Install NVIDIA NemoClaw and run your first sandboxed AI agent

What is NemoClaw?

NVIDIA NemoClaw is an open-source reference stack that simplifies running OpenClaw always-on AI assistants more safely. It installs the NVIDIA OpenShell runtime and wraps it with guided onboarding, a hardened sandbox blueprint, routed inference, and layered security (Landlock, seccomp, network namespaces).

Prerequisites

Hardware: 4+ vCPU, 8 GB RAM (16 GB recommended), 20 GB disk free.

Software:

• Linux (Ubuntu 22.04+), macOS (Apple Silicon with Colima/Docker Desktop), or Windows WSL
• Node.js 22.16+
• A container runtime (Docker is the primary supported path)

On macOS, make sure Xcode CLI tools are installed:

xcode-select --install

Install and onboard

One command to install NemoClaw and run the guided onboard wizard:

curl -fsSL https://www.nvidia.com/nemoclaw.sh | bash

The wizard creates a sandbox, configures inference, and applies security policies. When it finishes you’ll see:

──────────────────────────────────────────────────
Sandbox      my-assistant (Landlock + seccomp + netns)
Model        nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b (NVIDIA Endpoints)
──────────────────────────────────────────────────
Run:         nemoclaw my-assistant connect
Status:      nemoclaw my-assistant status
Logs:        nemoclaw my-assistant logs --follow
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

If nemoclaw is not found after install (common with nvm/fnm), reload your shell:

source ~/.zshrc  # or source ~/.bashrc

Chat with the agent

Connect to the sandbox:

nemoclaw my-assistant connect

Then launch the terminal UI:

openclaw tui

Or send a one-off message:

openclaw agent --agent main --local -m "hello" --session-id test

Useful commands

Check sandbox status and tail logs:

nemoclaw my-assistant status
nemoclaw my-assistant logs --follow

Uninstall

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NVIDIA/NemoClaw/refs/heads/main/uninstall.sh | bash

Useful flags: --yes (skip prompt), --keep-openshell (keep the runtime), --delete-models (remove pulled Ollama models).

Note: NemoClaw is currently in alpha (since March 2026). Interfaces and APIs may change. Check the official docs for the latest.