macOS installation | Friends of the Crustacean 🦞🤝 | Page 1

merry isle Jan 12, 2026, 10:50 AM

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I have Clawdbot up and running on Telegram. And I want to test the macOS app. But the documentation is unclear on where to download the app from (or or how to rebuild from source if that's the expectation).

dense cosmosBOT Jan 12, 2026, 10:50 AM

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Great question! 🦐 The macOS app situation is:

Currently: Build from source (no pre-built binary publicly available yet)

Options to get it:

Build from source (straightforward):

cd apps/macos
swift build --configuration release
swift run Clawdbot  # runs directly
# Or build the full app bundle:
./scripts/package-mac-app.sh

Watch GitHub Releases:
The app is Developer ID signed and published to clawdbot/clawdbot/releases as a zip when cut. Once a release is live, you'll see Clawdbot-VERSION.zip you can download and run.

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Dev workflow:
```
swift run Clawdbot  # quick test
```

The macOS app is a menu-bar companion that manages the Gateway locally and exposes macOS capabilities (notifications, camera, screen recording, Canvas automation). You're right the docs could be clearer about this - I'll flag that to Peter!

Happy to help with the build if you run into issues! 🦐

merry isle Jan 12, 2026, 1:08 PM

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what about the iOS app ?

dense cosmosBOT Jan 12, 2026, 1:08 PM

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The iOS app is currently in internal preview — it's not publicly distributed yet. You can run it from source if you want to test it:

To build from source:

Clone the repo
Open apps/ios/Clawdbot/Clawdbot.xcodeproj in Xcode
Build and run on your device/simulator

Requirements:

A Gateway running on another device (macOS/Linux/Windows via WSL2)
Bridge enabled on the gateway
Same LAN (via Bonjour discovery) or Tailnet

The app pairs with your gateway just like the macOS node — once running, you'll see it in Settings to discover/connect to your gateway, then approve the pairing from the CLI with:

clawdbot nodes approve <requestId>

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Let me know if you run into any issues! 🦐

merry isle Jan 12, 2026, 1:23 PM

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what do you call a node? I guess it's unrelated to node.js

dense cosmosBOT Jan 12, 2026, 1:23 PM

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Correct — a node has nothing to do with Node.js! In Clawdbot, a node is a companion device that connects to your Gateway and exposes local capabilities:

Canvas — rendering UI that the agent can interact with
Camera — take photos/videos
Screen — record the screen
Location — GPS coordinates
Microphone/Voice — for talk mode

Nodes are the macOS menu bar app, iOS app, or Android app that pair with your Gateway. They're separate from the main Gateway daemon which handles all the messaging providers (Telegram, WhatsApp, etc.).

So when you run clawdbot nodes status, it's showing you all the connected phones/laptops that are paired with your Gateway and ready to be controlled by your agents.

Think of it as: Gateway = brain + comms, Nodes = sensory organs + hands 🦐

merry isle Jan 12, 2026, 1:25 PM

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I installed clawdbot back when it was clawdis. So the onboarding flow was nonexistent back then. Are there ways to check the current status of my installation and whether some things need to be updated or some configs added ?

dense cosmosBOT Jan 12, 2026, 1:26 PM

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Yes! Here are the key commands to check your installation status:

Quick health checks:

clawdbot doctor          # Health checks + quick fixes (recommended first)
clawdbot gateway status  # Is the gateway running and accessible?
clawdbot providers status --probe  # Check all providers
clawdbot status --deep   # Full diagnosis

Specific checks:

clawdbot models status   # Model auth status (OAuth/API keys)
clawdbot nodes status    # Connected nodes
clawdbot daemon status   # Is the service running?

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Since you installed back when it was clawdis, doctor is especially useful — it will:

Detect legacy config formats and migrate them
Spot missing configs or outdated settings
Suggest fixes where it can auto-apply them

Run clawdbot doctor and it'll tell you what needs attention! 🦐

merry isle Jan 12, 2026, 1:39 PM

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how can I check if the version installed is the last version available ?

dense cosmosBOT Jan 12, 2026, 1:39 PM

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Check your current version:

clawdbot --version
# or
clawdbot status --verbose

Check latest available:

For npm/pnpm/bun installs:

npm view clawdbot version      # npm
pnpm view clawdbot version     # pnpm
bun view clawdbot version      # bun

For git/source installs:

#

git fetch origin
git rev-parse HEAD           # your current commit
git rev-parse origin/main    # latest main branch

Or just run the update check:

clawdbot update --json | jq '.update.available'

This will tell you if an update exists without actually applying it. 🦐

merry isle Jan 12, 2026, 1:41 PM

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for both doctor and update I get the same error [clawdbot] Failed to start CLI: Error [ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND]: Cannot find package 'tar' imported from

dense cosmosBOT Jan 12, 2026, 1:41 PM

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That's a dependency issue. Reinstall your dependencies:

cd ~/clawdbot-ref
pnpm install

If you still have issues, try a clean reinstall:

cd ~/clawdbot-ref
rm -rf node_modules pnpm-lock.yaml
pnpm install
pnpm build

Then run clawdbot doctor again. 🦐

merry isle Jan 12, 2026, 1:42 PM

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because I've had several issues, I'm thinking I could uninstall and reinstall, what's the approach ?

dense cosmosBOT Jan 12, 2026, 1:43 PM

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Quick uninstall (if CLI still works):

clawdbot uninstall --all --yes

Then reinstall:

# npm
npm i -g clawdbot@latest

# or pnpm
pnpm add -g clawdbot@latest

# or bun
bun add -g clawdbot@latest

#macOS installation