Node.js¶

OpenClaw requires Node 22 or newer. The installer script will detect and install Node automatically — this page is for when you want to set up Node yourself and make sure everything is wired up correctly (versions, PATH, global installs).

Check your version¶

node -v

If this prints v22.x.x or higher, you're good. If Node isn't installed or the version is too old, pick an install method below.

Install Node¶

Homebrew (recommended):

```bash
brew install node
```

Or download the macOS installer from [nodejs.org](https://nodejs.org/).

Ubuntu / Debian:

```bash
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
```

**Fedora / RHEL:**

```bash
sudo dnf install nodejs
```

Or use a version manager (see below).

winget (recommended):

```powershell
winget install OpenJS.NodeJS.LTS
```

**Chocolatey:**

```powershell
choco install nodejs-lts
```

Or download the Windows installer from [nodejs.org](https://nodejs.org/).

Version managers let you switch between Node versions easily. Popular options:

fnm — fast, cross-platform
nvm — widely used on macOS/Linux
mise — polyglot (Node, Python, Ruby, etc.)

Example with fnm:

fnm install 22
fnm use 22

Make sure your version manager is initialized in your shell startup file (~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc). If it isn't, openclaw may not be found in new terminal sessions because the PATH won't include Node's bin directory.

Troubleshooting¶

`openclaw: command not found`¶

This almost always means npm's global bin directory isn't on your PATH.

npm prefix -g

echo "$PATH"

Look for `<npm-prefix>/bin` (macOS/Linux) or `<npm-prefix>` (Windows) in the output.

Add to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc:

    ```bash
    export PATH="$(npm prefix -g)/bin:$PATH"
    ```

    Then open a new terminal (or run `rehash` in zsh / `hash -r` in bash).
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Windows">
    Add the output of `npm prefix -g` to your system PATH via Settings → System → Environment Variables.
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

Permission errors on `npm install -g` (Linux)¶

If you see EACCES errors, switch npm's global prefix to a user-writable directory:

mkdir -p "$HOME/.npm-global"
npm config set prefix "$HOME/.npm-global"
export PATH="$HOME/.npm-global/bin:$PATH"

Add the export PATH=... line to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc to make it permanent.