nanoclaw/.claude/skills/new-setup/SKILL.md

name, description, allowed-tools

name	description	allowed-tools
new-setup	Shortest path from zero to a working two-way agent chat, for any user regardless of technical background — ends at a running NanoClaw instance with at least one CLI-reachable agent.	Bash(bash setup.sh) Bash(bash setup/probe.sh) Bash(pnpm exec tsx setup/index.ts *) Bash(pnpm run chat *) Bash(brew install *) Bash(curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh) Bash(sudo usermod -aG docker *) Bash(open -a Docker) Bash(sudo systemctl start docker)

NanoClaw bare-minimum setup

Purpose of this skill is to take any user — technical or not — from zero to a two-way chat with an agent in the fewest steps possible. Done means a running NanoClaw instance with at least one agent reachable via the CLI channel.

Only run the steps strictly required for the NanoClaw process to start and respond to the user end-to-end. Everything else is deferred to post-setup skills.

Before each step, narrate to the user in your own words what's about to happen — one short, friendly sentence, no jargon. Don't read a scripted line; use the step context below to speak naturally.

Each step is invoked as pnpm exec tsx setup/index.ts --step <name> and emits a structured status block Claude parses to decide what to do next.

Start with a probe: a single parallel scan that snapshots every prerequisite and dependency. The rest of the flow reads this snapshot to decide what to run, skip, or ask about — no per-step re-checking. The probe is plain ESM JS (setup/probe.mjs) with no external deps so it can run before step 1 has installed pnpm/node_modules.

Current state

!bash setup/probe.sh

Flow

Parse the probe block above. For each step below, consult the named probe fields and skip, ask, or run accordingly.

If the probe reports STATUS: unavailable (Node isn't installed yet), ignore all skip if … probe conditions and run every step from 1 onward — each step has its own idempotency check, so re-running is safe.

Ordering and parallelism

Run steps sequentially by default: invoke the step, wait for its status block, act on the result, move to the next.

One permitted parallelism:

• Step 2 (container image build) and step 3 (OneCLI install) are independent — they may start together in the background.
• Step 4 (auth) must NOT start until step 3 has completed. Auth writes the secret into the OneCLI vault; if OneCLI isn't installed and healthy yet, the user gets asked for a credential the system can't store. Do not open an AskUserQuestion for step 4 while OneCLI is still installing.
• Step 2's image build may continue running past step 4 — the image isn't consumed until step 6 (first CLI agent). Join before step 6.

1. Node bootstrap

Check probe results and skip if HOST_DEPS=ok — Node, pnpm, node_modules, and better-sqlite3's native binding are already in place.

If the probe reported STATUS: unavailable (Node isn't installed yet — probe itself couldn't run), install Node 22 before running bash setup.sh, otherwise the first bootstrap run is guaranteed to fail:

• macOS: brew install node@22
• Linux / WSL: curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo -E bash - && sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Then run bash setup.sh. If the probe succeeded but HOST_DEPS=missing, run bash setup.sh directly — Node is there, deps aren't.

Parse the status block:

• NODE_OK=false → Node install didn't take effect (PATH issue, keg-only formula, etc.). Investigate logs/setup.log, resolve, re-run.
• DEPS_OK=false or NATIVE_OK=false → Read logs/setup.log, fix, re-run.

Loose command: bash setup.sh. Justification: pre-Node bootstrap. Can't call the Node-based dispatcher before Node and pnpm install are in place.

2. Docker

Check probe results and skip if DOCKER=running AND IMAGE_PRESENT=true.

Runtime:

• DOCKER=not_found → Docker itself is missing — install it so agent containers have an isolated place to run.
  • macOS: brew install --cask docker && open -a Docker
  • Linux: curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh && sudo usermod -aG docker $USER (tell user they may need to log out/in for group membership)
• DOCKER=installed_not_running → Docker is installed but the daemon is down — start it.
  • macOS: open -a Docker
  • Linux: sudo systemctl start docker

Wait ~15s after either, then proceed.

Loose commands: Docker install/start. Justification: platform-specific package-manager invocations. Wrapping them in a --step would just move the same branching into TypeScript with no added value.

Image (run if IMAGE_PRESENT=false): build the agent container image — takes a few minutes the first time, one-off cost.

pnpm exec tsx setup/index.ts --step container -- --runtime docker

3. OneCLI

Check probe results and skip if ONECLI_STATUS=healthy.

OneCLI is the local vault that holds API keys and only releases them to agents when they need them.

pnpm exec tsx setup/index.ts --step onecli

4. Anthropic credential

Check probe results and skip if ANTHROPIC_SECRET=true.

The credential never travels through chat — the user generates it, registers it with OneCLI themselves, and the skill verifies.

4a. Pick the source. AskUserQuestion:

1. Claude subscription (Pro/Max) — "Generate a token via claude setup-token in another terminal."
2. Anthropic API key — "Use a pay-per-use key from console.anthropic.com/settings/keys."

4b. Wait for the user to obtain the credential. For subscription, have them run claude setup-token in another terminal. For API key, point them to the console URL above. Either way, they keep the token — just confirm when they have it.

4c. Pick the registration path. AskUserQuestion — substitute ${ONECLI_URL} from the probe (or .env):

1. Dashboard — "Open ${ONECLI_URL} in a browser; add a secret of type anthropic, value = the token, host-pattern api.anthropic.com."
2. CLI — "Run in another terminal: onecli secrets create --name Anthropic --type anthropic --value YOUR_TOKEN --host-pattern api.anthropic.com"

Wait for the user's confirmation. If their reply happens to include a token (starts with sk-ant-), register it for them: pnpm exec tsx setup/index.ts --step auth -- --create --value <TOKEN>.

4d. Verify.

pnpm exec tsx setup/index.ts --step auth -- --check

If ANTHROPIC_OK=false, the secret isn't there yet — ask them to retry, then re-check.

5. Service

Check probe results and skip if SERVICE_STATUS=running.

Start the NanoClaw background service — it relays messages between the user and the agent.

pnpm exec tsx setup/index.ts --step service

6. First CLI agent

Check probe results and skip if CLI_AGENT_WIRED=true.

If step 2's container build is still running in the background, join it here before proceeding — the agent needs the image.

Create the first agent and wire it to the CLI channel. Ask the user "What should I call you?" first — default the offered value to INFERRED_DISPLAY_NAME from the probe.

pnpm exec tsx setup/index.ts --step cli-agent -- --display-name "<name>"

7. First chat

Everything's ready — send the first message to the agent.

pnpm run chat hi

The agent should reply within ~60s (first container spin-up is slowest). If no reply, tail logs/nanoclaw.log.

Loose command: pnpm run chat hi. Justification: this is the command the user will keep using after setup. Hiding it behind a --step would force them to memorize a second way to do the same thing.

If anything fails

Any step that reports STATUS: failed in its status block: read logs/setup.log, diagnose, fix the underlying cause, re-run the same --step. Don't bypass errors to keep moving.