---
summary: "CLI reference for provisioning and managing isolated per-tenant OpenClaw cells"
read_when:
  - You host multiple tenant trust domains on one machine
  - You need to create, inspect, upgrade, or remove fleet cells
title: "Fleet"
---

# `openclaw fleet`

`openclaw fleet` manages complete OpenClaw instances called **cells**. Each cell has its own Gateway, state, credentials, channel accounts, container, and loopback-only host port. Use one cell for each tenant trust boundary; do not use one shared Gateway as a hostile multi-tenant boundary.

Fleet is **experimental**. Command names, flags, output shapes, and the container profile can change between releases without a deprecation window.

Fleet supports Docker and Podman. The default image is `ghcr.io/openclaw/openclaw:latest`.

Fleet is tested on Linux and macOS hosts. Windows hosts are currently untested.

## Quick start

```bash
openclaw fleet create acme
openclaw fleet status acme
openclaw fleet list
```

`fleet create` prints the generated Gateway token once along with the cell URL. Store the token immediately, then configure each tenant's channel accounts inside that tenant's cell.

## Tenant IDs

Tenant IDs must match:

```text
^[a-z0-9](?:[a-z0-9-]{0,38}[a-z0-9])?$
```

This allows 1 to 40 lowercase letters, digits, and internal hyphens. An ID must start and end with a letter or digit. Uppercase letters, underscores, slashes, dots, whitespace, and traversal strings such as `../acme` are rejected.

The ID becomes part of the container name: `openclaw-cell-<tenant>`.

## `fleet create`

Create a cell and start it:

```bash
openclaw fleet create acme
```

Create a Podman cell on a fixed port without starting it:

```bash
openclaw fleet create acme \
  --runtime podman \
  --port 19125 \
  --no-start
```

Pass tenant-specific environment variables by repeating `--env`:

```bash
openclaw fleet create acme \
  --env TZ=America/Los_Angeles \
  --env OPENCLAW_DISABLE_BONJOUR=1
```

Environment keys use letters, digits, and underscores and cannot start with a digit. Values must be single-line because Fleet passes them through a protected runtime environment file. Fleet rejects attempts to override the managed container-path and Gateway-token variables listed under [Storage and container layout](#storage-and-container-layout).

### Create options

| Option                    | Default                               | Description                                                                                    |
| ------------------------- | ------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `--image <ref>`           | `ghcr.io/openclaw/openclaw:latest`    | Container image for the cell.                                                                  |
| `--runtime <runtime>`     | `docker`                              | Container CLI: `docker` or `podman`.                                                           |
| `--port <number>`         | Automatically allocated from `19100`  | Loopback host port. An explicitly selected port must not belong to another registered cell.    |
| `--memory <value>`        | `2g`                                  | Container memory limit in Docker/Podman syntax.                                                |
| `--cpus <value>`          | `2`                                   | Container CPU limit.                                                                           |
| `--disk <size>`           | None                                  | Cap the container writable layer when the storage backend supports quotas.                     |
| `--network <mode>`        | `bridge`                              | Outbound network mode: `bridge` or `internal`.                                                 |
| `--pids-limit <number>`   | `512`                                 | Maximum number of processes in the container.                                                  |
| `--env <KEY=VALUE>`       | None                                  | Pass an environment variable to the cell. Repeat for multiple values.                          |
| `--gateway-token <value>` | Random 32-character hexadecimal token | Use a supplied Gateway token instead of generating one. See [Token handling](#token-handling). |
| `--no-start`              | Cell starts                           | Create the container without starting it.                                                      |
| `--json`                  | Human-readable output                 | Print machine-readable output.                                                                 |

Automatic allocation selects the first unused registry port at or above `19100`. Fleet rejects duplicate tenant IDs and explicit ports already assigned to another cell.

Image references are passed as one container-runtime argument. Empty references and values beginning with `-` are rejected so an image cannot be interpreted as a Docker or Podman option.

The selected Docker or Podman endpoint must be local. Fleet rejects remote Docker contexts, `DOCKER_HOST` endpoints, and remote Podman services before reserving a port or creating local state. Remote cell hosts are not supported.

When Fleet starts a new cell, create waits up to about a minute for its Gateway to answer `/healthz`. If the cell does not become healthy, Fleet leaves its container and registry row intact for `fleet status`, `fleet logs`, or explicit removal. `--no-start` skips this health gate. The generated Gateway token of an unhealthy new cell is not lost - it remains in the container environment (`docker|podman inspect`), and because the cell has served no traffic yet, `fleet rm --force` followed by a fresh create is always a safe alternative.

