Getting started
In this lesson, you get your computer ready. Your agent is not one big program. It is a few small tools working together: Git, Docker, Make, Node.js and Codex.
You don't install them one at a time. One script installs all of them, downloads NanoClaw, and gets it ready for the next lesson. Then you sign Codex in, which is the one thing the script can't do for you.
Pre-requisites
- A free Telegram account. If you don't have one, sign up at https://telegram.org/.
- A free Notion account. If you don't have one, sign up at https://www.notion.so/.
- Administrator access to your computer.
- At least a ChatGPT Plus subscription (~$30/month version).
- A computer that can run Docker, with at least 8 GB of memory:
- Mac: macOS 14 (Sonoma) or newer.
- Windows: Windows 11, or Windows 10 version 22H2. Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 10 in October 2025, so Windows 11 is best.
- Linux: Ubuntu 22.04, 24.04 or 26.04.
The steps
Do them in this order. Each step has its own page:
| Step | What you do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Install WSL (Windows only) | Turn on the part of Windows that runs Ubuntu. | NanoClaw can't run on Windows by itself, and a Linux script can't install a part of Windows. On macOS and Linux, skip this page. |
| Run the installation script | Paste one command. It installs every tool, downloads NanoClaw, and builds your agent's container. | It is twenty-odd commands done for you, in the right order, with a check before each one. |
| Sign in to Codex | Connect Codex to your ChatGPT account. | Codex is the part of your agent that thinks. The script installs it, but only you can sign in. |
How the pages work
- Do them in order. On macOS and Linux, start at the script. On Windows, install WSL first: everything after it happens inside Ubuntu.
- The script checks before it installs. It lists what you already have, shows what it is about to install, and asks once. Nothing on your computer changes until you say yes, and running it twice changes nothing.
- Nothing here is wasted if you already have some of these tools. They are common ones. The script finds them, reports the version, and leaves them alone.
- Some steps need you. A window to click, or a part of Windows the script can't reach. It stops and says exactly what to do, and you run it again afterwards. Run the installation script lists every one of those.
- You can still do it all by hand. Every command the script runs is on the script's page, under Manual installation, one section per tool, with the steps for your own system. Open it when a step goes wrong and you want to see what the script was doing.
Next
On Windows, start with Install WSL. On macOS and Linux, start with Run the installation script.