# OpenClaw Update Documentation

## Overview
The documentation covers OpenClaw's update procedures, emphasizing that updates should be treated like infrastructure changes requiring verification afterward.

## Key Update Methods

**Website Installer (Recommended)**
The preferred approach involves rerunning the installer, which detects existing installations and upgrades in place:
```bash
curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash
```

**Global Package Installs**
For npm or pnpm installations, users can upgrade using:
```bash
npm i -g openclaw@latest
```
or
```bash
pnpm add -g openclaw@latest
```

**Source Installs**
For git-based installations, the documentation recommends using `openclaw update`, which performs safe updates including dependency installation, building, and automatic gateway restarts.

## Important Preparation Steps

Before updating, users should:
- Identify their installation type (global vs. source)
- Determine how the Gateway runs (foreground terminal vs. system service)
- Back up configuration files and credentials

## Post-Update Verification

After any update, running these commands ensures proper functionality:
```bash
openclaw doctor
openclaw gateway restart
openclaw health
```

## Rollback Procedures

For broken updates, users can pin to previous versions using npm/pnpm version specifiers or git checkout commands with date-based filtering.

## Additional Resources

The documentation references a troubleshooting guide and Discord support channel for unresolved issues.
