setup-dashclaw

A setup guide for running DashClaw, a self-hosted application, and connecting its command-line tool and Claude Code hooks.

In plain words
What is it for?
It helps install dependencies, initialise the database and environment settings, start a local server, deploy with Vercel and Neon, or run the demo.
Why use it?
It explains the required setup choices and configuration so the application can be started locally, in the cloud, or in demo mode.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/ucsandman/dashclaw/setup-dashclaw
Any agent
npx skills add ucsandman/DashClaw --skill setup-dashclaw
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ucsandman/DashClaw

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Per session 24 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 2,629 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan C 2 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00024 $0.02629
Opus 5 $0.00012 $0.01314
Sonnet 5 $0.00005 $0.00526
Haiku 4.5 $0.00002 $0.00263

Measured 3d ago against content hash 1dfb014ce458, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade C, and why

setup-dashclaw scanned grade C with 2 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 3d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Recursive force deletehighDestructive command

rm -rf with a variable or a broad path is one typo away from removing the wrong tree.

| `rm -rf`, `DROP TABLE` | security | 90 | false |

Makes network callslowCapability

Not a fault in itself. Listed so you know the mod talks to something, and to what.

curl http://localhost:3000/api/health
.claude/skills/dashclaw-agent/setup-dashclaw/SKILL.md · 299 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 299 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Set Up DashClaw

Three ways to get DashClaw running, plus CLI and Claude Code hook setup.


Instance Setup

Option 1: Local Development

# Clone the repo
git clone [email protected]:ucsandman/DashClaw.git
cd DashClaw

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run interactive setup (creates .env, initializes database)
node scripts/setup.mjs

# Start dev server
npm run dev
# → http://localhost:3000

Required environment variables (.env):

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/dashclaw
ENCRYPTION_KEY=<32-char-random-string>
NEXTAUTH_URL=http://localhost:3000
NEXTAUTH_SECRET=<32-char-random-string>
DASHCLAW_API_KEY=<your-api-key>
DASHCLAW_MODE=self_host

Option 2: Cloud (Vercel + Neon)

  1. Fork the DashClaw repo on GitHub
  2. Deploy to Vercel (connect the fork)
  3. Create a free Neon Postgres database
  4. Set DATABASE_URL in Vercel environment variables
  5. Run node scripts/setup.mjs locally pointing to your cloud instance
  6. Grab your API key from the dashboard

Option 3: Demo Mode

npx dashclaw-demo
# Runs a local demo instance with fixture data
# Opens Decision Replay automatically
# Agent attempts risky deployment, DashClaw blocks it

Demo mode is read-only — no writes allowed. Good for exploring the UI.

Verify Setup

# Health check
curl http://localhost:3000/api/health

# Expected response:
# { "status": "ok", "database": "connected", "version": "2.x.x" }

Visit http://localhost:3000/setup for the instance readiness verification page.


CLI Installation

The @dashclaw/cli provides terminal-based approval workflows.

Install

npm install -g @dashclaw/cli

Configure

export DASHCLAW_BASE_URL=http://localhost:3000
export DASHCLAW_API_KEY=your-api-key
# Optional: export DASHCLAW_AGENT_ID=cli-operator

Commands

# Interactive approval inbox (TUI with live updates)
dashclaw approvals

# Approve a specific action
dashclaw approve act_abc123 --reason "Reviewed and safe"

# Deny a specific action
dashclaw deny act_abc123 --reason "Risk too high for current sprint"

# Help
dashclaw help

Read the full file on GitHub · 299 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 3d ago First seen · 299 lines · 24 tokens per session scan C 1dfb014ce458

Subscribe to this mod's changes

setup-dashclaw is a skill published in the GitHub repository ucsandman/DashClaw (296 stars, last pushed 5d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 24 tokens to every session and 2,629 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it C with 2 findings (recursive force delete, makes network calls). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.