Install

Install DefenseClaw with curl on macOS/Linux, PowerShell on Windows, or build it from source. Pins Python 3.10+ and Go 1.26+ for source builds.

DefenseClaw ships pre-built binaries for macOS, Linux, and Windows. The macOS/Linux installer drops the defenseclaw CLI and defenseclaw-gateway sidecar into ~/.local/bin/, creates ~/.defenseclaw/, and sets up a virtualenv under ~/.defenseclaw/.venv/. The Windows installer uses the same per-user layout under %USERPROFILE%: defenseclaw-gateway.exe plus a defenseclaw.cmd CLI shim in %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin, with the virtualenv under %USERPROFILE%\.defenseclaw\.venv.

Installing as root is supported but discouraged — DefenseClaw is per-user by design so each operator's audit DB and connector state stays isolated.

Prerequisites

Requirement	Version
Python	3.10+ for source builds; Windows installer manages Python 3.12 through `uv`
Go	1.26.2+ (only for source builds)
Node.js	18+ (only for the OpenClaw plugin, source builds)
PowerShell	Windows PowerShell 5.1+ or PowerShell 7+ for the Windows installer
Docker	Optional, for local observability and Splunk bundles

What's bundled (LLM backends)

The base install ships everything DefenseClaw needs to talk to the major LLM backends out of the box:

Backend	Status	Notes
OpenAI / Anthropic / generic OpenAI-compatible	bundled	LiteLLM, the default LLM transport, is a base dependency.
AWS Bedrock	bundled	`boto3` ships in `[project].dependencies` so SigV4, IAM credential modes, and Anthropic-on-Bedrock bearer tokens work without a follow-up `pip install`.
Google Vertex AI	opt-in extra	The Vertex SDK pulls ~286 MB of transitive deps (BigQuery, Cloud Storage, gRPC, protobuf). Install when you need it: `pip install 'defenseclaw[vertex]'`. The gateway falls back to LiteLLM's REST transport when the SDK is absent, so basic Vertex calls still work — only service-account / workload-identity auth needs the SDK.
Azure OpenAI	bundled	Routed via LiteLLM's `azure_openai` adapter.
Self-hosted / internal endpoints	bundled	Configure via `defenseclaw setup provider add` → see Unified LLM key → Custom providers.

Pick an install path

VERSION=0.8.3
INSTALL_URL="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cisco-ai-defense/defenseclaw/${VERSION}/scripts/install.sh"
curl -LsSf "$INSTALL_URL" | VERSION="$VERSION" bash
defenseclaw init

The installer fetches the latest release for your platform, drops the binaries into ~/.local/bin/, and writes nothing else — it does not configure DefenseClaw. The follow-up defenseclaw init does that interactively. For an existing installation, use defenseclaw upgrade so DefenseClaw verifies release artifacts, backs up operator state, applies release-owned schema migrations, restarts the gateway, and checks health. Re-running the curl installer replaces the installed artifacts but does not provide that complete upgrade transaction.

If you'd rather skip the wizard entirely (CI, scripted demos), use the zero-prompt sibling instead:

defenseclaw quickstart --connector codex

$Version = "0.8.3"
$InstallUrl = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cisco-ai-defense/defenseclaw/$Version/scripts/install.ps1"
& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm $InstallUrl))) -Version $Version
defenseclaw init

The PowerShell installer downloads the Windows release ZIP for your architecture, verifies it against the release checksums, installs defenseclaw-gateway.exe, creates the CLI shim, and adds %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin to the user PATH. It also installs uv when needed so the Python CLI can run from the per-user virtualenv.

For non-interactive demos or CI, download the script and pass flags directly:

$Version = "0.8.3"
$InstallUrl = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cisco-ai-defense/defenseclaw/$Version/scripts/install.ps1"
& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm $InstallUrl))) -Version $Version -Connector codex -Quickstart -Yes

git clone https://github.com/cisco-ai-defense/defenseclaw.git
cd defenseclaw
make all
defenseclaw init

make all runs the Python install, builds the Go gateway, builds the OpenClaw plugin, and runs a quick smoke test. The artifacts land in bin/ and on your PATH. Then defenseclaw init walks you through the first-run setup (or run defenseclaw quickstart --connector <x> for the zero-prompt path).

What the install creates

config.yaml

audit.db

On Windows, read the same tree under %USERPROFILE%: %USERPROFILE%\.defenseclaw\ for config, audit state, hooks, and the virtualenv; %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin\ for defenseclaw.cmd and defenseclaw-gateway.exe.

Verify

defenseclaw --version
defenseclaw doctor

doctor runs a full health check: it walks the config, pings the gateway, reports each active connector (one per-connector block on a multi-connector install), surfaces missing API keys, and prints a remediation hint for every red row.

Uninstall

defenseclaw uninstall              # reversible — keeps ~/.defenseclaw/ and binaries
defenseclaw uninstall --all        # also delete ~/.defenseclaw/ (audit log, config, secrets)
defenseclaw uninstall --binaries   # also remove ~/.local/bin/defenseclaw{,-gateway}
defenseclaw uninstall --all --binaries --yes   # full nuke, no confirm prompt

The default tears down connector integrations (restores ~/.codex/config.toml, ~/.claude/settings.json, etc. from byte-for-byte backups) but leaves ~/.defenseclaw/ and the installed binaries on disk so a subsequent defenseclaw setup guardrail can pick up where you left off. Use --all and/or --binaries to make the removal total. --dry-run previews the plan.

Install

Prerequisites

What's bundled (LLM backends)

Pick an install path

What the install creates

Verify

Uninstall

Next

Quickstart

Upgrade safely

Setup Guardrail

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