### Pinning by digest

Create and upgrade accept digest-pinned image references such as `--image ghcr.io/openclaw/openclaw@sha256:<digest>`. Fleet passes the image reference through verbatim to Docker or Podman, which lets an operator keep a cell on immutable image bytes instead of a moving tag.

The create result includes the tenant ID, container name, host port, Gateway token, and local URL. Even in JSON output, treat the result as secret-bearing because it contains the token.

### Disk limits

`--disk` limits only the container writable layer. The bind-mounted per-tenant state and auth directories remain host storage; use host filesystem project quotas when those directories also need a hard limit.

| Runtime/storage backend | `--disk` support                                                             |
| ----------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Docker overlay2 on XFS  | Requires the XFS `pquota` mount option.                                      |
| Docker btrfs or zfs     | Supported by the storage driver.                                             |
| Podman overlay          | Requires XFS backing storage.                                                |
| Other backends          | Container creation fails with the daemon error and Fleet's backend guidance. |

### Egress policy

| Mode       | Docker                                                                                                | Podman                                                                              |
| ---------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `bridge`   | Supported; outbound egress is unrestricted by default.                                                | Supported; outbound egress is unrestricted by default.                              |
| `internal` | Rejected because Docker does not preserve the published loopback Gateway port on an internal network. | Supported; the loopback Gateway remains published while outbound egress is blocked. |

For Docker, keep the bridge mode and enforce outbound policy with host firewall rules such as the `DOCKER-USER` chain.

## `fleet list`

List cells in tenant-ID order:

```bash
openclaw fleet list
openclaw fleet ls
openclaw fleet list --json
```

The table contains:

| Column    | Meaning                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| --------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `tenant`  | Tenant ID.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| `state`   | Live container state from Docker or Podman inspection. `unknown` means the runtime was unavailable, or a container with the cell's name exists but its Fleet ownership labels do not match the registry record (a collision or tampering signal — inspect it manually before acting). |
| `port`    | Loopback host port mapped to the cell Gateway.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
| `image`   | Recorded container image.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| `created` | Cell creation time.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |

Registry rows remain visible when Docker or Podman is unavailable; only live state becomes `unknown`.

## `fleet status`

Inspect one cell:

```bash
openclaw fleet status acme
openclaw fleet status acme --json
```

Status combines the fleet registry row, live container inspection, and a short best-effort request to:

```text
http://127.0.0.1:<host-port>/healthz
```

The health result is `ok`, `failed`, or `skipped`. `/healthz` proves Gateway liveness, not full readiness of every configured channel or plugin. The probe is skipped when there is no usable local endpoint to check.

## `fleet logs`

Stream a cell's container logs directly to the terminal:

```bash
openclaw fleet logs acme
openclaw fleet logs acme --follow
openclaw fleet logs acme --tail 200
openclaw fleet logs acme --since 10m
```

Fleet verifies the registered container's ownership labels before reading any logs, so it refuses a foreign container using the expected cell name. The stream is pinned to that inspected container ID, so a concurrent replacement cannot redirect it to a newer generation. Press Ctrl-C to end `--follow` without treating the operator stop as a command failure. Log output is piped through a redaction filter that replaces the cell's current Gateway token with `<redacted>` before anything reaches the terminal.

`fleet logs` has no `--json` mode because container logs are a raw stdout/stderr stream. For scripts, bound the output with `--tail` and use ordinary shell redirection or pipelines.

## `fleet start`, `fleet stop`, and `fleet restart`

Control an existing cell with its recorded runtime:

```bash
openclaw fleet start acme
openclaw fleet stop acme
openclaw fleet restart acme
```

These commands operate on the registered container name. They fail if the tenant is unknown or the recorded runtime cannot perform the operation.

## `fleet upgrade`

Re-pull the recorded image and replace the cell container:

```bash
openclaw fleet upgrade acme
```

Move the cell to another image:

```bash
openclaw fleet upgrade acme --image ghcr.io/openclaw/openclaw:<version>
```

Upgrade pulls the target image, inspects the existing container and per-cell network, stops and removes the container, then recreates and starts it. The replacement preserves the same host port, data directories, per-cell bridge network, runtime profile, resource limits, restart policy, Fleet-managed environment, and values originally supplied with `--env`. Mounted state survives container replacement; image-default environment can change with the target image.

