OpenClaw Docker Quickstart: Secure AI Agent Secrets in 10 Minutes

This is a companion tutorial to our comprehensive guide on Securing OpenClaw with Scoped Secrets. That post covers the full architecture, multiple setup options, and advanced configurations. This one gets you running in 10 minutes.

What Is Docker? (30-Second Primer)

If you’re new to Docker: it lets you run applications in containers, isolated environments that bundle everything an app needs. Think lightweight virtual machine.

For AI agents like OpenClaw, that isolation matters. The agent can’t reach your host system’s files or other credentials. The same container runs identically on any machine. And if something goes wrong, the damage stays inside the box.

Prerequisites

Before starting, you need:

• Docker Desktop installed (download here)
• An API Stronghold account (start your free trial)
• Your API keys already added to API Stronghold with a deployment profile and user group configured (see Steps 1-5 in the main guide)
• An Anthropic API key for OpenClaw’s AI model

The Architecture (What We’re Building)

OpenClaw uses a dual-container model:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Your Machine                                           │
│                                                         │
│  ┌─────────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────────┐   │
│  │  Gateway Container  │────▶│  Sandbox Container  │   │
│  │  (AI model creds)   │     │  (your API keys)    │   │
│  │                     │     │                     │   │
│  │  Anthropic key only │     │  OPENAI_API_KEY ✓   │   │
│  │  No app secrets     │     │  GITHUB_TOKEN ✓     │   │
│  └─────────────────────┘     │  EMAIL_KEY ✗        │   │
│            │                 └─────────────────────┘   │
│            │ Docker socket                              │
│            ▼                                            │
│  ┌─────────────────────┐                               │
│  │   Docker Daemon     │                               │
│  └─────────────────────┘                               │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

The gateway talks to the AI model (Claude/GPT) and manages sessions. The sandbox runs the agent’s tools and has your application secrets. They’re separate containers, a compromise of one doesn’t expose both sets of credentials.

Step 1: Build the Gateway

Clone OpenClaw and build the gateway image with the Docker CLI included:

git clone https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw.git
cd openclaw

# Build gateway with Docker CLI (needed to spawn sandbox containers)
OPENCLAW_DOCKER_APT_PACKAGES="docker.io" docker build \
  --build-arg "OPENCLAW_DOCKER_APT_PACKAGES=docker.io" \
  -t openclaw:local .

Step 2: Build the Sandbox

Build the base sandbox image, then create a custom one with the API Stronghold CLI:

# Build the base sandbox image
scripts/sandbox-setup.sh

Now create a custom sandbox image. First, authenticate the CLI on your host machine:

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://www.apistronghold.com/cli/install.sh | sh

Windows (Command Prompt):

curl -fsSL https://www.apistronghold.com/cli/install.cmd -o install.cmd && install.cmd && del install.cmd

The Windows installer places the CLI in %USERPROFILE%\.api-stronghold\bin\ and adds it to your PATH automatically. Restart your terminal after installing. For more details, see the CLI installation guide.

Then authenticate with your API user token:

api-stronghold-cli auth api-user --token YOUR_API_USER_TOKEN

Create a Dockerfile.sandbox in the openclaw directory:

FROM openclaw-sandbox:bookworm-slim

# Install the API Stronghold CLI
RUN curl -fsSL https://www.apistronghold.com/cli/install.sh | sh

# Copy your pre-authenticated credentials
COPY .api-stronghold/ /var/lib/nova/.api-stronghold/
RUN chown -R nova:nova /var/lib/nova/.api-stronghold

USER nova

Copy your credentials and build:

# Copy credentials into build context
cp -r ~/.api-stronghold .api-stronghold

# Build the custom sandbox
docker build -f Dockerfile.sandbox -t openclaw-sandbox-secure:latest .

# Clean up (don't commit credentials!)
rm -rf .api-stronghold

Step 3: Configure the Gateway

Create a docker-compose.override.yml file (this won’t conflict with OpenClaw’s tracked compose file):

