Quick OpenClaw Multi Agent Installation Guide | Generated by AI

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Question: If I already have an OpenClaw AI agent installed, what is the fastest way to install another one? Can I skip providing API keys during the initial installation and configure them later, then copy the openclaw.json to the target machine?

Answer:

Fastest Way to Install Another OpenClaw Agent

There are two distinct scenarios here — adding a second agent on the same machine and replicating to a new machine — and OpenClaw handles both well.

Scenario 1: Add Another Agent on the Same Machine

This is the most straightforward path. OpenClaw has a dedicated command for it:

openclaw agents add <name> \
  --workspace ~/.openclaw/workspace-<name> \
  --model anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6 \
  --non-interactive \
  --json

Using openclaw agents add <name> creates a separate agent with its own workspace, sessions, and auth profiles. Each agent gets its own agents.list[].name, agents.list[].workspace, and agents.list[].agentDir. Default workspaces follow ~/.openclaw/workspace-<agentId>.

Scenario 2: Replicate to a New Machine (Copy openclaw.json)

Yes — copying openclaw.json is a valid and fast approach, but there are important nuances:

Step 1: Install OpenClaw on the target machine

Install with:

npm install -g openclaw@latest

Then run openclaw onboard --install-daemon for the guided setup.

Step 2: Can you skip API keys during initial install?

You can use --non-interactive mode to automate openclaw onboard. For example, using --secret-input-mode ref stores env-backed references in auth profiles instead of plaintext values — meaning the key is pulled from an environment variable at runtime, not embedded in the config file.

This means yes, you can run onboarding without embedding an API key in the JSON, by using --secret-input-mode ref and setting the key as an environment variable later.

Step 3: Copy openclaw.json

Config lives at ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json. It is only readable by your user account (assuming default permissions). Treat it like any other secrets file — do not commit it to version control.

Simply copy your existing ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json to the same path on the target machine. This brings over all your agent definitions, channel configurations, model settings, and auth profiles.

# 1. On new machine: install OpenClaw
npm install -g openclaw@latest

# 2. Run a minimal non-interactive onboard (no key yet, using ref mode)
openclaw onboard --non-interactive \
  --mode local \
  --auth-choice apiKey \
  --secret-input-mode ref \
  --install-daemon

# 3. Copy your tuned openclaw.json from the existing machine
scp user@old-machine:~/.openclaw/openclaw.json ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json

# 4. Set the API key as an environment variable (or configure it in the dashboard)
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."

# 5. Restart the gateway
openclaw daemon restart

Key Points to Know

Topic Detail
Config location ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
Skip keys at install? Yes — use --secret-input-mode ref to defer key to env var
Copy config to new machine? Yes — this is the fastest replication method
Add agent on same machine Use openclaw agents add <name>
Secrets in config file? Avoid — store keys as env refs or in keychain

For more secure credential management, you can use OpenClaw’s auth profiles instead of environment variables. This is automatically configured when you use the openclaw onboard command — which stores the key in your system keychain rather than in the config file.

References:

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