---
summary: "Install and use the OpenClaw macOS menu bar app"
read_when:
  - Installing the macOS app
  - Deciding between local and remote Gateway mode on macOS
  - Looking for macOS app release downloads
title: "macOS app"
---

The macOS app is the OpenClaw **menu bar companion**: native tray UI, macOS
permission prompts, notifications, WebChat, voice input, a hosted-widget panel,
and Mac-hosted node tools such as `system.run`.

Use **Quick Chat** for a Spotlight-style main-session composer without opening a full window. Press Option-Space (⌥Space) by default, choose it from the menu bar menu, or record another shortcut in **Settings → General**.

The full native chat accepts image attachments through its picker, paste, and
drag and drop. Assistant-generated images render inline through short-lived
Gateway artifact URLs and open in a larger preview; iOS and macOS share the same
bounded image model and renderer.

Only need the CLI and Gateway? Start with [Getting started](/start/getting-started).

## Download

Get macOS app builds from [OpenClaw GitHub releases](https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/releases).
When a release ships macOS app assets, look for:

- `OpenClaw-<version>.dmg` (preferred)
- `OpenClaw-<version>.zip`

Some releases only ship CLI, evidence, or Windows assets. If the newest release
has no macOS app asset, use the newest one that does, or build from source with
[macOS dev setup](/platforms/mac/dev-setup).

## First run

1. Install and launch **OpenClaw.app**.
2. Pick **This Mac** for a local Gateway, or connect to a remote Gateway.
3. For a new local Gateway, wait while the app installs its external CLI runtime
   and starts the Gateway. Connecting to a remote or independently managed local
   Gateway does not require installing a CLI on this Mac.
4. Establish inference with a live model check. If the app reused a login you
   did not want, **Choose a different AI** on the success banner reopens the
   picker, including the API-key option.
5. Finish. The app opens the dashboard, where OpenClaw guides the rest of the
   setup (memory import, channels, permissions) in one conversation. Grant
   macOS permissions any time from **Settings → Permissions**.

If the app reaches an existing Gateway whose default agent has a configured
model, it treats that Gateway as already set up, skips provider onboarding and
OpenClaw, and opens the dashboard. If the Gateway cannot connect or its
default agent has no model, inference onboarding remains available for
recovery.

For the CLI/Gateway setup path, use [Getting started](/start/getting-started).
For permission recovery, use [macOS permissions](/platforms/mac/permissions).

## Updates

The dashboard update card names what the app will update:

- **Update Mac app + Gateway** means the signed app owns the local launchd
  Gateway. Sparkle updates the app first; after relaunch, the app automatically
  updates and restarts its Gateway at the matching version, then verifies the
  connection.
- **Update Gateway** means the app is connected to a remote Gateway, a manually
  managed local Gateway, or another install the app does not own. The button
  runs that Gateway's normal update flow instead of changing the Mac app.

Either button asks for confirmation first. The card hands the update to the app
only after you choose **Update Mac app and restart**, so a misclick never starts
Sparkle.

A failed coordinated update stays in its setup-style window with retry,
[update guide](/install/updating), and Discord actions. Automatic repair never
downgrades a newer Gateway or overrides an `extended-stable` channel pin.

After a successful update, the app finds the most recently human-used,
top-level direct session and gives that agent a one-time update event. Heartbeat
and cron activity do not affect this choice. The agent can then welcome you back
from the conversation you were most likely using. In remote mode, a separately
installed, app-managed node service retains its own runtime update and recovery
flow; the app skips the notification when the remote Gateway is older than the
app. The app's private node worker updates with the app bundle itself.

Sparkle follows the Gateway's `update.channel` setting. `beta` and `dev` opt in
to beta app builds; `extended-stable` accepts only extended-stable app releases,
so it stays quiet when no matching app release exists. `stable`, missing, and
unknown values stay on stable app builds.

## Open dashboard links

In the macOS app's embedded dashboard, clicking an external web link opens it in a resizable browser sidebar at half the window width while keeping the dashboard navigation visible. Drag the divider to choose another width; the app remembers it. Each link opens in its own tab, the tab strip appears when multiple pages are open, and clicking the same link again reuses its existing tab. Drag tabs to reorder them, close them with the tab close button or a middle-click, and right-click a tab for **Open in Default Browser**, **Copy Link**, **Reload**, **Close Tab**, and **Close Other Tabs**. The window's titlebar back/forward controls and trackpad swipes navigate dashboard history; the sidebar's own back/forward controls navigate the active tab's history. The sidebar also has reload, open-in-default-browser, and close controls.

The titlebar controls follow the app sidebar: while it is expanded, back/forward sit at its right edge next to the sidebar toggle; while it is collapsed, they make way for a search button (opens the command palette) and a new-session button.

Drag the empty header space or title in the docked OpenClaw chat panel to move the app window. Its dock-position and close buttons remain clickable.

Right-click an external link to choose **Open in Sidebar**, **Open in Default Browser**, or **Copy Link**. Modified clicks and user-activated new-window links from the dashboard continue to open in the default browser; new-window links inside the sidebar open as new sidebar tabs. Regular browser-hosted Control UI pages keep the browser's normal link and context-menu behavior.

