Refactor to install from npm instead of building from git

Author: hcastc00

.github/workflows/auto_check.yml

@@ -11,38 +11,24 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
-          submodules: true
           fetch-depth: 0
 
-      - name: Get current submodule commit
+      - name: Get current upstream version
         id: current
-        run: echo "sha=$(git -C openclaw rev-parse HEAD)" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-
-      - name: Fetch latest upstream release
-        id: upstream
-        env:
-          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
         run: |
-          LATEST=$(gh api repos/openclaw/openclaw/releases/latest --jq '.tag_name')
-          echo "tag=$LATEST" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-          # Strip leading 'v' if present for the version string
-          VERSION="${LATEST#v}"
+          VERSION=$(jq -r '.upstreamVersion' dappnode_package.json)
           echo "version=$VERSION" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
-      - name: Update submodule to latest release
-        id: update
+      - name: Fetch latest npm version
+        id: upstream
         run: |
-          cd openclaw
-          git fetch --tags origin
-          git checkout ${{ steps.upstream.outputs.tag }}
-          cd ..
-          NEW_SHA=$(git -C openclaw rev-parse HEAD)
-          echo "sha=$NEW_SHA" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          LATEST=$(npm view openclaw version)
+          echo "version=$LATEST" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
       - name: Check if update is needed
         id: check
         run: |
-          if [ "${{ steps.current.outputs.sha }}" = "${{ steps.update.outputs.sha }}" ]; then
+          if [ "${{ steps.current.outputs.version }}" = "${{ steps.upstream.outputs.version }}" ]; then
             echo "changed=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
           else
             echo "changed=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
@@ -72,11 +58,11 @@ jobs:
           fi
 
           git checkout -b "$BRANCH"
-          git add openclaw dappnode_package.json
+          git add dappnode_package.json
           git commit -m "Bump openclaw upstream to ${VERSION}"
           git push origin "$BRANCH"
 
           gh pr create \
             --title "Bump openclaw upstream to ${VERSION}" \
-            --body "Bumps openclaw submodule to release \`${{ steps.upstream.outputs.tag }}\`." \
+            --body "Bumps openclaw npm package to version \`${VERSION}\`." \
             --base main

.github/workflows/main.yml

@@ -16,8 +16,6 @@ jobs:
     if: github.event_name != 'push'
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          submodules: true
       - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
         with:
           node-version: "22"
@@ -29,8 +27,6 @@ jobs:
     if: github.event_name == 'push' || github.event_name == 'repository_dispatch'
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          submodules: true
       - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
         with:
           node-version: "22"

.gitignore

@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# Former git submodule (now installed via npm at build time)
+openclaw/
+
 # Build artifacts
 build_*/
 *.xz

.gitmodules

@@ -2,16 +2,14 @@ ARG UPSTREAM_VERSION="latest"
 
 FROM node:22-bookworm
 
-# Install Bun (required for build scripts) and sudo (needed by openclaw tool executor)
+# Install Bun (required by openclaw at runtime) and sudo (needed by openclaw tool executor)
 RUN curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash && \
     apt-get update && \
     apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends sudo && \
     apt-get clean && \
     rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 ENV PATH="/root/.bun/bin:${PATH}"
 
-RUN corepack enable
-
 WORKDIR /app
 
 ARG OPENCLAW_DOCKER_APT_PACKAGES=""
@@ -22,21 +20,11 @@ RUN if [ -n "$OPENCLAW_DOCKER_APT_PACKAGES" ]; then \
       rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* /var/cache/apt/archives/*; \
     fi
 
-COPY openclaw/package.json openclaw/pnpm-lock.yaml openclaw/pnpm-workspace.yaml openclaw/.npmrc ./
-COPY openclaw/ui/package.json ./ui/package.json
-COPY openclaw/patches ./patches
-COPY openclaw/scripts ./scripts
-
-RUN pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
-
-COPY openclaw/ .
-RUN OPENCLAW_A2UI_SKIP_MISSING=1 pnpm build
-# Force pnpm for UI build (Bun may fail on ARM/Synology architectures)
-ENV OPENCLAW_PREFER_PNPM=1
-RUN pnpm ui:build
+ARG UPSTREAM_VERSION
+RUN npm install -g openclaw@${UPSTREAM_VERSION}
 
-# Make the openclaw CLI available in PATH
-RUN ln -s /app/openclaw.mjs /usr/local/bin/openclaw
+# Make json5 (openclaw dependency) resolvable by plain require('json5')
+ENV NODE_PATH=/usr/local/lib/node_modules
 
 ENV NODE_ENV=production
 
@@ -66,4 +54,4 @@ HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=10s --start-period=60s --retries=3 \
 
 # Run as root (no-new-privileges prevents privilege escalation via gosu/sudo)
 ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/local/bin/entrypoint.sh"]
-CMD ["node", "dist/index.js", "gateway", "--allow-unconfigured"]
+CMD ["openclaw", "gateway", "--allow-unconfigured"]

Dockerfile

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ services:
       context: .
       dockerfile: Dockerfile
       args:
-        UPSTREAM_VERSION: "latest"
+        UPSTREAM_VERSION: "2026.3.2"
     image: "openclaw.dnp.dappnode.eth:0.1.0"
     container_name: DAppNodePackage-openclaw.dnp.dappnode.eth
     restart: unless-stopped
@@ -26,8 +26,7 @@ services:
         max-size: "10m"
         max-file: "3"
     command:
-      - "node"
-      - "dist/index.js"
+      - "openclaw"
       - "gateway"
       - "--allow-unconfigured"
 

docker-compose.yml

@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ EOF
 else
     node -e "
 const fs = require('fs');
-const JSON5 = require('/app/node_modules/json5');
+const JSON5 = require('json5');
 const configPath = '$CONFIG_FILE';
 try {
   const config = JSON5.parse(fs.readFileSync(configPath, 'utf8'));