Step-by-step for every platform. Windows WSL2 (the most complete guide online), Mac Apple Silicon, Linux, and cloud VPS. One-line install explained, onboarding walkthrough, and common errors with fixes.
NemoClaw's official docs are Linux-first. Windows support works via WSL2, which runs a real Linux kernel inside Windows. This is the most reliable path for Windows users.
Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:
wsl --installThis installs WSL2 with Ubuntu 22.04. Restart your computer when prompted. After reboot, Ubuntu will finish setup and ask you to create a Linux username and password.
Download from docker.com/products/docker-desktop. During setup, ensure "Use WSL2 based engine" is checked. After installation, open Docker Desktop settings → Resources → WSL Integration → Enable integration with your Ubuntu distribution.
Search for "Ubuntu" in the Start menu and open it. You now have a full Linux terminal. Verify Docker works inside WSL2:
docker --versionShould return a version number. If it says "command not found," go back to Docker Desktop settings and enable the WSL2 integration.
In the Ubuntu terminal, run the one-line installer:
curl -fsSL https://www.nvidia.com/nemoclaw.sh | bashThis installs Node.js (if needed), the NemoClaw plugin CLI, and OpenShell. Takes 2–5 minutes.
nemoclaw onboardThe wizard asks for your NVIDIA API key, names your assistant, and sets up the initial configuration. See the full wizard walkthrough below.
Colima is a lightweight alternative to Docker Desktop that works well with NemoClaw:
brew install colima
colima start --cpu 4 --memory 8 --disk 40brew install dockercurl -fsSL https://www.nvidia.com/nemoclaw.sh | bashnemoclaw onboardcurl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp dockerThe last two commands add your user to the docker group so you can run docker without sudo. The newgrp docker applies the group change without requiring a logout.
curl -fsSL https://www.nvidia.com/nemoclaw.sh | bashnemoclaw onboardRunning NemoClaw on a cloud VPS (DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Linode, AWS EC2) is a great way to keep it always on. Use Ubuntu 22.04 LTS as your base image.
For manual VPS setup, follow the Linux steps above. Minimum recommended VPS specs:
The install command is:
curl -fsSL https://www.nvidia.com/nemoclaw.sh | bashBreaking this down:
curl — downloads a file from the internet-fsSL — flags that mean: fail silently on errors, silent progress, follow redirectshttps://www.nvidia.com/nemoclaw.sh — NVIDIA's official install script URL| bash — pipes the downloaded script directly to bash to run itThe script itself:
Run: nemoclaw onboard
The wizard will ask you:
nemoclaw my-assistant connect.
After the wizard completes, your sandbox is ready. The first time it runs, it downloads the ~2.4GB container image, which takes a few minutes depending on your connection.
nemoclaw my-assistant status(Replace "my-assistant" with whatever you named your agent.) Should show the sandbox as running, OpenShell gateway healthy, and inference endpoint connected.
nemoclaw my-assistant connectThis drops you into the sandboxed OpenClaw session. Try sending a message: "What model are you running and what can you do?" If you get a response, everything is working.
nemoclaw my-assistant logsShows real-time logs of what the agent is doing inside the sandbox. Useful for troubleshooting and verifying that security policies are being applied.
Docker isn't running. Fix:
sudo systemctl start docker. If that fails, check sudo systemctl status docker for error details.The 2.4GB sandbox image download is large and can time out on slow connections. Fix: run nemoclaw my-assistant status again. NemoClaw resumes interrupted downloads. If it keeps failing, check your network connection and try again. On a corporate network, ensure Docker has access to ghcr.io (GitHub Container Registry).
The Docker daemon + k3s cluster + OpenShell gateway together require meaningful RAM. If you're on an 8GB machine and have other things running, you may hit memory limits. Fix: close other applications, or configure 8GB of swap space to handle bursts.
# Add 8GB swap on Linux
sudo fallocate -l 8G /swapfile
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfileYour NVIDIA API key isn't configured correctly. Check: cat ~/.nemoclaw/credentials.json. The key should be there. If it's missing or wrong, re-run nemoclaw onboard or manually update the credentials file. Get a new key at build.nvidia.com if needed.
This is expected behavior. The agent tried to reach something not on the default allowlist. You have two options:
~/.nemoclaw/my-assistant/openclaw-sandbox.yaml and add the endpoint to the egress.rules section. Save and the policy reloads without a sandbox restart.Was this guide helpful?