September 19, 2026
A local launch can continue in a separate environment: the OpenClaw agent opens a web app in Crabbox
On September 19, 2026, OpenClaw added the ability to launch a web app in Crabbox from the current conversation. The command to the agent is: “Run this in Crabbox and show me.” It launches the app and displays it through VNC or opens a portal in the chat sidebar.
Peter Steinberger 🦞
@steipete
We just added a new capability: in the latest OC version, you can ask the agent: “Run this [web app] in Crabbox and show me [VNC / portal].” This already worked for cloud sessions. But you often start locally and then realize that testing requires a separate environment. Now it works right away.
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After starting locally, the agent launches the web app in Crabbox and shows it in the current conversation. Cloud sessions already supported this, but after a local launch a separate environment was often needed for testing.
### How to enable
Crabbox is installed through Homebrew: `brew install openclaw/tap/crabbox`. Signed archives are also available for macOS, Linux, and Windows. OpenClaw desktop mode works only on Linux; macOS and Windows require a supported desktop provider.
In OpenClaw, enable Cloud Worker Desktop in `Settings → Agents & Tools → Labs`, add `settings.desktop: true` to the Linux Crabbox profile, and restart the Gateway. The profile is configured in `Settings → Connections → Cloud workers` or in `cloudWorkers.profiles` in the `openclaw.json` file with the fields `provider: "crabbox"`, `backend`, `class`, `ttl`, and `idleTimeout`.
### What the agent will see
After setup, the agent starts the web app server and opens a portal in the sidebar. The browser in the attached desktop environment has separate cookies and its own state. The manual CLI option looks like this: `crabbox desktop launch --id <lease> --browser --url <url> --webvnc --open`; the `--take-control` flag gives the viewer keyboard and mouse control.
Desktop runs XFCE on display `:99`, RFB is available at `127.0.0.1:5900`, and the browser profile gets CDP at `127.0.0.1:9222`. In the OpenClaw v2026.9.4 release of September 11, the app learned to download a compatible Crabbox CLI itself. If automatic download is blocked, Crabbox 0.55.0 or later is required.
Portal works in `worker-turn` on node-backed cloud workers. SSH-backed `remote-exec`, including Codex sessions, does not launch this tool.
The next boundary is defined by connection type: node-backed cloud workers support portal, while SSH-backed remote-exec, including Codex sessions, does not.
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