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The Gateway is fully supported on Linux and requires Node. Bun can still be used as a dependency installer or package-script runner, but it cannot run OpenClaw because it does not provide node:sqlite.

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Desktop companion

The OpenClaw Linux companion is a Tauri desktop app for a local Gateway. It:
  • installs the OpenClaw CLI and managed Node runtime when they are missing
  • attaches to a healthy Gateway before attempting service changes
  • delegates install, start, stop, and restart operations to the CLI-managed systemd user service
  • discovers nearby Bonjour Gateways and opens their Control UI from the resolved service endpoint
  • opens the Gateway-served Control UI with its resolved authentication URL
  • renders agent-driven Canvas and bundled A2UI content for a colocated CLI node host
  • remains available from the system tray when its window is closed
Stable releases built from main ship .deb and AppImage bundles as assets on the GitHub release for the tag, named OpenClaw-<version>-amd64.deb and OpenClaw-<version>-amd64.AppImage, with a SHA256SUMS.linux-app.txt checksum file next to them. Download the .deb and install it with sudo apt install ./OpenClaw-<version>-amd64.deb, or mark the AppImage executable and run it directly. The AppImage runtime needs FUSE 2 (sudo apt install libfuse2, or libfuse2t64 on Ubuntu 24.04+); without it, run the AppImage with APPIMAGE_EXTRACT_AND_RUN=1. You can also build the same bundles from a source checkout:
The Linux App CI workflow uploads the same bundles as the openclaw-linux-companion artifact for pull requests touching the app and for manual runs. See apps/linux/README.md in the repository for Linux build dependencies and development commands.

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Canvas

Linux Canvas uses two cooperating processes. openclaw node run remains the single Gateway node connection; the bundled linux-canvas plugin forwards canvas.* calls to the running desktop app over a user-only Unix socket. The app owns one on-demand WebView window, including the bundled A2UI renderer and action bridge back to the agent. The plugin is enabled by default. It advertises Canvas only when the desktop socket exists at $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/openclaw-canvas.sock, or /tmp/openclaw-canvas-$UID.sock when XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is unavailable. Disable it with plugins.entries.linux-canvas.enabled: false. On a headless Linux server without the desktop app, Canvas is not advertised. Linux v1 uses one Canvas window. HTTP and HTTPS pages are renderable, but A2UI actions are accepted only from the bundled renderer.

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CLI and SSH alternative

The CLI remains the simplest option for a headless server, a VPS, or a remote Gateway:
  1. Install Node 24.15+ (recommended), Node 22.22.3+ (LTS), or Node 25.9+.
  2. npm i -g openclaw@latest
  3. openclaw onboard --install-daemon
  4. From your laptop: ssh -N -L 18789:127.0.0.1:18789 <user>@<host>
  5. Open http://127.0.0.1:18789/ and authenticate with the configured shared secret (token by default; password if gateway.auth.mode is "password").
Full server guide: Linux Server. Step-by-step VPS example: exe.dev.

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Node capabilities

The bundled Linux Node plugin gives the CLI openclaw node service device capabilities without requiring the desktop app. Commands are advertised to the Gateway only when their capability is enabled and the required local tool exists. Configure the plugin in openclaw.json:
Restart the node service after changing these settings. Availability is determined once per process and the node advertisement is rebuilt on restart. The Gateway approves the node’s command and capability surface separately from device pairing. On first start, or after enabling more capabilities, approve the pending surface:
A node can be connected and device-paired while its effective caps and commands remain empty until this approval completes. Camera devices must be readable by the service user, commonly through the video group. Camera clips use the default PulseAudio or PipeWire source when includeAudio is true; microphone audio exists only as that clip track, not as a standalone command. Location requires the node-service user to be permitted by the host’s GeoClue policy. camera.snap and camera.clip also require explicit Gateway arming through gateway.nodes.allowCommands. See Camera capture and Location command for payloads, limits, and errors.

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Install

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Gateway service (systemd)

Install with one of:
Repair or migrate an existing install:
openclaw gateway install renders a systemd user unit by default. Full service guidance, including the system-level unit variant for shared or always-on hosts, lives in the Gateway runbook. Write a unit by hand only for a custom setup. Minimal user-unit example (~/.config/systemd/user/openclaw-gateway[-<profile>].service):
Enable it:

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Memory pressure and OOM kills

On Linux, the kernel picks an OOM victim when a host, VM, or container cgroup runs out of memory. The Gateway is a poor victim because it owns long-lived sessions and channel connections, so OpenClaw biases transient child processes to be killed first when possible. For eligible Linux child spawns, OpenClaw wraps the command in a short /bin/sh shim that raises the child’s own oom_score_adj to 1000, then execs the real command. This is unprivileged: a process may always raise its own OOM score. Covered child process surfaces:
  • Supervisor-managed command children
  • PTY shell children
  • MCP stdio server children
  • OpenClaw-launched browser/Chrome processes (via the plugin SDK process runtime)
The wrapper is Linux-only and skipped when /bin/sh is unavailable, or when the child env sets OPENCLAW_CHILD_OOM_SCORE_ADJ to 0, false, no, or off. Verify a child process:
Expected value for covered children is 1000; the Gateway process itself keeps its normal score (usually 0). The systemd unit’s OOMPolicy=continue keeps the Gateway service alive when a transient child is selected by the OOM killer instead of marking the whole unit failed and restarting all channels; the failed child/session reports its own error. This does not replace normal memory tuning. If a VPS or container repeatedly kills children, raise the memory limit, reduce concurrency, or add stronger resource controls (systemd MemoryMax=, container memory limits).