Advanced · 35 minutes

How to Deploy OpenClaw 2.0 Autonomous Agent with WhatsApp Gateway and Unitree G1 ROS 2 Bridge

Complete step-by-step engineering tutorial to self-host OpenClaw 2.0 inside Docker, configure WhatsApp interactive messaging, and connect the RosClaw robotics bridge for Unitree G1 humanoid control.

Step 1: Provision Sandboxed Docker Host and Volumes

Configure an Ubuntu 24.04 server with Docker and gVisor (runsc) runtime support. Create isolated directories for SQLite state and scratch workspace mounts.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y git jq curl build-essential
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
mkdir -p ~/openclaw-deploy/{data,workspace,config}
cd ~/openclaw-deploy

Step 2: Configure Environmental Credentials and TaskFlow Limits

Create the primary configuration file specifying the model provider, token ceilings, SQLite WAL mode, and messaging parameters.

# .env configuration for OpenClaw 2.0
OPENCLAW_ENV=production
OPENCLAW_PORT=8080

# Primary Model: Anthropic Claude 3.7 Sonnet or DeepSeek-V3
DEFAULT_MODEL_PROVIDER=anthropic
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-api03-prod-key
MAX_STEPS_PER_SESSION=20
MAX_SESSION_COST_USD=2.50

# Database Persistence
DATABASE_URL=file:/data/openclaw.db?mode=rwc&_journal_mode=WAL

# WhatsApp Channel Configuration
WHATSAPP_DRIVER=baileys
WHATSAPP_AUTO_RECONNECT=true

# Robotics Hardware Bridge (RosClaw)
ENABLE_ROSCLAW=true
ROS_DOMAIN_ID=42
ROS_DISTRO=humble
UNITREE_G1_IP=192.168.123.10
G1_EMERGENCY_STOP_WATCHDOG=true

Step 3: Deploy Multi-Container Stack via Docker Compose

Run the OpenClaw 2.0 core coordinator alongside an isolated sandbox execution container mounting a restricted tmpfs volume.

services:
  openclaw-core:
    image: openclaw/runtime:v2026.8.1
    container_name: openclaw-core
    restart: unless-stopped
    env_file: .env
    volumes:
      - ./data:/data
      - ./workspace:/workspace
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    networks:
      - openclaw-net

  openclaw-sandbox:
    image: openclaw/sandbox-runner:v2026.8.1
    container_name: openclaw-sandbox
    restart: unless-stopped
    read_only: true
    tmpfs:
      - /tmp:rw,noexec,nosuid,size=512m
    volumes:
      - ./workspace:/workspace:rw
    networks:
      - openclaw-sandbox-net

networks:
  openclaw-net:
    driver: bridge
  openclaw-sandbox-net:
    internal: true

Step 4: Pair WhatsApp Interface and Test Interactive Approval

Start the stack and capture the pairing QR code from the core container log stream. Link your WhatsApp device and run a test query.

docker compose up -d
docker logs -f openclaw-core | grep -A 10 "QR_CODE"

Step 5: Initialize RosClaw Bridge and Dispatch Test Navigation Pose

Confirm ROS 2 node discovery across the robot subnet and verify that the Unitree G1 acknowledges DDS navigation topics.

docker exec -it openclaw-core openclaw-cli rosclaw test --ip 192.168.123.10 --domain 42