The replacement is committed only after its Gateway answers `/healthz` on the cell's loopback port, matching the health contract the official compose file uses. A replacement that exits, crash-loops, or fails to become healthy within about a minute is removed and the previous container is restored, so a broken image does not take down a working cell.

The Gateway token is intentionally not stored in the fleet registry. Before removing the old container, Fleet reads its environment and carries `OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN` into the replacement. Do not manually remove the old container before an upgrade if the token exists nowhere else you control.

## `fleet backup` and `fleet restore`

Back up one stopped cell:

```bash
openclaw fleet stop acme
openclaw fleet backup acme --out ./acme.tgz
```

Restore that archive into the registered cell:

```bash
openclaw fleet restore acme --from ./acme.tgz
```

These are host-operator-privileged commands. Archives contain tenant state and auth secrets, are created with mode `0600`, and must be stored like credentials. Backup refuses a running cell so SQLite state is captured consistently. Restore refuses a running cell unless `--force` is supplied, replaces only that tenant's state, rotates the Gateway token, and prints the new token once. Fleet backs up one tenant at a time; all-tenant backup is a separate operator action.

Restore needs an existing stopped container because its inspected runtime profile supplies the replacement limits, user mapping, environment provenance, and image. If the registered container was removed out of band, first run `fleet rm <tenant> --force` without `--purge-data`, recreate the cell with the intended image and `--no-start`, then retry restore. The first removal keeps both tenant data directories intact.

Both commands accept `--max-bytes <bytes>` to bound archived or extracted file data, and both apply the same fixed one-million budget of archive path segments so metadata-only archive bombs cannot exhaust host inodes and every accepted backup stays restorable. Backup accepts `--out <path>` and both commands support `--json`.

Archives contain regular files and directories only. Backup never follows or stores symlinks, hard links, sockets, or device nodes; skipped counts are reported in the result. Restore rejects archives containing any other entry type, ignores archived ownership, and clamps restored file and directory modes before applying the cell runtime owner. Recreatable symlink trees such as workspace `node_modules` must be reinstalled inside the cell after a restore.

## `fleet doctor`

Audit every cell or one tenant without changing runtime or filesystem state:

```bash
openclaw fleet doctor
openclaw fleet doctor acme --json
```

Doctor checks runtime locality, ownership labels, health, hardening, resource limits, loopback port binding, token presence, network ownership and egress mode, and private state-directory permissions. Warnings describe stopped cells or ownership differences; any failed finding sets a nonzero process exit code.

## `fleet rm`

Remove a stopped cell from the runtime and registry while keeping tenant data:

```bash
openclaw fleet rm acme
```

A running container requires `--force`:

```bash
openclaw fleet rm acme --force
```

Permanently remove the cell data as well:

```bash
openclaw fleet rm acme --purge-data --force
```

Fleet removes the cell container before removing its dedicated bridge network. `--purge-data` requires `--force`. Before recursive deletion, Fleet resolves both Fleet-owned roots and both per-tenant directories. Each target must be the exact expected tenant leaf, strictly inside its root, and not a symlink. These containment checks prevent a corrupted registry path or cross-tenant symlink from redirecting deletion elsewhere.

Purge is retryable when an exact expected tenant directory is already absent. This lets a later invocation finish cleanup after a partial filesystem failure without relaxing the path checks for directories that still exist.

## Storage and container layout

Cell state and auth-profile encryption keys use separate per-tenant host paths under the active OpenClaw state directory:

```text
<state-dir>/fleet/cells/<tenant>/
<state-dir>/fleet/auth-profile-secrets/<tenant>/
```

The first directory is mounted at `/home/node/.openclaw`. The second is mounted at `/home/node/.config/openclaw`, matching the official Docker setup's encryption-key mount. The encryption key is therefore not exposed beneath the ordinary state mount or included when only the cell-state directory is backed up or shared. Both directories survive normal removal and upgrade; `fleet rm --purge-data --force` deletes both after separate containment checks.

Before first start, Fleet initializes the cell config with `gateway.mode=local`, token auth, the LAN container bind, and Control UI origins for the allocated host port. The token value is not written to that config; it remains in the container environment.

