OpenClaw End-to-End Installation with SwarmCharts

This guide walks through a full installation of OpenClaw on Docker Swarm using SwarmCLI and SwarmCLI Charts, from initializing the swarm to getting a working shell inside the OpenClaw service.

Prerequisites

• A VPS (or several, if you want a multi-node swarm)
• SSH access to your server(s)
• A local machine to run the SwarmCLI Business Edition client

1. Initialize Your Docker Swarm

1. SSH into your VPS:

ssh user@your-vps-ip

2. Initialize Docker Swarm:

docker swarm init

3. If you have additional nodes, join them to the swarm using the join token/command printed by docker swarm init (or docker swarm join-token worker / docker swarm join-token manager on the manager node).

After docker swarm init, you'll see output like this on the manager:

Swarm initialized: current node (dxn1zf6l61qsb1josjja83ngz) is now a manager.

To add a worker to this swarm, run the following command:

    docker swarm join --token SWMTKN-1-49nj1cmql0jkz5s954yi3oex3nedyz0fb0xx14ie39trti4wxv-8vxv8rssmk743ojnwacrr2e7c 192.168.99.100:2377

To add a manager to this swarm, run 'docker swarm join-token manager'.

Copy the printed docker swarm join --token ... command and run it on each additional node (via SSH) to join it to the swarm.

2. Install SwarmCLI Business Edition

On the VPS (swarm manager node), install swarmcli-be:

curl -fsSL https://swarmcli.io/install.sh | sh -s -- be ~/.local/bin

3. Run SwarmCLI

swarmcli

4. Bootstrap the Infrastructure

Inside SwarmCLI, run the bootstrap command:

:bootstrap

This deploys the base swarmcli-infra stack.

5. License Activation

Activate your license directly from SwarmCLI:

1. Type the command and press Enter:

:license

2. Type s to set the license.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete activation.

Note: Licensing is currently free.

6. Create an Admin User for the RBAC Proxy

1. In the swarmcli-infra stack, navigate to the proxy service.

2. Press x to get shell.
3. Back on the server (or via SwarmCLI's shell), add an admin user:

swcproxy user add <username> --admin

Replace <username> with your desired username.

7. Complete User Setup Locally

Follow the instructions printed after the previous command. This step can be done directly on the server, but it's preferred to complete it on your local machine (for example, for credential/context setup).

8. Install SwarmCLI Locally (Business Edition)

On your local machine, install the CLI following the SwarmCLI official installation guide.

9. Switch to the New Remote Context

Run SwarmCLI locally and switch context:

swarmcli

:context

Select the newly created context (pointing at your swarm/RBAC proxy).

10. Add the SwarmCLI Charts Repository

In a separate terminal tab:

swarmcli charts repo add swarmcli-charts https://eldara-tech.github.io/swarmcli-charts
swarmcli charts repo update

11. Fetch Default Traefik Values

swarmcli charts show values swarmcli-charts/traefik > traefik.yaml

This writes the default values file for the Traefik chart to traefik.yaml.

12. Edit and Deploy Traefik

1. Edit traefik.yaml to match your environment (domains, entrypoints, certificate resolver, network, etc.).
2. Deploy/upgrade the chart:

swarmcli charts install --upgrade traefik swarmcli-charts/traefik -f traefik.yaml

13. Fetch Default OpenClaw Values

swarmcli charts show values swarmcli-charts/openclaw openclaw.yaml

14. Create the Required Secret

Before deploying, create the secret OpenClaw expects (for example, gateway token or API credentials; refer to openclaw.yaml for the exact secret name it references):

echo -n "<your-secret-value>" | docker secret create <secret_name> -

Make sure the secret name matches what is referenced in openclaw.yaml.

15. Deploy OpenClaw

Edit openclaw.yaml as needed (hostname, models, resource limits, etc.), then install:

swarmcli charts install --upgrade openclaw swarmcli-charts/openclaw -f openclaw.yaml

16. Access OpenClaw in the Browser

Open your browser and navigate to the hostname you configured in openclaw.yaml (routed through Traefik):

https://<your-chosen-hostname>

17. Open a Shell Inside the OpenClaw Service

1. In SwarmCLI, navigate to the openclaw service.
2. Press x to get an interactive shell.
3. Run the initialization commands shown by OpenClaw.

Example:

export OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN="$(cat /run/secrets/openclaw_gateway_token)"
openclaw devices approve 43e5ee3d-0727-4631-8464-1a9751448379