Tutorial

OpenClaw Environment Variables Reference

February 14, 20264 min readReviewed March 8, 2026

OpenClaw can be configured through environment variables. This is particularly useful for sensitive data like API keys and for containerized deployments.

Setting Environment Variables

            # Temporarily (current session)
export OPENCLAW_LOG_LEVEL=debug

# Permanently (add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc)
echo 'export OPENCLAW_LOG_LEVEL=debug' >> ~/.bashrc

# For a single command
OPENCLAW_LOG_LEVEL=debug openclaw chat
        

Core Variables

Variable	Description	Default
OPENCLAW_CONFIG_DIR	Custom config directory path	~/.config/openclaw
OPENCLAW_DATA_DIR	Custom data directory path	~/.local/share/openclaw
OPENCLAW_LOG_LEVEL	Logging verbosity	info
OPENCLAW_DAEMON_PORT	Daemon HTTP port	3000
OPENCLAW_NO_COLOR	Disable colored output	false

API Keys

Variable	Description	Provider
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	Claude API key	Anthropic
OPENAI_API_KEY	OpenAI API key	OpenAI
OPENCLAW_DEFAULT_MODEL	Default model to use	Any

Security: Environment variables take precedence over config file values. Use them for sensitive data to avoid accidentally committing API keys to version control.

Integration Variables

Variable	Description
DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN	Discord bot token
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN	Telegram bot token
SLACK_BOT_TOKEN	Slack bot token
WHATSAPP_PHONE_ID	WhatsApp phone number ID
WHATSAPP_ACCESS_TOKEN	WhatsApp access token

Log Levels

Level	Description
debug	Verbose logging for troubleshooting
info	General informational messages
warn	Warnings and errors only
error	Errors only

Docker / Compose Example

            # docker-compose.yml
services:
  openclaw:
    image: openclaw/openclaw:latest
    environment:
      - ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=${ANTHROPIC_API_KEY}
      - OPENCLAW_LOG_LEVEL=info
      - DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN=${DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN}
    volumes:
      - openclaw-data:/data

volumes:
  openclaw-data:
        

.env File

For convenience, use a .env file in your project directory:

            # .env
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
OPENCLAW_LOG_LEVEL=info
DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN=MTE...
        

Remember: Add .env to your .gitignore file to prevent committing sensitive data.

References

OpenClaw Official Documentation - https://docs.openclaw.ai/ - Accessed February 2026
OpenClaw GitHub Repository - https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw - Accessed February 2026
OpenClaw Configuration Guide - Environment & Configuration - Accessed February 2026
Anthropic API Keys - Anthropic Console - Accessed February 2026

Configure with confidence

Use environment variables for secure, flexible OpenClaw configuration.

Learn More

OpenClaw Environment Variables Reference

Setting Environment Variables

Core Variables

API Keys

Integration Variables

Log Levels

Docker / Compose Example

.env File

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References

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