openclaw-mcp

OpenClaw MCP Server

🦞 Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for OpenClaw AI assistant integration.

Demo

Why I Built This

Hey! I created this MCP server because I didn't want to rely solely on messaging channels to communicate with OpenClaw. What really excites me is the ability to connect OpenClaw to the Claude web UI. Essentially, my chat can delegate tasks to my Claw bot, which then handles everything else — like spinning up Claude Code to fix issues for me.

Think of it as an AI assistant orchestrating another AI assistant. Pretty cool, right?

Quick Start

Docker (Recommended)

Pre-built images are published to GitHub Container Registry on every release.

docker pull ghcr.io/freema/openclaw-mcp:latest

Create a docker-compose.yml:

services:
  mcp-bridge:
    image: ghcr.io/freema/openclaw-mcp:latest
    container_name: openclaw-mcp
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      - OPENCLAW_URL=http://host.docker.internal:18789
      - OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN=${OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN}
      - AUTH_ENABLED=true
      - MCP_CLIENT_ID=openclaw
      - MCP_CLIENT_SECRET=${MCP_CLIENT_SECRET}
      - MCP_ISSUER_URL=${MCP_ISSUER_URL:-}
      - CORS_ORIGINS=https://claude.ai
    extra_hosts:
      - "host.docker.internal:host-gateway"
    read_only: true
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges

Generate secrets and start:

export MCP_CLIENT_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32)
export OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN=your-gateway-token
docker compose up -d

Then in Claude.ai add a custom MCP connector pointing to your server with MCP_CLIENT_ID=openclaw and your MCP_CLIENT_SECRET.

Tip: Pin a specific version instead of latest for production: ghcr.io/freema/openclaw-mcp:1.1.0

Local (Claude Desktop)

npx openclaw-mcp

Add to your Claude Desktop config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openclaw": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["openclaw-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "OPENCLAW_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:18789",
        "OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN": "your-gateway-token",
        "OPENCLAW_TIMEOUT_MS": "300000"
      }
    }
  }
}

Remote (Claude.ai) without Docker

AUTH_ENABLED=true MCP_CLIENT_ID=openclaw MCP_CLIENT_SECRET=your-secret \
  MCP_ISSUER_URL=https://mcp.your-domain.com \
  CORS_ORIGINS=https://claude.ai OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN=your-gateway-token \
  npx openclaw-mcp --transport sse --port 3000

Important: When running behind a reverse proxy (Caddy, nginx, etc.), you must set MCP_ISSUER_URL (or --issuer-url) to your public HTTPS URL. Without this, OAuth metadata will advertise http://localhost:3000 and clients will fail to authenticate.

See Installation Guide for details.

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                         Your Server                             │
│                                                                 │
│  ┌─────────────────┐      ┌─────────────────────────┐          │
│  │   OpenClaw      │      │    OpenClaw MCP         │          │
│  │   Gateway       │◄────►│    Bridge Server        │          │
│  │   :18789        │      │    :3000                │          │
│  │                 │      │                         │          │
│  │  OpenAI-compat  │      │  - OAuth 2.1 auth       │          │
│  │  /v1/chat/...   │      │  - CORS protection      │          │
│  └─────────────────┘      │  - Input validation     │          │
│                           └──────────┬──────────────┘          │
│                                      │                          │
└──────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────┘
                                       │ HTTPS + OAuth 2.1
                                       ▼
                              ┌─────────────────┐
                              │   Claude.ai     │
                              │   (MCP Client)  │
                              └─────────────────┘

Available Tools

Sync Tools

Tool	Description
openclaw_chat	Send messages to OpenClaw and get responses
openclaw_status	Check OpenClaw gateway health

Async Tools (for long-running operations)

Tool	Description
openclaw_chat_async	Queue a message, get task_id immediately
openclaw_task_status	Check task progress and get results
openclaw_task_list	List all tasks with filtering
openclaw_task_cancel	Cancel a pending task

Documentation

• Installation — Setup for Claude Desktop & Claude.ai
• Configuration — Environment variables & options
• Deployment — Docker & production setup
• Threat Model — What Claude can/can't trigger, trust boundaries & attack surfaces
• Logging — What gets logged, where, and what is never logged
• Development — Contributing & adding tools
• Security — Security policy & best practices

Security

⚠️ Always enable authentication in production!

# Generate secure client secret
export MCP_CLIENT_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32)

# Run with auth enabled
AUTH_ENABLED=true MCP_CLIENT_ID=openclaw MCP_CLIENT_SECRET=$MCP_CLIENT_SECRET \
  openclaw-mcp --transport sse

Configure CORS to restrict access:

CORS_ORIGINS=https://claude.ai,https://your-app.com

See Configuration for all security options.

Requirements

• Node.js ≥ 20
• OpenClaw gateway running with HTTP API enabled:

  // openclaw.json
  { "gateway": { "http": { "endpoints": { "chatCompletions": { "enabled": true } } } } }
  

License

MIT

Author

Created by Tomáš Grasl

Related Projects

• OpenClaw — The AI assistant this MCP connects to
• MCP Specification — Model Context Protocol docs