Custom setups, manual installation, and what goes where.
Three pieces. They can all live on one machine, or be spread across your network.
| NATS CLI | On the OpenClaw machine. This is how OpenClaw sends commands to WireClaw. OpenClaw will install it automatically when you ask. |
|---|---|
| NATS Server | On any machine on your network. OpenClaw and WireClaw both connect to it. Can be the same machine as OpenClaw, or a separate server, a Raspberry Pi, anything. |
| WireClaw Skill | On the OpenClaw machine, in ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/wireclaw/. Teaches OpenClaw how to talk to WireClaw. |
Installed on the OpenClaw machine. OpenClaw uses it to send requests to WireClaw.
Tell OpenClaw: “Install the NATS CLI.” - it downloads the latest release and puts it in your PATH.
# macOS brew install nats-io/nats-tools/nats # Linux - download from GitHub releases curl -sL https://github.com/nats-io/natscli/releases/latest/download/nats-*-linux-amd64.zip -o nats.zip unzip nats.zip && sudo mv nats-*/nats /usr/local/bin/
The message bus. Runs anywhere on your network.
Tell OpenClaw: “Install and start a NATS server.” - installs nats-server on the OpenClaw machine and starts it.
The NATS server doesn’t need to be on the same machine as OpenClaw. Install it on any computer, server, or Raspberry Pi on your network.
# macOS brew install nats-server nats-server -a 0.0.0.0 & # Linux curl -sf https://install.nats.dev | sh nats-server -a 0.0.0.0 &
Once everything is installed, point both sides at the NATS server.
Open the web config portal and set nats_host to the IP of your NATS server.
If the NATS server is not on the same machine as OpenClaw, tell it in chat: “Set the WIRECLAW_NATS_URL environment variable to nats://192.168.1.100:4222”
If the NATS server runs on the same machine as OpenClaw, this step is not needed - it defaults to localhost:4222.
Tell OpenClaw: “Discover WireClaw devices on my network.”
