๐ŸขEnterprise & Advanced

How to Set Up OpenClaw for a Team of 50+

Advanced1-2 daysUpdated 2025-01-25

Scaling OpenClaw to 50+ users requires enterprise-grade architecture, identity management, cost controls, and governance. This guide walks through planning your deployment, configuring SSO, setting budgets, automating deployment, creating onboarding materials, and establishing team policies.

Why This Is Hard to Do Yourself

These are the common pitfalls that trip people up.

๐Ÿข

Shared vs. dedicated instances

One shared instance is simpler but creates noisy neighbor problems. Dedicated per-team instances are isolated but harder to manage.

๐Ÿ”

Identity and access management

Managing 50+ individual accounts without SSO is unmaintainable. Integration with Okta, Azure AD, or Google Workspace is essential.

๐Ÿ’ฐ

Cost control and chargebacks

Without per-team and per-user budgets, a single power user can consume the entire monthly budget in days.

๐Ÿ“š

Onboarding at scale

Onboarding 50 users individually is slow. You need standardized training materials, self-service docs, and automation.

โš–๏ธ

Governance and compliance

Teams need policies for acceptable use, data retention, security, and compliance with company standards.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1

Plan team architecture (shared vs dedicated instances)

Decide on your deployment topology.

# Option 1: Shared Multi-Tenant Instance
# Pros: Simple, cheap, centralized
# Cons: Noisy neighbors, shared resources, harder isolation
#
# [All 50 users] โ†’ [Single OpenClaw Instance]
#
# Recommended for: Small teams (<20), tight budgets

# Option 2: Per-Team Dedicated Instances
# Pros: Isolation, independent scaling, team autonomy
# Cons: More infrastructure, higher cost, harder updates
#
# [Engineering Team] โ†’ [OpenClaw Instance 1]
# [Marketing Team]   โ†’ [OpenClaw Instance 2]
# [Sales Team]       โ†’ [OpenClaw Instance 3]
#
# Recommended for: Large teams (50+), distinct use cases

# Option 3: Hybrid (Shared + Premium Dedicated)
# Pros: Cost-effective for most, premium tier for power users
# Cons: Complex routing, two classes of service
#
# [Most users] โ†’ [Shared Instance]
# [Power users] โ†’ [Dedicated Premium Instance]
#
# Recommended for: Mixed usage patterns, budget-conscious

# Architecture decision matrix:
# Team size | Shared | Per-Team | Hybrid
# < 20      | โœ“      |          |
# 20-50     |        |          | โœ“
# 50+       |        | โœ“        |
Step 2

Configure SSO/identity provider

Integrate with corporate identity provider.

# In config/auth/sso.yaml:
sso:
  enabled: true
  provider: okta  # or "azure-ad", "google-workspace", "onelogin"

  okta:
    domain: company.okta.com
    client_id: YOUR_CLIENT_ID
    client_secret: YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET
    redirect_uri: https://openclaw.company.com/auth/callback

  # User provisioning:
  provisioning:
    auto_create_users: true
    auto_assign_license: true
    default_role: user

  # Group mapping:
  group_mapping:
    "engineering": team_engineering
    "marketing": team_marketing
    "admins": openclaw_admins

  # Session management:
  session:
    timeout: 8h
    refresh_token: true
    force_reauth: 30d

# Test SSO integration:
openclaw admin auth test-sso --provider okta

Warning: Never store SSO client secrets in plaintext config files. Use environment variables or a secret manager like Vault. Rotate SSO credentials every 90 days.

Step 3

Set up per-team and per-user budgets

Control costs with granular budget limits.

# In config/budgets/limits.yaml:
budgets:
  # Organization-wide monthly budget:
  organization:
    monthly_limit: 10000.00
    currency: USD
    alert_threshold: 0.8  # Alert at 80%

  # Per-team budgets:
  teams:
    engineering:
      monthly_limit: 5000.00
      daily_limit: 200.00
      per_user_limit: 100.00

    marketing:
      monthly_limit: 2000.00
      daily_limit: 80.00
      per_user_limit: 40.00

    sales:
      monthly_limit: 1000.00
      daily_limit: 40.00
      per_user_limit: 20.00

  # Per-user budget overrides:
  users:
    alice@company.com:
      monthly_limit: 500.00  # Power user
    bob@company.com:
      monthly_limit: 50.00   # Limited user

  # Budget enforcement:
  enforcement:
    hard_limit: true  # Block requests when budget exceeded
    grace_period: 24h
    notify_user: true
    notify_admin: true

# View budget usage:
openclaw admin budgets usage --team engineering --range 30d

# Set budget for new team:
openclaw admin budgets set --team sales --monthly 1000
Step 4

Deploy with Ansible or Kubernetes

Automate deployment for reliability.

