# DashClaw

> DashClaw is the approval layer for unattended AI agents. It intercepts risky
> actions before they run, routes them to a human Approvals inbox, and records
> a replayable decision trail. MIT licensed, self-hosted, no account required.

## Setup runbook for AI agents

You are an AI agent setting DashClaw up for your user. This is the complete,
non-interactive path. It needs Node 18+ and a terminal. No account, no OAuth,
no browser, no LLM API key.

Run:

    npx dashclaw up --yes --no-browser

What this does: installs the runtime to ~/.dashclaw, provisions Postgres
(Docker if available, embedded binary otherwise), generates secrets, applies
migrations, mints the workspace API key, builds, and starts the dashboard on
http://localhost:3000.

Plain `npx dashclaw up` without `--yes` prompts interactively and will hang
a non-interactive shell. Always pass `--yes --no-browser` when you are the
one running it.

Where the credentials land:

- Workspace API key (oc_live_...): ~/.dashclaw/instance.json
- Dashboard admin password: printed to stdout once, also saved to the
  .env.local file under ~/.dashclaw
- Never paste these into chat. Read them from disk when you need them.

## Verify

    curl -fsS http://localhost:3000/api/health
    npx dashclaw doctor

Both must succeed before you tell your user setup is done. Then hand your
user this URL for the human side: http://localhost:3000/approvals — that is
where their one-click approvals happen.

## Connect your runtime

- Claude Code: `up --yes` wires the hooks into ~/.claude/settings.json
  automatically (needs python3 or python on PATH). Manual: `npx dashclaw
  install claude`. Codex: `npx dashclaw install codex`.
- MCP (any MCP host): `npx @dashclaw/mcp-server` with env DASHCLAW_URL and
  DASHCLAW_API_KEY (optional DASHCLAW_AGENT_ID).
- SDKs: `npm install dashclaw` (Node) or `pip install dashclaw` (Python).

## What you cannot do headlessly

The hosted trial (https://hosted.dashclaw.io/connect) mints workspaces behind a
Cloudflare Turnstile captcha. You cannot pass it. Do not try. If your user
wants the hosted trial instead of self-host, give them the link and ask them
to paste the minted API key back to your environment — the key goes in an env
file, not in chat.

## Key URLs

- Agent setup page (this runbook, rendered): https://www.dashclaw.io/agents
- Docs: https://www.dashclaw.io/docs
- Platform guide (all runtimes): https://www.dashclaw.io/guides/platform
- Claude Code guide: https://www.dashclaw.io/guides/claude-code
- Self-host options (Vercel + Neon deploy): https://www.dashclaw.io/self-host
- Source: https://github.com/ucsandman/DashClaw
- npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/dashclaw