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OpenClaw Assistant

OpenClaw is an open-source, self-hosted personal AI assistant that connects to messaging platforms including WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Google Chat, Signal, Microsoft Teams, and more.

Use this starter kit when you want Diploi to run an OpenClaw instance without having to manually configure the hosting infrastructure for it.

Besides offering the easiest way to host OpenClaw on the cloud, Diploi has features that help you start even faster:

  • Access to a browser terminal, to run CLI commands without requiring a SSH connection.

    Browser terminal for OpenClaw

  • Fully configured gpt-4.1-nano model, provided through the Diploi AI gateway.

    gpt-4.1-nano for OpenClaw

Launch

Section titled “Launch”

Launch OpenClaw Assistant on Diploi to create a new project from this starter kit. Like any Diploi project, it can be extended with more components and add-ons through its diploi.yaml file.

Tech stack

Section titled “Tech stack”
Technology Role
Node.js Runtime
TypeScript Language
Hono Wrapper API server
React + Vite Control UI frontend
OpenClaw AI assistant runtime
gpt-4.1-nano AI model, through the AI Gateway

Key features

Section titled “Key features”
  • Multi-platform messaging - WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Google Chat, Signal, Microsoft Teams, and more
  • Browser terminal - Run OpenClaw CLI commands directly from the browser without SSH
  • Pre-configured AI model - gpt-4.1-nano ready out of the box via the Diploi AI gateway
  • Custom control panel - Welcome page to monitor status, start/stop the gateway, and reset your instance
  • API-driven management - REST endpoints for programmatic control of the gateway
  • Self-hosted & open-source - Full ownership of your data and infrastructure

Control panel

Section titled “Control panel”

Once launched, a welcome page unique to Diploi lets you:

  • See the general status of your OpenClaw gateway
  • Start/Stop the gateway globally
  • Reset OpenClaw to its startup defaults
  • Interact with the browser terminal and access the OpenClaw CLI
  • Access the OpenClaw dashboard

Welcome page for OpenClaw

The OpenClaw dashboard itself hasn’t been modified, so you can expect the exact experience you would get if you configured OpenClaw manually. How the wrapper works, its API endpoints and environment variables are described in the readme below.

Readme

Section titled “Readme”

OpenClaw Starter Kit for running a self-hosted OpenClaw in Diploi Development Environment with:

  • A wrapper server (server/) that initializes config, manages the OpenClaw gateway, and exposes control APIs
  • A React/Vite control UI (web/)

Version 2.0 updates the bundled OpenClaw runtime to v2026.8.1 and introduces a secure owner-handoff flow for opening the OpenClaw dashboard.

✨ Overview

Section titled “✨ Overview”

On startup, the wrapper:

  1. Initializes /app/openclaw.json (if missing) via openclaw onboard
  2. Patches config defaults (gateway token, model provider, channel/plugin defaults)
  3. Starts and monitors the OpenClaw gateway on 127.0.0.1:18789
  4. Proxies:
    • /dashboard to OpenClaw gateway UI
    • all other app routes to the Vite frontend

Dashboard access in v2.0

Section titled “Dashboard access in v2.0”

Selecting Open dashboard opens a loading page while the wrapper requests a signed owner-handoff URL from OpenClaw. The browser then opens the dashboard on the public application origin, preserving the signed handoff data without exposing the gateway’s internal URL.

For compatibility with older OpenClaw releases that do not support owner-handoff URLs, the wrapper falls back to the existing gateway-token flow.

🧱 Architecture

Section titled “🧱 Architecture”

Requirements

Section titled “Requirements”
  • Diploi’s Development Environment
  • Node.js 22+
  • npm
  • OpenClaw runtime available as either:
    • openclaw on PATH, or
    • /lib/openclaw/dist/index.js (provided in this repo’s Docker images)

Environment Variables

Section titled “Environment Variables”

Common variables used by the wrapper:

  • PORT (default: 3000)
  • HOSTNAME (default: 0.0.0.0)
  • VITE_HOST (default: 127.0.0.1)
  • VITE_PORT (default: 5173)
  • OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH (default: /app/openclaw.json)
  • OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR (default: /app)
  • OPENCLAW_WORKSPACE_DIR (default: /app/workspace)
  • OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN (optional; generated if missing)
  • DIPLOI_AI_GATEWAY_URL / DIPLOI_AI_GATEWAY_TOKEN (optional model proxy wiring)
  • DIPLOI_LOGIN_SECRET (required to validate diploi-jwt-login cookie)
  • DIPLOI_LOGIN_USERNAME / DIPLOI_LOGIN_PASSWORD (credential login)

Development Workflow

Section titled “Development Workflow”

Install dependencies:

Terminal window
npm install

Run dev mode (process manager + wrapper API + Vite UI):

Terminal window
npm run dev

This starts:

  • server/processManager.ts
  • server/index.ts (Hono wrapper API)
  • web Vite dev server

API Endpoints

Section titled “API Endpoints”

Wrapper endpoints:

  • GET /healthz
  • GET /dashboard-loading (temporary page shown while the dashboard handoff is created)
  • GET /api/dashboard-link (returns the signed dashboard handoff path, with a legacy token fallback)
  • GET /api/dashboard-token (legacy compatibility)
  • GET /api/gateway/status
  • POST /api/gateway/start
  • POST /api/gateway/stop
  • POST /api/gateway/restart
  • POST /api/full-reset
  • POST /api/logout
  • WS /api/terminal-ws (browser terminal)

Project Structure

Section titled “Project Structure”
server/
  index.ts            # wrapper server + proxy
  processManager.ts   # gateway lifecycle manager
  initOpenclaw.ts     # OpenClaw config bootstrap + patching
  api.ts              # API routes
  terminalWs.ts       # PTY websocket bridge
  utils/
    dashboardLoading.ts # dashboard handoff loading page
web/
  src/                # React UI
Dockerfile.dev        # full dev image including OpenClaw build
Dockerfile            # production runtime image
diploi.yaml           # Diploi starter metadata

See also

Section titled “See also”