Run Ironclaw — an AI coding agent sidecar — with Docker Compose in minutes.
This setup builds Ironclaw from source (pinned to a stable commit) and pairs it with a pgvector database for memory/embeddings.
- Docker and Docker Compose
- An LLM provider credential: Anthropic API key, Anthropic OAuth token, or NEAR AI API key
# 1. Clone this repo
git clone https://github.com/VitalPointAI/ironclaw-quickstart.git
cd ironclaw-quickstart
# 2. Configure your credentials
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env — add your ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, ANTHROPIC_OAUTH_TOKEN, or NEARAI_API_KEY
# 3. Build and start
docker compose up -dIronclaw will be available at http://localhost:3333.
Note: The first build compiles Ironclaw from Rust source, which can take 15–20 minutes depending on your hardware. Subsequent builds use Docker's layer cache and are near-instant.
| Service | Description | Port |
|---|---|---|
ironclaw |
AI agent sidecar (Rust) | 3333 |
ironclaw-postgres |
pgvector database for memory | — |
All configuration is done via environment variables in .env. See .env.example for available options.
| Variable | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY |
one of | Anthropic API key (pay-per-use) |
ANTHROPIC_OAUTH_TOKEN |
one of | Anthropic OAuth token (subscription) |
NEARAI_API_KEY |
one of | NEAR AI API key |
IRONCLAW_DB_PASSWORD |
no | pgvector password (default: ironclaw) |
IRONCLAW_SHARED_SECRET |
no | Webhook auth secret — generate with openssl rand -hex 32 |
To update to a newer version, edit the IRONCLAW_COMMIT arg in ironclaw/Dockerfile to the desired commit SHA from nearai/ironclaw, then rebuild:
docker compose build --no-cache ironclaw
docker compose up -dThe Docker configuration in this repository is provided as-is. Ironclaw itself is maintained by NEAR AI — see their repository for license details.