# docker-compose.override.yml
services:
  openclaw-gateway:
    user: root
    environment:
      # Must match your actual home directory for volume mounts to work
      HOME: /Users/youruser  # Change this!
    volumes:
      - ${OPENCLAW_CONFIG_DIR}:/Users/youruser/.openclaw
      - ${OPENCLAW_WORKSPACE_DIR}:/Users/youruser/.openclaw/workspace
      - ${OPENCLAW_CONFIG_DIR}/sandboxes:/Users/youruser/.openclaw/sandboxes
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock

Finding Your Home Directory

You must replace /Users/youruser with your actual home directory path. To find it:

# macOS / Linux
echo $HOME
# Example output: /Users/kenny or /home/kenny

# Windows (PowerShell)
echo $env:USERPROFILE
# Example output: C:\Users\kenny

Use this exact path in three places:

1. The HOME environment variable
2. All three volume mount destinations (the part after the colon)

For example, if your home directory is /Users/kenny:

environment:
  HOME: /Users/kenny
volumes:
  - ${OPENCLAW_CONFIG_DIR}:/Users/kenny/.openclaw
  - ${OPENCLAW_WORKSPACE_DIR}:/Users/kenny/.openclaw/workspace
  - ${OPENCLAW_CONFIG_DIR}/sandboxes:/Users/kenny/.openclaw/sandboxes
  - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock

Step 4: Configure the Sandbox

Edit ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json (create it if it doesn’t exist):

{
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "sandbox": {
        "mode": "all",
        "docker": {
          "image": "openclaw-sandbox-secure:latest",
          "network": "bridge",
          "setupCommand": "mkdir -p /workspace/.api-stronghold && cp /var/lib/nova/.api-stronghold/config.yaml /workspace/.api-stronghold/config.yaml"
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "gateway": {
    "controlUi": {
      "allowInsecureAuth": true
    }
  }
}

What these settings do:

Step 5: Start the Gateway

Run the interactive setup:

./docker-setup.sh

When prompted:

1. Acknowledge the risk warning
2. Choose QuickStart for onboarding mode
3. Select Anthropic setup-token for auth (run claude setup-token in another terminal)
4. Skip channels configuration
5. Say No to installing the gateway daemon (Docker manages it)

After setup completes, note the gateway token displayed in the output.

Step 6: Verify It Works

Open the Control UI at http://127.0.0.1:18789/?token=YOUR_GATEWAY_TOKEN.

Start a new session and ask the agent:

Can you run api-stronghold-cli key list to show what API keys are available?

You should see only the keys your API Stronghold user group is authorized to access. Excluded keys (email, billing, etc.) won’t appear.

Check both containers are running:

docker ps | grep openclaw

You should see both the gateway and sandbox containers.

What You’ve Built

Your AI agent runs in an isolated Docker container with access to only the keys you’ve explicitly allowed. Keys excluded at the group level don’t exist as far as the agent is concerned. It gets fresh credentials each session, and nothing is stored on disk inside the container.

Next Steps

This quickstart covers the simplest path: loading secrets at container startup. If you need the agent to refresh credentials mid-session, want full CLI access for DevOps use cases, need to lock down the container’s network, or run into issues, the complete guide has all of that: Securing OpenClaw with Scoped Secrets.

Getting Started with API Stronghold

Don’t have an API Stronghold account yet? Start your free trial, add your API keys, create a deployment profile with key exclusions, and create an API user (1 free per org). Then follow this tutorial. Your agent gets what it needs, nothing more.

📚 Related Reading

• Zero-Knowledge Encryption for Enterprise Secrets Management, How client-side encryption protects your keys, even from us
• The Silent Killer of Developer Productivity: Insecure API Key Sharing, Why your team’s Slack-based key sharing is a problem
• Stop Copy-Pasting .env Files, There’s a CLI for That, The CLI tool behind the eval pattern used here
• AWS Secrets Manager vs Dedicated Vaults, Comparing cloud-native vs dedicated approaches