Install ERPClaw in 5 minutes

ERPClaw installs as one OpenClaw skill. The full 48-module suite, 3,148 actions, and 789 tables all share one SQLite database at ~/.openclaw/erpclaw/data.sqlite. PostgreSQL is supported as an alternative backend via the same code (PyPika handles the dialect translation). Five minutes from zero to a working ERP.

Prerequisites

You need Python 3.10 or newer (most macOS and Linux installs already have this). You do not need PostgreSQL, Redis, Docker, or a cloud account. Everything runs locally.

To verify Python:

python3 --version

If you see anything 3.10 or higher, you are good.

Step 1, install OpenClaw

OpenClaw is the agent runtime that hosts ERPClaw. The installer is a single shell command:

curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash

The installer drops openclaw and clawhub binaries into ~/.npm-global/bin/ and prints completion instructions. Add the bin directory to your PATH if it is not already there. Most users do not need to change anything.

Step 2, install ERPClaw via ClawHub

clawhub install erpclaw

ClawHub fetches the latest ERPClaw release (version 3.5.0 as of 2026-04-26) and unpacks it into ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/erpclaw/. The install also brings in the shared erpclaw_lib library and the module registry.

The first install pulls about 5 MB of code. No images, no docker layers, no node_modules.

Step 3, initialize the database

python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/erpclaw/init_db.py

This creates the SQLite database at ~/.openclaw/erpclaw/data.sqlite with 191 core tables. It also seeds the US chart of accounts (94 accounts pre-built), default tax templates, and a single demo company called Stark Manufacturing.

If you want to skip the demo data, pass --no-seed:

python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/erpclaw/init_db.py --no-seed

Step 4, verify the install

Open a chat with OpenClaw (or use the CLI directly) and try:

list-companies

You should see Stark Manufacturing in the result. Try a couple more:

list-customers
list-items
trial-balance

If trial-balance returns a balanced sheet, GL is wired correctly. The demo data has 102 GL entries, 33 stock-ledger entries, and a balanced trial balance of $194,389.50.

Step 5, install verticals as needed

ERPClaw ships 14 industry verticals: retail, restaurant, healthcare, legal, nonprofit, education, real estate, agriculture, automotive, food, hospitality, construction, fleet, logistics. Install only what you need.

clawhub install retailclaw
clawhub install hospitalityclaw

Each vertical adds its own tables on top of the shared core. You never have to migrate data between modules; they all read and write to the same database.

Switching to PostgreSQL

If you outgrow SQLite (typically at 100+ concurrent users or strict ACID requirements), switch to PostgreSQL by setting one environment variable:

export ERPCLAW_DB_URL=postgresql://user:pass@host:5432/erpclaw
python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/erpclaw/init_db.py

The same actions work without any code change. PyPika translates the SQL dialect at query time.

Where things live

• Code: ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/erpclaw/
• Database: ~/.openclaw/erpclaw/data.sqlite
• Shared library: ~/.openclaw/erpclaw/lib/erpclaw_lib/
• Vertical modules: ~/.openclaw/erpclaw/modules/<module>/

What is next

• Accounting basics covers the chart of accounts, journals, and how postings flow.
• Purchasing walks the purchase order to invoice to payment loop.
• Stripe docs for the payment integration.
• Shopify docs for the ecommerce integration.

Total install time on a modern laptop is under five minutes. If anything fails, check the troubleshooting section or open an issue.