Problem

You're deploying into an airgapped network. The curl | bash installer needs internet, the Python scanner SDKs pull from PyPI, the OTel exporters want to reach SaaS endpoints. None of that is available to you.

Solution

DefenseClaw is airgap-friendly by design: binaries are statically linked, scanners are optional, and the default sinks write to local disk. This is the operator checklist.

Step 1: Build or download artifacts on an internet host

# on an internet-connected host
make dist
# artifacts land in dist/

Copy into the airgap:

dist/defenseclaw-<ver>-linux-amd64.tar.gz
dist/defenseclaw-<ver>.whl
dist/defenseclaw-plugin-<ver>.tgz
SHA-256 sums

Step 2: Mirror the Python SDKs (optional)

If you want skill-scanner and mcp-scanner available:

# on internet host
pip download skill-scanner mcpscanner -d /tmp/defenseclaw-wheels

Transfer /tmp/defenseclaw-wheels into the airgap. On the target:

pip install --no-index --find-links=/path/to/wheels skill-scanner mcpscanner

Step 3: Install on the target

tar -xzf defenseclaw-<ver>-linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo install defenseclaw-gateway /usr/local/bin/
pip install --no-index defenseclaw-<ver>.whl
defenseclaw init --skip-install   # --skip-install avoids PyPI probes

The --skip-install flag tells init not to attempt SDK auto-install. If you mirrored the wheels in Step 2, the SDKs are already importable; if you didn't, the dependent scanners remain inactive and the sidecar runs without them.

Step 4: Point at local-only sinks

Disable SaaS sinks and rely on the local SQLite audit DB at ~/.defenseclaw/audit.db.

Or forward to an internal Splunk/OTLP endpoint:

defenseclaw setup observability add splunk-hec \
  --host splunk.internal \
  --port 8088 \
  --token $HEC_TOKEN \
  --index defenseclaw \
  --non-interactive

Step 5: Disable the LLM judge (or use an internal one)

The default judge config points at an external LLM. In airgap, either:

Disable judge calls by using defenseclaw setup guardrail --detection-strategy regex_only --non-interactive.
Point at an internal judge with --judge-api-base, --judge-model, and --judge-api-key-env, then keep --detection-strategy regex_judge.

Step 6: Disable outbound DefenseClaw updates

DefenseClaw has no auto-update by default. Keep hosts airgapped by avoiding installer scripts that fetch from GitHub or PyPI and by mirroring every wheel or release archive explicitly.

Upgrades

Same flow: download on an internet host, transport, install:

tar -xzf defenseclaw-<newver>-linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo install defenseclaw-gateway /usr/local/bin/
pip install --no-index defenseclaw-<newver>.whl
defenseclaw-gateway restart

The on-disk state (~/.defenseclaw/) is preserved across upgrades — policies, audit DB, overlays all carry over.

Verification

defenseclaw doctor

Expect passes on: binary paths, config, audit DB, device key, scanner import (if you mirrored wheels), sink connectivity. Expect failures on: external update check (turned off above), external judge (unless you wired an internal one).

Caveats

Time sync matters. Airgapped hosts often drift; if your sinks reject old timestamps, you'll see sink.rejected events. Run chrony or ntp against an internal time source.
Monitor CVE disclosures out-of-band. The curl installer has no phone-home, which means you're responsible for noticing when to upgrade.
Scanner SDK versions must match the sidecar. Re-mirror wheels whenever you upgrade DefenseClaw.

Airgapped install — DefenseClaw