Practical overview
When it fits
Use Dashclaw when an unattended agent needs bounded authority and a review path for higher-risk actions. Select an enforcement integration when the action must be cancellable before execution; cooperative SDK, API and MCP connections require the caller to honor Dashclaw’s verdict.
Who it is for
- Developers operating AI agents without continuous keyboard supervision.
- Teams that need human approval before selected destructive or expensive actions.
- Builders connecting supported agent runtimes to policy-based execution checks.
Documented uses
- Intercept selected agent actions before execution.
- Request and resolve remote human approvals.
- Apply policy checks and standing authorization rules.
- Record authorization decisions and signed evidence for later review.
- Inspect enforcement-path liveness and runtime diagnostics.
Requirements & limits
The repository documents MIT-licensed self-hosting and a CLI setup that can be initiated without an account. It identifies CLI, cloud and self-hosted platforms; provider plans and limits may apply to hosting and usage.
- Fail-closed interception is documented for Claude Code, Codex and Hermes hooks, the OpenClaw gateway and
dashclaw_invoke. - Bare SDK, API and ordinary MCP integrations are cooperative and depend on the caller honoring the verdict.
- Approval decisions can be handled through the inbox, CLI, phone PWA, Telegram or Discord.
- Ed25519 receipts and signed exports provide verifiable record contents, but do not prove that an external effect occurred.
- The liveness probe reports enforcement-path evidence and runtime diagnostics rather than attestation.
Check current requirements in the official documentation. Source-based guidance does not mean OpenViST has run or independently tested this project.
Start a local Dashclaw instance
Initiate the documented CLI setup for a local Dashclaw instance.
Before you start
- Node 20+ platform marker listed by the repository.
- A shell that can run the Dashclaw package.
- Use an interactive shell for the plain command, or the documented non-interactive flags.
Steps
Run the command below in an interactive shell.
npx dashclaw upFor an agent-operated non-interactive shell, run the command below.
npx dashclaw up --yes --no-browserUse the documented health endpoint and the command below to inspect the setup diagnostics.
npx dashclaw doctor
Expected outcome
The documented setup path is initiated, with the instance API key written to `~/.dashclaw/instance.json`.
Guide limitations
- This recipe covers setup and diagnostics, not connecting an agent or proving that an external action was executed.
- The repository warns that the hosted trial should not be attempted headlessly because its captcha requires a human.
Sources & review
Source record details
- Source availability
- Active
- Sources checked
- 3 October 2026
- Original website title
- ucsandman/DashClaw · Official homepage title · retained in its source language