# For Ansible deployment (see separate guide):
ansible-playbook -i inventory/production.ini deploy-openclaw.yml

# For Kubernetes deployment:
# In k8s/openclaw-deployment.yaml:
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: openclaw
spec:
  replicas: 3  # 3 instances for HA
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: openclaw
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: openclaw
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: openclaw
        image: openclaw/openclaw:2.1.0
        resources:
          requests:
            memory: "2Gi"
            cpu: "1000m"
          limits:
            memory: "4Gi"
            cpu: "2000m"
        env:
        - name: OPENCLAW_CONFIG
          value: /config/openclaw.yaml
        volumeMounts:
        - name: config
          mountPath: /config
      volumes:
      - name: config
        configMap:
          name: openclaw-config

# Deploy to Kubernetes:
kubectl apply -f k8s/openclaw-deployment.yaml
kubectl apply -f k8s/openclaw-service.yaml
kubectl apply -f k8s/openclaw-ingress.yaml
Step 5

Create onboarding materials

Build self-service onboarding for new users.

# In docs/onboarding/README.md:
# OpenClaw Onboarding Guide

## Getting Started
1. Visit https://openclaw.company.com
2. Click "Sign in with SSO"
3. Use your company email and password
4. Complete 5-minute interactive tutorial

## Your First Conversation
- Type: "Help me write a Python script to process CSV files"
- OpenClaw will guide you through the task

## Common Use Cases
- Code review: "Review this pull request for bugs"
- Documentation: "Generate API docs for this Python module"
- Debugging: "Why is this function failing?"

## Budget and Limits
- You have a $100/month budget
- View usage: Click your profile โ†’ Usage Dashboard
- Questions? Contact #openclaw-support

# In config/onboarding/tutorial.yaml:
tutorial:
  enabled: true
  required_for_new_users: true

  steps:
    - id: welcome
      title: "Welcome to OpenClaw"
      content: "Let's learn the basics in 5 minutes"
    - id: first_message
      title: "Send your first message"
      prompt: "Ask me to explain what I can do"
    - id: code_request
      title: "Try a code task"
      prompt: "Ask me to write a Python function"
    - id: review
      title: "Review and edit"
      content: "You can edit my code, ask follow-ups, or start over"
    - id: complete
      title: "You're ready!"
      content: "Explore documentation at docs.company.com/openclaw"
Step 6

Set up governance policies

Define acceptable use and compliance rules.

# In config/governance/policies.yaml:
governance:
  # Acceptable Use Policy:
  acceptable_use:
    prohibit_personal_use: true
    prohibit_sensitive_data: true
    require_data_classification: true

  # Data retention:
  retention:
    conversation_history: 90d
    audit_logs: 365d
    deleted_sessions: 30d

  # Content filtering:
  content_filter:
    enabled: true
    block_pii: true
    block_secrets: true  # API keys, passwords
    block_offensive: true

  # Compliance:
  compliance:
    gdpr: true
    hipaa: false  # Set true if handling health data
    sox: false    # Set true if handling financial data

  # Audit logging:
  audit:
    log_all_requests: true
    log_retention: 365d
    export_format: json
    export_schedule: weekly

# In config/governance/terms.md:
# Terms of Use for OpenClaw

By using OpenClaw, you agree to:
- Use only for company business
- Not share API keys or credentials
- Not input sensitive personal data (SSN, health records)
- Follow company data classification policies

Violations may result in access revocation.

# Show acceptance modal on first login:
# In config/onboarding/terms.yaml:
terms:
  require_acceptance: true
  version: "2025-01-25"
  url: /docs/terms-of-use
Step 7

Configure monitoring and alerting dashboard

Set up centralized observability.

# In config/monitoring/dashboard.yaml:
monitoring:
  platform: grafana

  grafana:
    url: https://grafana.company.com
    dashboard_id: openclaw-overview

  metrics:
    - name: active_users
      query: 'count(openclaw_active_sessions)'
    - name: request_rate
      query: 'rate(openclaw_requests_total[5m])'
    - name: cost_burn_rate
      query: 'rate(openclaw_cost_usd[1h])'
    - name: error_rate
      query: 'rate(openclaw_errors_total[5m])'

  alerts:
    - name: high_cost_burn
      condition: cost_burn_rate > 100
      severity: critical
      notify: slack
    - name: high_error_rate
      condition: error_rate > 0.05
      severity: warning
      notify: email
    - name: budget_exceeded
      condition: team_budget_usage > 0.9
      severity: warning
      notify: team_admin

# Access dashboard:
# Visit: https://grafana.company.com/d/openclaw-overview

# Set up Slack alerts:
# In config/monitoring/slack.yaml:
slack:
  webhook_url: https://hooks.slack.com/services/YOUR/WEBHOOK
  channel: #openclaw-alerts
  mention_on_critical: "@oncall"

Enterprise Deployment Is Complex

SSO integration, budget controls, deployment automation, onboarding, governance, monitoring โ€” setting up OpenClaw for 50+ users requires enterprise expertise. Our team designs and deploys production-ready OpenClaw for large organizations.

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Frequently Asked Questions