netclaw init

First-run wizard. Configures your provider, security policy, channels, identity, skills, and network exposure in one pass, then starts the daemon.

Usage

netclaw init

Options

Flag	Description	Default
(none)	Launch the interactive wizard	—

Before you begin

Have these ready before starting:

• LLM provider credentials — an OpenRouter API key (easiest) or Ollama installed locally
• Slack tokens (if using Slack) — Bot Token (xoxb-...) + App Token (xapp-...). See the Slack quickstart
• Discord bot token (if using Discord) — from the Discord developer portal

No other dependencies needed.

Wizard steps

The wizard adapts to your choices — steps get skipped based on your security posture and feature selections.

1. LLM Provider

Pick a provider, enter credentials, select a model.

Netclaw supports many providers out of the box — pick one to start with here, and use netclaw provider to add more later. Self-hosted providers like Ollama need an endpoint URL:

Once credentials pass a connectivity check, you pick a default model:

2. Security posture

Posture	Trust Level	Shell Access
Personal	Single-user, high trust	Enabled with approval gates
Team	Multi-user, medium trust	Off by default
Public	Untrusted users, low trust	Off

Every new shell command needs your sign-off the first time. You can override per-channel later.

3. Feature selection

Enable or disable memory, search, skills, scheduling, sub-agents, and webhooks. Skipped in Personal mode (everything on by default).

4. Channels

Slack, Discord, or both. Each one opens a sub-step for tokens and workspace config.

Slack needs a Bot Token (xoxb-...) and App Token (xapp-...) for Socket Mode. It tests connectivity before moving on.

5. Web search

Enable web search so netclaw can pull live results during conversations.

6. Browser automation

Activate browser automation — page fetching, screenshots, form interaction.

7. Identity

The owner identity determines who gets operator-level access.

Give your agent a name, pick a personality style (shapes tone in chat), set a timezone for scheduling, and optionally wire up a webhook URL for outbound notifications. The screenshots walk you through each field.

8. External skills

Point to a local directory with custom skill definitions.

Add remote skill servers or additional skill packages.

9. Skill feeds

Subscribe to skill feeds — curated skill collections from the community or your org.

10. Network exposure

Mode	Reachability	Requires
local	Loopback only (this machine)	Nothing
tailscale-serve	Your Tailscale tailnet	tailscaled running
tailscale-funnel	Public internet via Tailscale	tailscaled running
cloudflare-tunnel	Public internet via Cloudflare Tunnel	cloudflared running

The internet-facing modes (tailscale-funnel, cloudflare-tunnel) make you type an explicit confirmation. They’re not kidding about the warning.

If you enabled webhooks, you’ll configure inbound routes here.

11. Health check

Validates config files, tests provider connectivity, verifies channel tokens, checks tunnel prerequisites.

All green? The daemon starts automatically.

If something fails, the wizard tells you which check broke and suggests running netclaw doctor for detailed diagnostics.

What it creates

File	Purpose
~/.netclaw/config/netclaw.json	Main configuration (includes security posture)
~/.netclaw/config/secrets.json	Encrypted credentials
~/.netclaw/identity/	Agent identity and personality

After init

# Verify everything is healthy
netclaw doctor

# Check daemon status
netclaw status

# Start your first conversation
netclaw chat

Related commands

• netclaw doctor — Diagnose config and connectivity issues post-setup
• netclaw status — Check daemon health and connector states
• netclaw provider — Change or add providers without re-running init
• netclaw model — Reassign model roles without re-running init

Resources

• OpenRouter documentation — API keys, model catalog, rate limits
• Slack Socket Mode — How netclaw connects to Slack without a public endpoint
• Tailscale Funnel documentation — Exposing services to the public internet via Tailscale
• Cloudflare Tunnel documentation — Exposing services via Cloudflare’s network