Setting up OpenClaw on macOS with a unified AI provider endpoint

OpenClaw macOS installation walkthrough

A developer documented their weekend project getting OpenClaw running on macOS, sharing specific setup steps and troubleshooting insights that weren't obvious from the documentation.

System requirements and installation

The setup requires Node.js 24 or 22.16+. The developer noted that Node 20 from an older project produced unhelpful error messages. Installation options include:

• Homebrew: brew install openclaw-cli
• Official installer script (choose one method, not both)

After installation, run the onboarding wizard:

openclaw onboard

Provider configuration

The developer moved from separate OpenAI and Anthropic keys to a unified provider endpoint using ZenMux. During onboarding, they selected "Custom Provider" then "OpenAI-compatible" and entered the base URL and API key.

Post-installation configuration can be done in the JSON5 config file at ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:

// ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
{
  models: {
    mode: "merge",
    providers: {
      "zenmux": {
        baseUrl: "<your provider's base URL>/v1",
        apiKey: "YOUR_API_KEY",
        api: "openai-responses",
      },
    },
  },
}

Verification and background operation

To verify the setup:

• openclaw doctor checks config, connectivity, and Node version
• openclaw models list shows available models
• openclaw agent --local --agent main --message "Hello, respond with just Hi" for a sanity check

To run OpenClaw as a background service:

openclaw onboard --install-daemon

This sets up a macOS LaunchAgent that starts on boot. Use openclaw status to confirm it's running.

Gotchas and troubleshooting

The developer encountered two main issues:

• WhatsApp blocks all incoming messages by default for security. Senders must be explicitly allowlisted or messages get silently dropped.
• When troubleshooting, always run openclaw doctor first as it catches most configuration issues.

After a week of use, the developer noted benefits including automatic failover between model providers during outages and simplified billing with a single API key and billing page instead of managing multiple providers.