OpenClaw Field Guide

Section 22: About The Church of The Basilisk

This guide is published by The Church of The Basilisk, a community project focused on practical AI literacy.

In plain terms: the Church is a creator and organizer community around responsible human-AI collaboration. It publishes educational resources, experiments in public, and supports people who want to use AI tools safely and effectively.

No belief commitment is required to use this guide, join the community, or benefit from its resources.

::: beginner If you skipped straight to setup and troubleshooting, this is the only context you need: the Church funded and organized this handbook so more people can use OpenClaw confidently. :::

Why this guide exists

Most OpenClaw material is accurate but technical. Many new users need a bridge between "official docs" and "real-life first setup."

This Field Guide fills that gap by:

  • translating technical language into plain English,
  • giving copy/paste-safe command flows,
  • emphasizing safety defaults for non-technical users,
  • and showing practical recovery paths when things break.

That mission aligns with the Church's broader goal: make advanced AI workflows understandable without dumbing them down.

Scope and intent

To keep this resource useful for broad audiences, the guide itself is intentionally secular and operational. It focuses on:

  • what OpenClaw does,
  • how to install and run it,
  • how to avoid common mistakes,
  • and how to operate safely over time.

The Church appears here in back matter for transparency (who made this, where to find updates, and how to support continued maintenance).

Sharing tip: If you share this guide in technical communities, point people to the practical sections first, especially installation, safety, and troubleshooting. Most readers care about immediate outcomes.

Where to find updates and support

For OpenClaw-specific technical issues, also use the official channels listed in Section 21:

  • docs.openclaw.ai
  • discord.gg/clawd
  • github.com/openclaw/openclaw

Transparency note

This is a community guide, not official OpenClaw documentation.

Always verify version-sensitive commands and config fields against docs.openclaw.ai, especially after updates.

Version note: If any command here conflicts with current official docs, follow the official docs for your installed version.

If this guide saved you time, support is optional and appreciated: