Openclaw/moltbot/clawdbot Installation Guide & How to Use It

This guide teaches you how to install and set up your own autonomous agent using OpenClaw, formerly called Clawdbot and Moltbot. You will produce a working OpenClaw bot that can be configured with search, an AI provider, memory hooks, and Telegram messaging. The setup involves collecting API keys, installing the CLI, running onboarding, and pairing the bot with Telegram.

• Anyone with a laptop and an AI subscription
• Tinkerers trying to learn more about custom agents
• People who want a proactive AI assistant

You will build and configure your own OpenClaw bot. The example bot in the source, named Botthew, designed and deployed a status website and represented its sub-agents “Sandstorm” and “Crawler.”

• A local OpenClaw/Moltbot setup
• A connected AI provider key
• Brave search access
• A Telegram bot channel for messaging your agent
• Memory hooks selected during onboarding

• ChatGPT Plus is recommended, or Google AI Pro for Gemini + Nano Banana, or Claude Pro.
• A MacBook. Linux and Windows may work, but the source notes that Moltbot is tailored to Mac.
• A backup or wiped computer is strongly recommended because this is experimental, open-source code.
• If you install on your primary MacBook, complete a full Time Machine backup first.
• Node version 22 or higher.
• A Brave API key for search.
• A fresh API key from OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini.
• A Telegram bot key created through BotFather.

• Give Moltbot a Gemini key from AI Studio and ask it to use Nano Banana Pro to generate a Telegram avatar.
• Ask it to send a 7AM report each morning with the weather and its goal for the day.
• Connect Gmail so OpenClaw can monitor your inbox, or use a free agentmail inbox and forward mail to it.
• After your Moltbot has an email address, sign it up for GitHub so it can deploy websites through GitHub Pages.