Skip to main content
OpenClaw is an open-source agent runtime with gateway, browser, and memory tooling. The Docker Compose profile starts OpenClaw alongside the LiteLLM Agent Platform and registers local-openclaw automatically.

​
Prerequisites

  • Docker Desktop installed and running
  • LiteLLM Agent Platform repo cloned

​
1. Start the stack

docker compose --profile openclaw up
This starts:
  • The LiteLLM Agent Platform web/API service
  • A Postgres database
  • The OpenClaw runtime bridge
  • An OpenClaw Gateway configured to call the LAP gateway for model inference
  • Registers local-openclaw in the UI automatically
Open http://localhost:4000 and sign in with your master key (sk-local by default).

​
2. Add model provider credentials

In Settings → Credentials, add a model provider API key. OpenClaw routes model calls through your LiteLLM gateway, so provider keys stay in LAP.

​
3. Create an agent

In the UI, click New Agent, choose local-openclaw as the runtime, select a model, and optionally set a system prompt. Or via the API: 
curl -X POST http://localhost:4000/api/agents \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-local" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "my-openclaw-agent",
    "owner_id": "local-user",
    "runtime": "local-openclaw",
    "model": "claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "system": "You are concise. Reply plainly."
  }'

​
4. Run your agent

Select your agent in the UI and start a session. The bridge exposes OpenClaw through the same Anthropic Managed Agents-compatible event stream as the other template runtimes. Or via the API: 
# Start and run a session
SESSION=$(curl -s -X POST http://localhost:4000/session \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-local" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "runtime": "local-openclaw",
    "agent_id": "<agent-id>",
    "prompt": "Check browser and memory readiness, then reply in one sentence."
  }' | jq -r .id)

# Stream the response
curl -N "http://localhost:4000/v1/sessions/$SESSION/events/stream" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-local"

​
Stop the stack

docker compose --profile openclaw down

​
Hosted or custom bridge

Use the same OpenClaw bridge when OpenClaw runs outside the local Compose stack, for example on Render or another container host. Deploy templates/openclaw as a web service and point it at your LiteLLM Agent Platform gateway: 
LITELLM_BASE_URL=https://lap.example.com/v1
LITELLM_API_KEY=sk-lap-api-key
RUNTIME_API_KEY=sk-openclaw-runtime-key
OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN=sk-openclaw-gateway-token
OPENCLAW_AGENT_MODEL=litellm/claude-sonnet-4-6
Attach persistent storage for /data if you want bridge agent and session state to survive restarts. Then register the bridge as a custom runtime harness. Use the bridge root URL as api_base, not its /v1 OpenClaw Gateway URL: 
curl -X POST "$LAP_URL/api/runtime-harnesses" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $LAP_MASTER_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "alias": "render-openclaw",
    "api_spec": "claude_managed_agents",
    "api_base": "https://<your-openclaw-bridge>.onrender.com",
    "api_key": "<shared-runtime-key>"
  }'
The alias becomes the runtime ID for agents and sessions. Create agents with "runtime": "render-openclaw" and LAP will drive OpenClaw through the existing Claude Managed Agents-compatible event stream.

​
Configuration

OpenClaw runtime configuration lives in the compose.yaml openclaw service block and templates/openclaw. By default, the template:
  • Installs Chromium and starts OpenClaw browser tooling during container boot
  • Uses FTS-only memory search so no embedding API key is required
  • Seeds a small runtime memory file and indexes it on boot
  • Sends OpenClaw model calls to the LAP gateway through the generated litellm provider config
Override the default backend model with OPENCLAW_AGENT_MODEL, and override the registered model list with OPENCLAW_MODELS.