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Uninstall

Two paths:

  • Easy path if openclaw is still installed.
  • Manual service removal if the CLI is gone but the service is still running.

Easy path (CLI still installed)

Recommended: use the built-in uninstaller:

openclaw uninstall

Non-interactive (automation / npx):

openclaw uninstall --all --yes --non-interactive
npx -y openclaw uninstall --all --yes --non-interactive

Manual steps (same result):

  1. Stop the gateway service:
openclaw gateway stop
  1. Uninstall the gateway service (launchd/systemd/schtasks):
openclaw gateway uninstall
  1. Delete state + config:
rm -rf "${OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR:-$HOME/.openclaw}"

If you set OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH to a custom location outside the state dir, delete that file too.

  1. Delete your workspace (optional, removes agent files):
rm -rf ~/.openclaw/workspace
  1. Remove the CLI install (pick the one you used):
npm rm -g openclaw
pnpm remove -g openclaw
bun remove -g openclaw
  1. If you installed the macOS app:
rm -rf /Applications/OpenClaw.app

Notes:

  • If you used profiles (--profile / OPENCLAW_PROFILE), repeat step 3 for each state dir (defaults are ~/.openclaw-<profile>).
  • In remote mode, the state dir lives on the gateway host, so run steps 1-4 there too.

Manual service removal (CLI not installed)

Use this if the gateway service keeps running but openclaw is missing.

macOS (launchd)

Default label is bot.molt.gateway (or bot.molt.<profile>; legacy com.openclaw.* may still exist):

launchctl bootout gui/$UID/bot.molt.gateway
rm -f ~/Library/LaunchAgents/bot.molt.gateway.plist

If you used a profile, replace the label and plist name with bot.molt.<profile>. Remove any legacy com.openclaw.* plists if present.

Linux (systemd user unit)

Default unit name is openclaw-gateway.service (or openclaw-gateway-<profile>.service):

systemctl --user disable --now openclaw-gateway.service
rm -f ~/.config/systemd/user/openclaw-gateway.service
systemctl --user daemon-reload

Windows (Scheduled Task)

Default task name is OpenClaw Gateway (or OpenClaw Gateway (<profile>)). The task script lives under your state dir.

schtasks /Delete /F /TN "OpenClaw Gateway"
Remove-Item -Force "$env:USERPROFILE\.openclaw\gateway.cmd"

If you used a profile, delete the matching task name and ~\.openclaw-<profile>\gateway.cmd.

Normal install vs source checkout

Normal install (install.sh / npm / pnpm / bun)

If you used https://openclaw.ai/install.sh or install.ps1, the CLI was installed with npm install -g openclaw@latest. Remove it with npm rm -g openclaw (or pnpm remove -g / bun remove -g if you installed that way).

Source checkout (git clone)

If you run from a repo checkout (git clone + openclaw ... / bun run openclaw ...):

  1. Uninstall the gateway service before deleting the repo (use the easy path above or manual service removal).
  2. Delete the repo directory.
  3. Remove state + workspace as shown above.