OpenClaw Menu Bar

⚠️ macOS ONLY - This skill requires macOS. Menu bar apps are not supported on Windows or Linux.

Adds a native macOS menu bar app for quick OpenClaw access - click the crab icon 🦀 in your menu bar to get an instant chat popup.

Quick Start

Install & Launch

scripts/install.sh
scripts/start.sh

The crab icon will appear in your menu bar. Click it to open the chat window.

Stop

scripts/stop.sh

Check Status

scripts/status.sh

What It Does

• Menu bar icon: Crab 🦀 icon appears in macOS menu bar
• Quick popup: Click icon → instant chat window (no browser needed)
• Keyboard shortcut: Cmd+Shift+O to toggle popup
• Native feel: Proper macOS vibrancy, stays on top when needed
• Lightweight: Electron app, ~480x680px popup window

Icon Setup

The menubar app requires two icon files in assets/openclaw-menubar/icons/:

• icon.png (22x22 pixels, transparent PNG)
• icon@2x.png (44x44 pixels, transparent PNG)

Option 1: Auto-generate icons

cd assets/openclaw-menubar
./create-icon.sh

This creates a simple crab emoji icon.

Option 2: Custom icons

Replace the generated icons with your own 22x22 and 44x44 transparent PNGs.

Note: macOS menu bar uses monochrome template mode (auto-colorizes your icon).

Window Size

Edit assets/openclaw-menubar/main.js:

browserWindow: {
  width: 480,  // Change width
  height: 680  // Change height
}

Keyboard Shortcut

Edit assets/openclaw-menubar/main.js:

globalShortcut.register('CommandOrControl+Shift+O', () => {
  // Change 'O' to any key
});

Architecture

• Electron app using menubar package
• Header: Custom HTML header (index-webchat.html) with branding
• Content: OpenClaw webchat loaded via BrowserView with auth token
• Auto-auth: Reads gateway config from ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json

Requirements

• macOS (menu bar apps are macOS-specific)
• OpenClaw Gateway running on localhost
• Node.js (for Electron)

Troubleshooting

Icon not showing

• Icon must be 22x22 PNG with transparent background
• macOS menu bar uses monochrome template mode (auto-colorizes)

"OpenClaw Not Running" error

• Ensure OpenClaw Gateway is running: openclaw gateway status
• Check config: cat ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json

Window doesn't open

• Check logs in Console.app (search "OpenClaw")
• Try: scripts/stop.sh && scripts/start.sh

Files

• assets/openclaw-menubar/ - Complete Electron app
• scripts/install.sh - Install dependencies (npm install)
• scripts/start.sh - Launch the menu bar app
• scripts/stop.sh - Kill the app process
• scripts/status.sh - Check if app is running