Fleet pins the official image's container paths with these environment values:

| Variable                 | Container value                      |
| ------------------------ | ------------------------------------ |
| `HOME`                   | `/home/node`                         |
| `OPENCLAW_HOME`          | `/home/node`                         |
| `OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR`     | `/home/node/.openclaw`               |
| `OPENCLAW_CONFIG_PATH`   | `/home/node/.openclaw/openclaw.json` |
| `OPENCLAW_WORKSPACE_DIR` | `/home/node/.openclaw/workspace`     |
| `OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN` | Generated or supplied cell token     |

The official image defaults to the non-root `node` user with UID 1000. Fleet keeps the private `0700` bind mounts writable without making them world-accessible. Rootful Docker runs the cell with the invoking non-root UID and GID; rootless Docker uses container UID 0, which maps to the invoking unprivileged host user inside the daemon's user namespace. Podman uses `keep-id` with the invoking UID and GID. When Fleet itself runs as root against a rootful runtime, it retains the image user and assigns the initial mount files to UID/GID 1000.

On SELinux hosts, Docker and Podman mounts receive a private `:Z` relabel. If you restore or relocate cell data, keep the bind-mounted paths writable by the effective container user. The profile is rootless-friendly, but Docker or Podman must already be configured for rootless operation on the host; Fleet does not convert a rootful daemon into a rootless one.

## Security profile

Fleet applies the following profile to every cell:

| Control              | Applied profile                                      | Why                                                                                    |
| -------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Linux capabilities   | `--cap-drop=ALL`                                     | The Gateway is a Node.js process and needs no added Linux capabilities.                |
| Privilege escalation | `--security-opt no-new-privileges`                   | Prevents processes from gaining privileges through setuid or setgid binaries.          |
| Init process         | `--init`                                             | Reaps descendant processes and forwards container lifecycle signals.                   |
| Process limit        | `--pids-limit 512` by default                        | Bounds fork and process exhaustion.                                                    |
| Memory limit         | `--memory 2g` by default                             | Bounds cell memory use.                                                                |
| CPU limit            | `--cpus 2` by default                                | Bounds cell CPU use.                                                                   |
| Writable-layer disk  | Optional `--disk`                                    | Bounds the container layer when the runtime storage backend supports quotas.           |
| Restart policy       | `--restart unless-stopped`                           | Restarts a failed cell without overriding an intentional stop.                         |
| Host publishing      | `127.0.0.1:<host-port>:18789` only                   | Keeps the Gateway off wildcard host interfaces.                                        |
| Cell network         | One bridge or Podman internal network per cell       | Separates container-IP traffic and optionally blocks Podman outbound egress.           |
| Container identity   | Host-matched user mapping                            | Keeps private bind mounts writable without granting world access.                      |
| Persistent state     | Per-cell mounts; no shared state mount               | Keeps tenant config, credentials, sessions, and workspaces in that tenant's data tree. |
| Container command    | `node dist/index.js gateway --bind lan --port 18789` | Listens on the container network so the loopback-only host port mapping can reach it.  |

Fleet never mounts `/var/run/docker.sock`, uses `--privileged` or host networking, or adds capabilities. The per-cell bridge is a cross-cell separation boundary, not an outbound firewall: cells retain the network egress needed for providers and channels. Front the loopback port with a proxy, SSH tunnel, or tailnet configuration that matches your deployment. `http://127.0.0.1:<port>` is directly reachable only from the Fleet host.

This profile separates tenant containers, but it does not protect tenants from the Fleet operator, the container runtime administrator, or a compromised host. See [Multi-tenant hosting](/gateway/multi-tenant-hosting) for the complete trust model and stronger isolation options.

## Token handling

By default, `fleet create` generates a cryptographically random 32-character hexadecimal Gateway token and prints it once in the create result. Store it in your approved secret manager and avoid capturing create output in logs.

`--gateway-token` places a custom token in the local process arguments, which may be retained in shell history or visible in process listings. Prefer the generated token unless an existing secret-management workflow requires a supplied value.

The token and every value passed with `--env` live in the container environment. Fleet writes them to a short-lived mode-`0600` environment file, passes only that file's path to Docker or Podman, and removes it after the runtime command finishes. Values explicitly typed in `openclaw fleet create --gateway-token ...` or `--env KEY=VALUE` can still be visible in the outer `openclaw` process arguments and shell history.

Container environment values are not hidden from the trusted host operator: Docker or Podman administrators can read them with container inspection. Fleet's "shown once" note describes normal CLI output, not resistance to a host administrator.

## Related

- [Multi-tenant hosting](/gateway/multi-tenant-hosting)
- [Docker](/install/docker)
- [Podman](/install/podman)
- [Gateway security](/gateway/security)
