TranslaStars × AI Realist

Setup Guide —
AI Assistant for
Language Professionals

Install OpenClaw, configure OpenRouter and Brave Search API — all before the course starts. Takes about 10 minutes.

💬 Need help?
Join the TranslaStars workshop support chat on Telegram for installation help: t.me/+w10589JBRzc4OWQy
⚠️ If you ask an LLM for help — ground it in the docs
OpenClaw is too new. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini etc. do not know it out of the box and will hallucinate commands that break your setup.

If you want to use an LLM for troubleshooting, always include the documentation as context. Here's a prompt you can copy and paste:

Remember: when answering questions about troubleshooting OpenClaw, you must always only rely on the information in docs.openclaw.ai. If you found an answer elsewhere, validate it against the docs. Always provide references to where you found the information.

First, fetch the relevant documentation from https://docs.openclaw.ai/ and use it to answer my question.

Key resources: docs.openclaw.ai

What you'll build

A personal AI assistant that knows your language pairs, clients, and glossary — and can handle tasks that eat your time:

No coding. No terminal during the sessions. Everything through a chat window.

⚠️ Required — complete before the course date
We won't have time to troubleshoot installations during the session. Complete this in advance so you can start building from minute one.

First time using Terminal?

Terminal (Mac) and PowerShell (Windows) are just text-based ways to give your computer instructions. Don't worry — we'll tell you exactly what to type.

1. Press ⌘ Command + Space — opens Spotlight Search

2. Type Terminal and press Return (Enter)

3. A dark window appears — that's Terminal! ✅

1. Press Win + R — opens the Run dialog

2. Type powershell and press Enter

3. A blue window appears — that's PowerShell! ✅

00 Install Python 3

The scanner runs on Python 3. Most computers already have it.

Check if Python is installed:

python3 --version

If you see Python 3.x.x — you're done!

If not installed: go to python.org/downloads and click the big yellow Download button. Open the downloaded file and click through the installer.

Check if Python is installed:

python --version

If you see Python 3.x.x — you're done!

Fastest way if not installed:

winget install Python.Python.3

Or go to python.org/downloads and download the installer. Important: on the first installer screen, tick "Add Python to PATH" before clicking Install.

01 Install OpenClaw

OpenClaw is the tool we'll use throughout the course.

curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash

Official installer — detects your OS, installs Node if needed, installs OpenClaw, and launches the setup wizard.

& ([scriptblock]::Create((iwr -useb https://openclaw.ai/install.ps1)))

Official Windows installer.

⚠️ If you get a SecurityException:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser

Then retry the install. If that still fails, use this temporary bypass instead:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process
📺 During setup — skip everything for now. The wizard will ask about channels (Telegram, WhatsApp, Signal, etc.), skills, and other extras. Choose "Skip for now" on each screen.

When asked "How do you want to hatch your agent?", choose "Hatch in Browser".

02 Get an API Key

You need an API key from an AI model provider. Bring your own key — $5 on any provider is plenty for the course.

💰 Pricing comparison
American providers (OpenAI, Anthropic) are expensive for what they are — you'll burn through $5 fast.

Chinese providers are 20–30× cheaper for the same quality. DeepSeek and MiniMax give you hundreds of sessions on $5.

If you're not sure, start with OpenRouter — it gives you access to all providers with one key, and you can try different models to see what works for you.

Choose your provider

🔄 OpenRouter (recommended for beginners)

One key, access to 300+ models. Start with $5.

  1. Go to openrouter.ai/keys and create an account
  2. Add $5+ in credits
  3. Create an API key (begins with sk-or-...)

Set it in OpenClaw:

openclaw onboard --auth-choice apiKey --token-provider openrouter --token "sk-or-v1-your-key-here"

Or use the guided wizard: openclaw onboard → choose More → OpenRouter → paste key.

🇨🇳 DeepSeek (cheapest, great quality)

Direct provider, no routing. Pennies per session.

