CLI Reference

CLI Reference

Every command supports --help for detailed usage and examples:

clawfleet --help              # List all available commands
clawfleet <command> --help    # Show help for a specific command

The CLI manages both OpenClaw and Hermes instances. Most commands work identically for either runtime; commands that are runtime-specific are noted below.

Commands

create

Create one or more OpenClaw or Hermes instances.

clawfleet create <N>                              # Create N OpenClaw instances (default)
clawfleet create <N> --runtime hermes             # Create N Hermes instances
clawfleet create <N> --pull                       # Force re-pull image from registry
clawfleet create <N> --from-snapshot "Soul Name"  # Create N OpenClaw instances from a saved soul

Flag	Default	Effect
--runtime	openclaw	openclaw or hermes
--pull	false	Force re-pull of the image even if present locally
--from-snapshot	(unset)	OpenClaw-only: load a saved soul into the new instance

Names are auto-generated by runtime: openclaw-1, openclaw-2, ... or hermes-1, hermes-2, ....

Each instance runs in its own Docker container with two host ports allocated:

Runtime	Host port 690N	Host port 1878N
OpenClaw	XFCE desktop via noVNC	OpenClaw Gateway
Hermes	Hermes native Dashboard	Hermes messaging Gateway

Instance data is persisted on the host:

Runtime	Data path
OpenClaw	~/.clawfleet/data/<name>/openclaw/
Hermes	~/.clawfleet/data/<name>/hermes/

list

List all instances and their status (both runtimes).

clawfleet list

start / stop / restart

Lifecycle commands work for either runtime.

clawfleet start <name>    # Start a specific instance
clawfleet start all       # Start all instances
clawfleet stop <name>
clawfleet stop all
clawfleet restart <name>
clawfleet restart all

destroy

Destroy an instance or all instances. By default, instance data is preserved on disk.

clawfleet destroy <name>          # Destroy instance (data kept)
clawfleet destroy --purge <name>  # Destroy instance and delete its data
clawfleet destroy all             # Destroy all instances (data kept)
clawfleet destroy --purge all     # Destroy all instances and delete all data

desktop

Open an OpenClaw instance's noVNC desktop in your default browser. OpenClaw only — Hermes instances are headless.

clawfleet desktop <openclaw-name>

For Hermes, open its native Dashboard at http://localhost:<dashboard-port> (the port is shown by clawfleet list and on the instance card).

shell

Open an interactive terminal session inside an instance. The behavior depends on the runtime:

Runtime	What shell opens
OpenClaw	bash inside the container as the node user
Hermes	the Hermes interactive TUI (hermes command, with venv activated)

clawfleet shell openclaw-1   # → bash
clawfleet shell hermes-1     # → Hermes TUI chat

For Hermes, the messaging Gateway keeps running independently of the TUI; exiting the TUI (/exit) returns you to your host shell without stopping the bot.

logs

View container logs for an instance (either runtime).

clawfleet logs <name>       # Show recent logs
clawfleet logs <name> -f    # Follow (stream) logs in real time

configure

Configure an OpenClaw instance with an LLM provider and chat channel from the CLI. Hermes Configure is Dashboard-only today; for CLI flows on Hermes, use clawfleet shell and Hermes's own commands.

clawfleet configure <openclaw-name>

snapshot

Save, list, and delete instance souls. OpenClaw only.

clawfleet snapshot save <openclaw-instance>                      # Save with auto-generated name
clawfleet snapshot save <openclaw-instance> --name "My Soul"     # Save with custom name
clawfleet snapshot save <openclaw-instance> --name "My Soul" --description "Production config"
clawfleet snapshot list                                          # List all saved souls
clawfleet snapshot delete <soul-name>                            # Delete a saved soul

Souls are stored at ~/.clawfleet/snapshots/. See Soul Archive for details on what data is included.

To create an instance from a saved soul:

clawfleet create 1 --from-snapshot "My Soul"

Hermes parity for Soul Archive is on the roadmap. Until then, back up Hermes state by archiving ~/.clawfleet/data/<name>/hermes/ manually.

dashboard

Manage the Web Dashboard.

clawfleet dashboard start     # Start as background daemon (auto-restart on crash)
clawfleet dashboard stop      # Stop the daemon
clawfleet dashboard restart   # Restart the daemon
clawfleet dashboard status    # Show daemon status (running/stopped, PID, manager)
clawfleet dashboard serve     # Start in foreground (for debugging)
clawfleet dashboard open      # Open the Dashboard in your browser

The start command sets up a platform-native service:

• macOS: LaunchAgent (~/Library/LaunchAgents/io.clawfleet.dashboard.plist) with KeepAlive and RunAtLoad
• Linux: systemd user service (~/.config/systemd/user/clawfleet.service) with Restart=on-failure
• Fallback: PID-based background process

clawfleet dashboard start --port 9090 --host 0.0.0.0   # Custom port and host

build

Build the OpenClaw sandbox Docker image locally.

clawfleet build

This is the CLI equivalent of clicking Build Image in the Dashboard. The image is ~1.4 GB and the first build takes several minutes.

The Hermes image is published officially by Nous Research; ClawFleet pulls it on demand when you create a Hermes instance. There is no clawfleet build --runtime hermes today.

config

Show current configuration.

clawfleet config

version

Print version information, including the recommended OpenClaw version pinned to this ClawFleet release.

clawfleet version