Myway + OpenClaw Setup

Myway is a self-hosted personal AI home screen — a local-first PWA that gives you a phone-style dashboard powered by AI. This skill sets it up using OpenClaw as the AI backend.

When to use this skill

• User wants to install Myway and already has OpenClaw running locally
• User asks about setting up a personal AI dashboard with OpenClaw
• User wants to configure or reconfigure their Myway + OpenClaw connection

Prerequisites

Check these before starting:

1. Node.js 22+ — run node -v to verify (must show v22 or higher)
2. yarn — run yarn -v to verify. If missing: npm install -g yarn
3. OpenClaw — run openclaw gateway status or check if ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json exists

If prerequisites fail, stop and help the user install them first.

Installation

Optionally ask the user for:

1. Their OpenClaw gateway URL (default: http://localhost:18789)
2. A gateway token (usually not needed for localhost)
3. A directory for the file browser (default: ~/vault)
4. Where to install (directory name, default: myway)

Then run the setup:

npx @uchibeke/myway <directory> \
  --ai-mode openclaw \
  --openclaw-url http://localhost:18789 \
  --root ~/vault \
  --port 48291 \
  --start

All flags are optional except --ai-mode openclaw. Defaults:

• directory: myway
• --openclaw-url: http://localhost:18789
• --openclaw-token: empty (not needed for localhost)
• --root: ~/vault
• --port: 48291

Add --no-aport to skip APort guardrails setup.

The command will:

1. Scaffold a new directory with the Myway source
2. Install dependencies (2-5 minutes)
3. Write .env.local with the provided config
4. Initialize the database
5. Build for production (1-2 minutes)
6. Start the server and open the browser (if --start is passed)

Important: This command takes 3-7 minutes to complete. Do not interrupt it.

Verify it worked

After the command completes with --start, the server should be running. Verify:

curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" http://localhost:48291/

Should return 200. If the user didn't pass --start:

cd <directory>
yarn start

Background running with PM2

For long-running deployments:

cd <directory>
cp ecosystem.config.cjs.example ecosystem.config.cjs
pm2 start ecosystem.config.cjs

Reconfiguring

To reconfigure an existing install:

cd <existing-myway-directory>
npx @uchibeke/myway --setup \
  --ai-mode openclaw \
  --openclaw-url http://localhost:18789

Or edit .env.local directly, then rebuild:

cd <existing-myway-directory>
# Edit .env.local with new values
yarn build
# Restart: yarn start, or pm2 restart myway

OpenClaw connection details

Myway connects to OpenClaw via its gateway API:

• Default URL: http://localhost:18789
• Config file: ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (auto-detected at runtime)
• Auth: Optional gateway token, not needed for localhost setups
• How it works: Myway sends chat/skill requests to OpenClaw's gateway, which routes them to the configured AI model

Troubleshooting

Environment variables

All config lives in <directory>/.env.local. Key variables for OpenClaw mode:

PORT=48291
MYWAY_ROOT=~/vault
OPENCLAW_BASE_URL=http://localhost:18789
# OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN=  # only if gateway requires auth
MYWAY_SECRET=<auto-generated>

See .env.local.example in the install directory for all options (Google OAuth, Telegram, TTS, etc.).