OpenClaw

Learn how to connect OpenClaw to Agent Vault so it can make authenticated API requests without ever seeing your credentials.

Running OpenClaw on a remote VPS instead of your laptop? Follow Run OpenClaw on a VPS. It covers the same brokering pattern as a two-VPS deployment with systemd, a Slack bot, and an optional egress firewall.

Prerequisites

• A running Agent Vault instance on a separate host from where OpenClaw runs (see installation guide).
• OpenClaw installed (>= 2026.3.2).
• An agent token from Agent Vault (create one under Agents → Add agent).

Install the Agent Vault CLI on the host or in the container image where OpenClaw runs, and point it at your Agent Vault instance. The CLI bootstraps OpenClaw’s environment so every outbound API call routes through Agent Vault for credential injection.

Shell

1. Install the Agent Vault CLI

Add the agent-vault binary to the environment where OpenClaw runs.

curl --proto '=https' --proto-redir '=https' --tlsv1.2 -fsSL https://get.agent-vault.dev | sh

2. Set environment variables

The CLI reads these on launch to authenticate with Agent Vault and scope its session to the right vault.

export AGENT_VAULT_ADDR="http://<your-host>:14321"
export AGENT_VAULT_TOKEN="av_agt_xxx"
export AGENT_VAULT_VAULT="<VAULT_NAME>"

3. Run the OpenClaw gateway under agent-vault

agent-vault run -- openclaw gateway run

agent-vault run automatically configures OpenClaw’s managed proxy (proxy.enabled) and trusted env proxy for web_fetch, sets OPENCLAW_PROXY_URL, HTTPS_PROXY, HTTP_PROXY, and CA trust variables, and installs the Agent Vault skill. No manual OpenClaw configuration needed.

agent-vault run persists two settings in OpenClaw’s config:

proxy.enabled = true
tools.web.fetch.useTrustedEnvProxy = true

If you later want to run openclaw gateway run without Agent Vault, OpenClaw will refuse to start until you revert these settings.

Commands to revert:

openclaw config set proxy.enabled false
openclaw config set tools.web.fetch.useTrustedEnvProxy false

Dockerfile

1. Install the Agent Vault CLI

Add the agent-vault binary to the image where OpenClaw runs.

COPY --from=infisical/agent-vault:latest /usr/local/bin/agent-vault /usr/local/bin/agent-vault

2. Set the entrypoint

ENTRYPOINT ["agent-vault", "run", "--", "openclaw", "gateway", "run"]

3. Pass environment variables at runtime

Inject the env vars when you run the container so the token never gets baked into the image. The CLI reads them on launch to authenticate with Agent Vault and scope its session to the right vault.

docker run --rm -it \
  -e AGENT_VAULT_ADDR="http://<your-host>:14321" \
  -e AGENT_VAULT_TOKEN="av_agt_xxx" \
  -e AGENT_VAULT_VAULT="<VAULT_NAME>" \
  your-image

Manual config (systemd / launchd)

If OpenClaw is managed by a service supervisor and you cannot wrap it with agent-vault run, configure the proxy directly in openclaw.json:

{
  "proxy": {
    "enabled": true,
    "proxyUrl": "http://<token>:<vault>@<agent-vault-host>:14322",
    "tls": {
      "caFile": "/path/to/agent-vault-mitm-ca.pem"
    }
  },
  "tools": {
    "web": {
      "fetch": {
        "useTrustedEnvProxy": true
      }
    }
  }
}

Export the Agent Vault CA certificate:

curl -o /etc/openclaw/agent-vault-ca.pem http://<agent-vault-host>:14321/v1/mitm/ca.pem

proxy.tls.caFile scopes CA trust to proxy connections only, which is cleaner than the process-global NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS that agent-vault run uses.

Next steps

Run OpenClaw on a VPS

Production pattern with brokered credentials on a separate host.

Agent protocol

Full request lifecycle end-to-end.

Services

Pre-configure services you know the agent will need.