goclaw

Desktop Edition (GoClaw Lite)

A native desktop app for local AI agents — no Docker, no PostgreSQL, no infrastructure.

macOS:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nextlevelbuilder/goclaw/main/scripts/install-lite.sh | bash

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nextlevelbuilder/goclaw/main/scripts/install-lite.ps1 | iex

What's Included

• Single native app (Wails v2 + React), ~30 MB
• SQLite database (zero setup)
• Chat with agents (streaming, tools, media, file attachments)
• Agent management (max 5), provider config, MCP servers, skills, cron
• Team tasks with Kanban board and real-time updates
• Auto-update from GitHub Releases

Lite vs Standard

| Feature | Lite (Desktop) | Standard (Server) | |---------|---------------|-------------------| | Agents | Max 5 | Unlimited | | Teams | Max 1 (5 members) | Unlimited | | Database | SQLite (local) | PostgreSQL | | Memory | FTS5 text search | pgvector semantic | | Channels | — | Telegram, Discord, Slack, Zalo, Feishu, WhatsApp | | Knowledge Graph | — | Full | | RBAC / Multi-tenant | — | Full | | Auto-update | GitHub Releases | Docker / binary |

Building from Source

# Prerequisites: Go 1.26+, pnpm, Wails CLI (go install github.com/wailsapp/wails/v2/cmd/wails@latest)
make desktop-build                    # Build .app (macOS) or .exe (Windows)
make desktop-dmg VERSION=0.1.0        # Create .dmg installer (macOS only)
make desktop-dev                      # Dev mode with hot reload

Desktop Releases

Desktop uses independent versioning with lite-v* tags:

git tag lite-v0.1.0 && git push origin lite-v0.1.0
# → GitHub Actions builds macOS (.dmg + .tar.gz) + Windows (.zip)
# → Creates GitHub Release with all assets

Architecture

Quick Start

Prerequisites: Go 1.26+, PostgreSQL 18 with pgvector, Docker (optional)

From Source

git clone -b main https://github.com/nextlevelbuilder/goclaw.git && cd goclaw
make build
./goclaw onboard        # Interactive setup wizard
source .env.local && ./goclaw

Note: The default branch is dev (active development). Use -b main to clone the stable release branch.

With Docker

# Generate .env with auto-generated secrets
chmod +x prepare-env.sh && ./prepare-env.sh

# Add at least one GOCLAW_*_API_KEY to .env, then:
make up

# Web Dashboard at http://localhost:18790 (built-in)
# Health check: curl http://localhost:18790/health

# Optional: separate nginx for custom SSL/reverse proxy
# make up WITH_WEB_NGINX=1  → Dashboard at http://localhost:3000

make up creates a Docker network, embeds the correct version from git tags, builds and starts all services, and runs database migrations automatically.

Common commands:

make up                # Start all services (build + migrate)
make down              # Stop all services
make logs              # Tail logs (goclaw service)
make reset             # Wipe volumes and rebuild from scratch

Optional services — enable with WITH_* flags:

| Flag | Service | What it does | |------|---------|-------------| | WITH_BROWSER=1 | Headless Chrome | Enables browser tool for web scraping, screenshots, automation | | WITH_OTEL=1 | Jaeger | OpenTelemetry tracing UI for debugging LLM calls and latency | | WITH_SANDBOX=1 | Docker sandbox | Isolated container for running untrusted code from agents | | WITH_TAILSCALE=1 | Tailscale | Expose gateway over Tailscale private network | | WITH_REDIS=1 | Redis | Redis-backed caching layer |

Flags can be combined and work with all commands:

# Start with browser automation and tracing
make up WITH_BROWSER=1 WITH_OTEL=1

# Stop everything including optional services
make down WITH_BROWSER=1 WITH_OTEL=1

When GOCLAW_*_API_KEY environment variables are set, the gateway auto-onboards without interactive prompts — detects provider, runs migrations, and seeds default data.

Docker image variants: | Image | Description | |-------|-------------| | latest | Backend + embedded web UI + Python (recommended) | | latest-base | Backend API-only, no web UI, no runtimes | | latest-full | All runtimes + skill dependencies pre-installed | | latest-otel | Latest + OpenTelemetry tracing | | goclaw-web | Standalone nginx + React SPA (for custom reverse proxy) |

For custom builds (Tailscale, Redis): docker build --build-arg ENABLE_TSNET=true ... See the Deployment Guide for details.

Updating

Docker

docker compose pull && docker compose up -d

Binary (with embedded web UI)

goclaw update --apply    # Downloads, verifies SHA256, swaps binary, restarts

Web Dashboard

Open About dialog → click *