VClaw Desktop Packaging and Release Strategy

This document describes the technical process for packaging VClaw into a complete Desktop application, enabling non-technical users to use it easily.

1. Desktop Application Architecture

VClaw Desktop is built based on the OpenClaw architecture, consisting of 3 main layers:

• Native Host (Swift): Responsible for the application window on macOS, lifecycle management, and system menus.
• UI Layer (Next.js): The vclaw-ui, packaged as static resources within the application.
• Agent Engine (Node.js): The agentic processing core located in core/openclaw, running in the background (daemon) to execute tasks.

Under the current product direction, this UI layer is not just for internal operations. It also needs to support surfaces such as Campaigns / Content, Task Inbox, Commerce, and policy screens for guarded growth automation.

2. Packaging Process

The current project split includes the UI written in Next.js (vclaw-ui) and the Engine in Node.js (core/openclaw). For the Desktop application to identify the new interface instead of the original OpenClaw UI, we must statically export the VClaw UI and inject it into OpenClaw's UI folder before starting the packaging process.

Step 1: Configure VClaw UI for Static Export

Make sure vclaw-ui/next.config.ts has the output: 'export' flag enabled:

const nextConfig: NextConfig = {
  output: 'export',
  // Other configs...
};

Step 2: Build UI and Transfer Files

Run the build command for VClaw UI and copy the entire statically exported source (out/) over to OpenClaw's control-ui folder:

# Enter the UI folder and build
cd vclaw-ui
pnpm install
pnpm build

# Remove OpenClaw's old UI and copy the new one over
rm -rf ../core/openclaw/dist/control-ui
mkdir -p ../core/openclaw/dist/control-ui
cp -R out/* ../core/openclaw/dist/control-ui/

Step 3: Run Mac Packaging Script

Move to the core directory to proceed with building the macOS app. It is REQUIRED to pass the environment variable SKIP_UI_BUILD=1 so that OpenClaw does not automatically rebuild the old technical interface and overwrite the newly injected VClaw UI.

cd ../core/openclaw
pnpm install
pnpm build

# Create VClaw.app package
SKIP_UI_BUILD=1 ./scripts/package-mac-app.sh

# Create .dmg installer
SKIP_UI_BUILD=1 ./scripts/create-dmg.sh

The final release build will be located at core/openclaw/dist/VClaw.app and its corresponding .dmg installer.

3. Branding Customization (VClaw)

To fully transition from OpenClaw to VClaw, the following locations need to be updated:

4. Auto-Update Mechanism

VClaw uses the Sparkle framework to automatically check for and download updates.

• Feed URL: Configured in Info.plist pointing to the VClaw update server.
• Release Channel: Supports stable and beta channels.

[!TIP] User Approach: For regular users, they just need to download the .dmg file, drag it into the Applications folder, and open it. The entire Agent infrastructure and UI will start automatically without using the Terminal, opening an Operations Console that supports both day-to-day operations and controlled growth workflows such as content drafts, follow-up, and approval queues.