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OpenClaw behind Warden

OpenClaw is a Node-based self-hosted AI assistant. Because it is Node-based, it requires NODE_USE_ENV_PROXY=1 — the compose sets it so Node's built-in fetch actually uses the proxy.

1. Generate the CA (once)

From the repo root:

OUT_DIR=deploy/compose/certs ./scripts/gen-certs.sh

2. Bring it up

docker compose -f deploy/compose/docker-compose.openclaw.yml up

Warden is pulled from Docker Hub (ethosagent/warden) — no local build. Override the version with WARDEN_VERSION (default 0.2.1): WARDEN_VERSION=0.2.0 docker compose -f deploy/compose/docker-compose.openclaw.yml up

OpenClaw is on an internal: true network; its only route out is Warden. The UI is reachable via a socat forwarder, not a direct port on OpenClaw.

First run & gateway auth

OpenClaw won't start unconfigured, and it refuses to expose its gateway on a non-loopback bind without auth — two gates the compose clears for you:

  • command: [... "gateway", "--allow-unconfigured"] lets the gateway boot before you've run openclaw setup. Without it the container exits with code 78 (Missing config). Configure providers and channels later from the Control UI.
  • OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN supplies the gateway auth token. In a container OpenClaw auto-binds 0.0.0.0 (so the socat forwarder can reach it), but refuses a non-loopback bind without a token or password.

Open the Control UI with the token as a URL fragment (note the #, not ? — the UI reads it client-side and uses it for the gateway WebSocket handshake):

http://localhost:18789/#token=warden-dev-token

Change the token by editing OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN in deploy/compose/docker-compose.openclaw.yml (use OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_PASSWORD for password auth instead). For anything beyond a local demo, use a strong random token.

3. Prove the isolation

# Through Warden — succeeds, and shows in the dashboard:
docker compose -f deploy/compose/docker-compose.openclaw.yml \
  exec openclaw sh -c 'curl -sS --max-time 10 https://example.com -o /dev/null -w "via proxy: %{http_code}\n"'

# Bypassing the proxy — FAILS (no direct route out):
docker compose -f deploy/compose/docker-compose.openclaw.yml \
  exec openclaw sh -c 'curl -sS --noproxy "*" --max-time 5 https://example.com' ; echo "exit: $?"

Secrets: placeholders only

Hand OpenClaw placeholder tokens (e.g. openai_secret_001), never real keys. Warden swaps them at the edge; real keys live in Warden's environment only.

Tighten the policy

configs/config.recipe.yaml ships allow-all for first-run visibility. Once you see OpenClaw's real traffic in the dashboard, replace the ~.* catch-all with the hosts it actually needs and add secrets: placeholder→envVar mappings. See docs/docker-end-to-end.md.