How to uninstall OpenClaw (and what to try before you do)

If you searched for how to uninstall OpenClaw, this page walks through a complete removal on macOS, Linux, and Windows, for npm installs, the hosted installer script, Docker, and a git checkout. A short note at the end covers the case where you came here because setup failed, not because you want agents gone for good.

Save your data first

Uninstalling can take your data with it, and there is no undo. OpenClaw keeps config, sessions, credentials, and the agent workspace under a state directory in your home folder (by default ~/.openclaw, overridable with OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR). That tree holds openclaw.json, channel tokens on disk, saved sessions, installed skills, and workspace files such as memory and daily notes.

Copy it before you delete anything:

cp -r ~/.openclaw ~/openclaw-backup

On Windows, copy %USERPROFILE%\.openclaw to another folder. If you used a profile (--profile or OPENCLAW_PROFILE), you may also have ~/.openclaw-<name>; back those up the same way. For Docker, data lives in the volume you mounted, not inside the container image, so back up that volume path or export the volume before you remove it.

The CLI can snapshot state before a reset: openclaw backup create (see the reset command docs). That is worth running if you might reinstall and want a restorable copy.

Stop the agent first

Removing files while the gateway is running risks corrupted sessions and a service that immediately tries to restart. Stop OpenClaw before you uninstall packages or delete directories.

If the CLI is still on your PATH, the direct stop is:

openclaw gateway stop

If you installed a background daemon (for example via openclaw onboard --install-daemon from the install guide), the gateway also runs as a system service. Stopping the CLI is not always enough until you unload that service, which the next sections cover.

For a quick pause without teardown, stopping the gateway leaves config and workspace intact so you can start again later.

Use the built in uninstaller

OpenClaw ships an uninstall flow in the CLI. The official uninstall doc treats this as the recommended path when openclaw still runs.

Interactive:

openclaw uninstall

Non interactive (scripts, remote SSH, or you already know you want everything gone):

openclaw uninstall --all --yes --non-interactive

If the binary is missing but you still have npm, you can run the same through npx:

npx -y openclaw uninstall --all --yes --non-interactive

That sequence is meant to stop the gateway, remove the gateway service registration, and prompt you (or, with --all --yes, proceed) through state and workspace cleanup. After it finishes, remove the global package with the tool you used to install:

npm rm -g openclaw

(or pnpm remove -g openclaw / bun remove -g openclaw).

Manual equivalent if you prefer explicit steps: openclaw gateway stop, then openclaw gateway uninstall, then delete state (below), then npm rm -g openclaw.

Remove the background service by hand

When the CLI is gone but something still respawns the gateway, remove the service definition for your OS. Default names come from the uninstall documentation; profile installs use a suffix on the label or unit name.

macOS (launchd user agent). Default label ai.openclaw.gateway (legacy installs may still use com.openclaw.*):

launchctl bootout gui/$UID/ai.openclaw.gateway
rm -f ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ai.openclaw.gateway.plist

Apple documents launchd job layout in the Creating Launch Daemons and Agents archive guide.

Linux (systemd user unit). Default unit openclaw-gateway.service:

systemctl --user disable --now openclaw-gateway.service
rm -f ~/.config/systemd/user/openclaw-gateway.service
systemctl --user daemon-reload

See the systemctl manual for user level units.

Windows (scheduled task). Default task name OpenClaw Gateway:

schtasks /Delete /F /TN "OpenClaw Gateway"
Remove-Item -Force "$env:USERPROFILE\.openclaw\gateway.cmd" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

If you only ever started OpenClaw in a terminal and never installed the daemon, skip service removal.

Remove the npm (or pnpm / bun) package

The install.sh and PowerShell installer put the CLI on your machine with npm install -g openclaw@latest. Remove it with:

npm rm -g openclaw

Confirm the binary is gone:

which openclaw

On Windows, use where openclaw. No output means PATH no longer resolves the command. Open a new terminal if an old session still finds a cached path.

If the command still resolves, you likely have multiple Node installs (Homebrew Node, system Node, nvm, fnm, volta). Run which -a openclaw on Unix, uninstall openclaw on each Node version that had it, and check npm prefix -g plus echo "$PATH" against the install troubleshooting section so the global bin directory matches the Node you use day to day.

Permission errors. npm rm -g openclaw failing with EACCES usually means global modules live in a root owned directory. Fixing the npm global directory permissions is safer than making every global uninstall require sudo. The npm uninstall command reference documents flags if you need them.

macOS app bundle. Some installs also place /Applications/OpenClaw.app. Remove it with:

rm -rf /Applications/OpenClaw.app

Delete the state directory

Uninstalling the package removes the program, not the directories it wrote. Delete the state dir after backup:

rm -rf "${OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR:-$HOME/.openclaw}"

If you set OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH outside that tree, remove that file or folder too (echo $OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH on Unix, $env:OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH in PowerShell).

Older rebrands sometimes left data in ~/.clawdbot or ~/.moltbot. If you migrated from an early name, check those paths and delete them if they still exist.

Clear API keys and channel tokens you exported into shell profiles or a secrets manager. Those values often live outside .openclaw in environment variables you set during onboarding.

Docker installs

Container teardown follows Docker semantics. List what you actually created:

docker ps -a
docker volume ls

Stop and remove the container (names vary with your compose file or run command):

docker stop openclaw
docker rm openclaw

The docker container rm reference covers force remove and linked containers. Removing the container does not remove a named volume that held /data or your mount.

Remove the image when you no longer need it:

docker rmi openclaw

Removing the volume is what deletes agent data permanently:

docker volume rm openclaw_data

See docker volume rm. Substitute your real container, image, and volume names from docker ps -a and docker volume ls.

Git clone / source checkout

If you run from a cloned openclaw/openclaw repo (bun run openclaw or similar), uninstall the gateway service first (built in uninstaller or manual service steps above), delete the repository directory, then remove state and workspace the same way as an npm install. There is no global openclaw package to npm rm unless you also installed the CLI globally.

Reset without removing the CLI

When the problem is bad config or corrupted sessions, not the install itself, use openclaw reset instead of a full uninstall:

openclaw reset --dry-run
openclaw reset --scope config+creds+sessions --yes --non-interactive

Scopes include config, config+creds+sessions, and full. That wipes local state while keeping the CLI installed, which is faster than reinstalling Node packages when you only need a clean openclaw.json and fresh sessions.

Uninstall troubleshooting

Before you uninstall

Many searches that land on uninstall guides follow install failures, gateway errors, or pairing that never completed. If that matches you, the agent idea may still be fine while the self hosted operations (Node versions, daemon restarts, port conflicts) were the friction.

Operator.io runs OpenClaw as a managed service: no global npm install, no launchd plist to debug, and channels such as Telegram or Discord attach from the dashboard. You get the same agent model and tool patterns without maintaining the gateway process on your own hardware. See pricing if you want to try that path instead of another evening fighting openclaw gateway stop.

If you are done running an agent locally for now, the finish line looks like this:

• Gateway stopped
• Service definition removed
• CLI package removed with npm rm -g (or the pnpm/bun equivalent)
• State directory deleted, plus any custom OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH or profile dirs
• Docker volumes removed if you used containers

After that, which openclaw returns nothing and ~/.openclaw is gone, and OpenClaw leaves no running process behind.