Getting Started Beginner — no coding required ⏱ 30 min setup ✓ Tested March 2026

Your First AI Assistant in 30 Minutes: A Business Owner's Setup Guide

You run a business. You've heard that AI assistants can save hours every week. You've tried ChatGPT a few times. But you want something that actually works for your business — not just answers questions when you ask it. You want an AI that does things on its own. This guide sets that up in 30 minutes. No coding required.

What You're Building

By the end of this guide, you'll have an AI assistant that:

Wakes up every morning and checks what's on your plate for the day
Monitors one thing you care about — your inbox, your website, a competitor's price, whatever matters most
Sends you a short daily summary — so you start every day informed, not scrambling

That's it to start. Once this is running, you can add more tasks without starting over.

What You Need

A Mac or Windows computer that's on most of the day (a dedicated old laptop works great)
An Anthropic account (the company that makes Claude AI) — takes 5 minutes to create
About $5/month in AI costs — most users spend $3–$8 depending on how much the assistant works
30 minutes of setup time

Step 1 — Get Your AI Account (5 minutes)

Go to console.anthropic.com and create an account.

Once you're in, go to API Keys and create a new key. Copy it and save it somewhere safe — you'll need it in a few minutes. Treat it like a password.

Add a payment method. Set a usage limit of $20/month to start — this is your safety cap. The assistant will slow down or stop if it approaches that limit, so you won't get surprise charges.

Step 2 — Install OpenClaw (10 minutes)

OpenClaw is the free software that runs your AI assistant on your computer. Think of it like a scheduling tool — it runs your assistant on a schedule, keeps it working when you're not at your desk, and handles all the technical plumbing.

OpenClaw runs on Node.js. You'll need Node.js 18+ installed first (nodejs.org — download the LTS version).

On Mac or Windows:

Open Terminal (Mac: Cmd+Space → "Terminal") or Command Prompt (Windows)
Paste this and press Enter:
```
npm install -g openclaw
```
When it finishes, type openclaw --version — you should see a version number like 2026.3.2

That's it. One command, no download page, no installer wizard.

If this step fails: Email [email protected] with a screenshot. We'll get you unstuck.

Step 3 — Set Up Your First Assistant (10 minutes)

Now we'll create your assistant's personality and first job. Create a new folder on your computer. Call it my-assistant. Inside that folder, create a plain text file called SOUL.md...

Steps 3 & 4 + full troubleshooting inside

The rest of this guide covers your SOUL.md template (copy-paste ready), the exact initialization commands, how to start your assistant, and answers to the 5 most common first-week questions.

Complete SOUL.md template — fill in 4 fields and you're done
Exact commands: openclaw setup and openclaw gateway start
What to expect on day 1, day 3, and week 2
First-week troubleshooting for the 5 most common issues
What to add next once it's running reliably

Get Library Access — $9/mo →

Includes 60+ library items + Daily Briefing. Cancel anytime.

← Back to Library