  1. Go to platform.deepseek.com/api_keys and create an account
  2. Top up $5 (lasts for months of casual use)
  3. Create an API key

Set it in OpenClaw:

openclaw onboard --auth-choice apiKey --token-provider deepseek --token "sk-your-key-here"

🇨🇳 MiniMax (good for creative tasks)

  1. Go to platform.minimaxi.com and create an account
  2. Add credits ($5 goes a long way)
  3. Create an API key

Set it in OpenClaw via OpenRouter: openclaw onboard --auth-choice apiKey --token-provider openrouter --token "..."
Then set the model: openclaw models set openrouter/minimax/minimax-m2.7

🇺🇸 OpenAI (most expensive, use as fallback)

  1. Go to platform.openai.com/api-keys
  2. Add $5+ credits
  3. Create an API key (begins with sk-...)

Set it in OpenClaw:

openclaw onboard --auth-choice apiKey --token-provider openai --token "sk-..."

🇺🇸 Anthropic (Claude — best for long documents)

  1. Go to console.anthropic.com
  2. Add $5+ credits
  3. Create an API key (begins with sk-ant-...)

Set it in OpenClaw:

openclaw onboard --auth-choice apiKey --token-provider anthropic --token "sk-ant-..."

Alternative: set the key without the wizard

openclaw config set env.OPENROUTER_API_KEY \$OPENROUTER_API_KEY

Make sure the OPENROUTER_API_KEY environment variable is already set in your terminal session before running this command.

📌 Make it permanent (Mac):

echo 'export OPENROUTER_API_KEY="sk-or-…here"' >> ~/.zshrc && source ~/.zshrc

📌 Make it permanent (Windows PowerShell):

[System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('OPENROUTER_API_KEY','sk-or-…here','User')

Verify it works

openclaw models status

You should see openrouter listed as an active provider.

openclaw models status --probe

This actually tests the connection. If you see ✓ for your provider with a green checkmark — it's working.

03 Set the Model & Verify

Pick any model from your provider. For the course exercises, any decent model will work fine.

💡 Recommendations by provider
• OpenRouter → openclaw models set openrouter/deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash (cheap & fast)
• DeepSeek → openclaw models set deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash
• OpenAI → openclaw models set openai/gpt-4o-mini (cheapest OpenAI option)
• Anthropic → openclaw models set anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-20250514
If prompted, choose "Enter manually" and type the full model ID.

Try it in the Terminal first

openclaw chat

This launches the TUI (Terminal User Interface) — a chat right in your terminal. Type "Hello!" and press Enter. If the model responds, OpenClaw is working! Type /exit to quit the TUI.

Then try the Web UI

openclaw dashboard

This opens your browser at http://127.0.0.1:18789. Send a test message: "Hello, what model are you?"

If your agent responds — your setup is complete! ✅

No response?

Run the doctor:

openclaw doctor --fix

Still stuck? Restart and retry:

openclaw doctor --fix && openclaw gateway restart

🔁 Device pairing required?

If you see "Device pairing required" in the browser (or an error with a requestId), find the pending request:

openclaw devices list

Copy the requestId from the output, then approve it:

openclaw devices approve <requestId>

Then reconnect in the browser.

04 Brave Search API

For Exercise 3 (Recurring News Briefing), your agent needs to search the web. This requires a Brave Search API key — free and takes 2 minutes.

Get a Brave Search API key

  1. Go to brave.com/search/api and click Get started for free
  2. Create an account or log in
  3. In the dashboard, go to Available plans and subscribe to the Search plan
  4. Go to My subscriptions → API keys and create a new key
  5. Copy your key (starts with BSA...)
💡 No credit card needed. The free plan includes $5/month credit that renews each month. 1,000 searches easily cover the course exercises.

Set it in OpenClaw

openclaw config set env.BRAVE_API_KEY "BSAv1-your-key-here"

Replace with your actual key.

Restart OpenClaw

openclaw gateway restart

Test it works

Open the Web UI again and ask your agent:

"Search for latest AI developments in translation technology"

If the agent returns real web results — it's working! ✅

05 Run the Setup Validator

One final check. Tests everything — Python, OpenClaw, API key, internet.

curl -fsSL https://custommt-workshop.pages.dev/check_setup.sh | bash
irm https://custommt-workshop.pages.dev/check_setup.ps1 | iex

Pre-course Checklist

Confirm all before the course starts:

💬 Need help?
Join the course support chat (link provided by TranslaStars).
OpenClaw FAQ for common installation issues.

TranslaStars × AI Realist — Setup Guide for AI Assistant for Language Professionals