash side of the pipe:

$ curl -fsSL https://www.nvidia.com/nemoclaw.sh | NEMOCLAW_NON_INTERACTIVE=1 NEMOCLAW_ACCEPT_THIRD_PARTY_SOFTWARE=1 bash

If you use nvm or fnm to manage Node.js, the installer might not update your current shell's PATH. If nemoclaw is not found after install, run source ~/.bashrc (or source ~/.zshrc for zsh) or open a new terminal.

On Linux, the installer checks Docker before it installs NemoClaw. If Docker is missing, the installer downloads the official Docker convenience script, asks for sudo, installs Docker, and starts the Docker service when systemd is available. If Docker is installed but your current shell cannot use the Docker socket yet, the installer adds your user to the docker group when needed and exits with a recovery command.

On macOS, the installer uses the Docker-driver OpenShell gateway path with Docker Desktop or Colima.

$ newgrp docker
$ curl -fsSL https://www.nvidia.com/nemoclaw.sh | bash

On DGX Spark, DGX Station, and Windows WSL, an interactive installer offers express install after you accept the third-party software notice. Express install switches onboarding to non-interactive mode, allows sudo password prompts for required host changes, and selects the managed local inference path for that platform. Unless NEMOCLAW_POLICY_TIER is set, it applies sandbox policy in suggested mode with the balanced tier by default, using the base sandbox policy plus supported package, model, web-search, and local-inference presets. On WSL, express install selects the Windows-host Ollama setup path. Set NEMOCLAW_NO_EXPRESS=1 to skip the express prompt, or set NEMOCLAW_PROVIDER before launching the installer when you want to choose a provider yourself.

The installer auto-launches nemoclaw onboard when it can locate the freshly-installed binary. If it cannot locate the binary, or if blocking host preflight checks fail, it does not launch the wizard automatically. In that case, the installer prints the relevant diagnostics and a To finish setup, run: block with the explicit nemoclaw onboard command.

Note:

The onboard flow builds the sandbox image with NEMOCLAW_DISABLE_DEVICE_AUTH=1 so the dashboard is immediately usable during setup. This is a build-time setting baked into the sandbox image, not a runtime knob. If you export NEMOCLAW_DISABLE_DEVICE_AUTH after onboarding finishes, it has no effect on an existing sandbox.

Review the Configuration Before the Sandbox Build

After you enter the sandbox name, the wizard prints a review summary and asks for final confirmation before registering the provider, prompting for optional integrations, and building the sandbox image. For example, if you picked an OpenAI-compatible endpoint, the summary looks like the following:

  ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Review configuration
  ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Provider:      compatible-endpoint
  Model:         openai/openai/gpt-5.5
  API key:       COMPATIBLE_API_KEY (staged for OpenShell gateway registration)
  Web search:    disabled
  Messaging:     none
  Sandbox name:  my-gpt-claw
  Note:          Sandbox build typically takes 5–15 minutes on this host.
  ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Web search and messaging channels will be prompted next.
  Apply this configuration? [Y/n]:

The default is Y, so you can press Enter once to continue. Answer n to abort cleanly, fix the entries, and re-run nemoclaw onboard.

Non-interactive runs (NEMOCLAW_NON_INTERACTIVE=1) print the summary for log clarity but skip the prompt.

Configure Web Search and Messaging

After you confirm the summary, NemoClaw registers the selected provider with the OpenShell gateway and sets the inference.local route. The wizard then asks whether to enable Brave Web Search. If you enable it, enter a Brave Search API key when prompted.

The wizard also offers messaging channels such as Telegram, Discord, Slack, WeChat, and WhatsApp. Press a channel number to toggle it, then press Enter to continue. If you select a channel, NemoClaw validates the token format before it bakes the channel configuration into the sandbox. For example, Slack bot tokens must start with xoxb-. WeChat and WhatsApp are experimental. Review Messaging Channels (use the nemoclaw-user-manage-sandboxes skill) before enabling them.

Choose Network Policy Presets

After the sandbox image builds and OpenClaw starts inside the sandbox, NemoClaw asks which network policy tier to apply. The default Balanced tier includes common development presets such as npm, PyPI, Hugging Face, Homebrew, and Brave Search when the selected agent supports web search. Use the arrow keys or j and k to move, Space to select, and Enter to confirm.

The preset selector lets you include more destinations, such as GitHub, Jira, Slack, Telegram, or local inference. Press r to toggle a selected preset between read-only and read-write when the preset supports both modes.

When the install completes, a summary confirms the running environment. Before printing the summary, NemoClaw verifies that the sandbox gateway and dashboard port forward are reachable. Inference route and messaging bridge checks are reported as warnings when they need more time or additional configuration. The Model and provider line reflects the inference option you picked during onboarding. The example below shows the result if you picked an OpenAI-compatible endpoint during onboarding.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────
NemoClaw is ready

Sandbox:  my-gpt-claw
Model:    openai/openai/gpt-5.5 (Other OpenAI-compatible endpoint)

Start chatting

  Browser:
    http://127.0.0.1:18789/

  Terminal:
    nemoclaw my-gpt-claw connect
    then run: openclaw tui

Authenticated dashboard URL, if needed:
  nemoclaw my-gpt-claw dashboard-url --quiet

Manage later

  Status:      nemoclaw my-gpt-claw status
  Logs:        nemoclaw my-gpt-claw logs --follow
  Model:       nemoclaw inference set --model <model> --provider <provider> --sandbox my-gpt-claw
  Policies:    nemoclaw my-gpt-claw policy-add
  Credentials: nemoclaw credentials reset <KEY> && nemoclaw onboard
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

[INFO]  === Installation complete ===

If you picked a different option, the Model line shows that provider's model and label instead. For example, you might see gpt-5.4 (OpenAI), claude-sonnet-4-6 (Anthropic), gemini-2.5-flash (Google Gemini), llama3.1:8b (Local Ollama), nvidia-routed (Model Router), or <your-model> (Other OpenAI-compatible endpoint).

Load references/quickstart-details.md for detailed steps on Respond to the Onboard Wizard.