## Import browser logins

The first time the browser sidebar opens while the app runs against a local Gateway, the dashboard shows a dismissible banner when a Chrome-family profile with cookies exists on the Mac. The banner offers to copy those cookies into an isolated managed profile that agents use for browsing. Choose a profile from its **Import** control (Touch ID may be required); progress and the imported-cookie count appear inline, and only cookies are copied — passwords never leave the source browser. Dismissing the banner records the choice; **Settings → General → Browser login → Import…** re-offers it at any time. See [Browser](/cli/browser) for the underlying import flow and the `browser.allowSystemProfileImport` gate.

## Sync cookies to a remote computer

Import copies cookies once into a profile on the same Mac. When your Gateway and agent browser run on a **separate computer** (a dedicated box, a headless Linux host, or a cloud container), turn on cookie sync so this Mac keeps that remote browser signed in to the sites you choose.

Open **Settings → General → Cookie sync**. It is **off by default** and only takes effect while the app runs in remote mode. Turn on **Sync cookies to the remote computer**, add the sites you want kept in sync to the **Domains** allowlist (for example `github.com` and `accounts.google.com`), and set the **Target profile** that receives them (the managed profile name on the remote Gateway, `imported` by default). A status row shows whether sync is running.

While enabled, the app supervises the [`openclaw browser cookie-sync --watch`](/cli/browser#cookie-sync-to-a-remote-gateway) command against the connected Gateway. Cookies are decrypted locally on this Mac (one macOS Keychain or Touch ID prompt per session) and pushed to the remote profile over the app's existing encrypted Gateway connection; only the domains on the allowlist are ever sent, and cookie values are never written to logs. An empty allowlist syncs nothing. As with import, some Google sessions use device-bound session credentials (DBSC) that stay tied to this Mac and may still require re-authentication after sync; for those sites, drive the browser on the Mac itself through the [browser node proxy](/cli/browser#remote-browser-control-node-host-proxy) instead.

## Choose a Gateway mode

| Mode   | Use it when                                                                    | Detail page                                        |
| ------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------- |
| Local  | This Mac should run the Gateway and keep it alive with launchd.                | [Gateway on macOS](/platforms/mac/bundled-gateway) |
| Remote | Another host runs the Gateway; this Mac controls it over SSH, LAN, or Tailnet. | [Remote control](/platforms/mac/remote)            |

The app's Mac node uses its bundled private runtime in both modes. Only setup
and management of an app-owned local Gateway require the separate CLI install.
Remote mode and attachment to an independently managed local Gateway skip that
installation. Optional cookie sync still requires an external CLI on this Mac,
and an existing separate node service keeps its own CLI lifecycle.
See [Gateway on macOS](/platforms/mac/bundled-gateway) for manual recovery.

## What the app owns

- Menu bar status, notifications, health, WebChat, and the floating Quick Chat bar.
- macOS permission prompts for screen, microphone, speech, automation, and accessibility.
- One Mac node that combines the native widget panel, camera/screen capture, notifications,
  location, and computer control with the CLI node host's system, browser,
  plugin, skill, and MCP commands.
- Exec approval prompts for Mac-hosted commands.
- App-context execution for approved shell commands, preserving the app's macOS
  permission attribution while the CLI runtime owns shared node policy.
- Remote-mode SSH tunnels or direct Gateway connections.

In the embedded Control UI, **Settings → Notifications** shows the app's native
notification permission instead of browser push because the app delivers notifications natively.

The app does **not** replace the Gateway or general CLI docs. Gateway
configuration, providers, plugins, channels, tools, and security live in their
own docs.

## macOS detail pages

| Task                                     | Read                                                                                        |
| ---------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Install or debug the CLI/Gateway service | [Gateway on macOS](/platforms/mac/bundled-gateway)                                          |
| Keep state out of cloud-synced folders   | [Gateway on macOS](/platforms/mac/bundled-gateway#state-directory-on-macos)                 |
| Debug app discovery and connectivity     | [Gateway on macOS](/platforms/mac/bundled-gateway#debug-app-connectivity)                   |
| Understand launchd behavior              | [Gateway on macOS](/platforms/mac/bundled-gateway)                                          |
| Fix permissions or signing/TCC issues    | [macOS permissions](/platforms/mac/permissions)                                             |
| Detect the Mac you most recently used    | [Active computer presence](/nodes/presence)                                                 |
| Connect to a remote Gateway              | [Remote control](/platforms/mac/remote)                                                     |
| Read menu bar status and health checks   | [Menu bar](/platforms/mac/menu-bar), [Health checks](/platforms/mac/health)                 |
| Use the embedded chat UI                 | [WebChat](/platforms/mac/webchat)                                                           |
| Use voice wake or push-to-talk           | [Voice wake](/platforms/mac/voicewake)                                                      |
| Present hosted widgets in the Mac panel  | [Widget panel](/platforms/mac/canvas)                                                       |
| Host PeekabooBridge for UI automation    | [Peekaboo bridge](/platforms/mac/peekaboo)                                                  |
| Configure command approvals              | [Exec approvals](/tools/exec-approvals), [advanced details](/tools/exec-approvals-advanced) |
| Inspect Mac node commands and app IPC    | [macOS IPC](/platforms/mac/xpc)                                                             |
| Capture logs                             | [macOS logging](/platforms/mac/logging)                                                     |
| Build from source                        | [macOS dev setup](/platforms/mac/dev-setup)                                                 |

## Related

- [Platforms](/platforms)
- [Getting started](/start/getting-started)
- [Gateway](/gateway)
- [Exec approvals](/tools/exec-approvals)
