Many users deploy OpenClaw on a server as a personal AI assistant, but by default OpenClaw cannot access the web. For an AI assistant that needs to "surf the Internet", this is undoubtedly the biggest limitation.

The good news is that by configuring a headless browser we can give OpenClaw the ability to visit web pages, take screenshots, and perform automated operations. This article details the complete setup process on an ARM64-architecture server.

Why You Need a Browser

OpenClaw itself is an AI-assistant framework; to make it truly "smart" and help you get things done, browser capabilities are essential:

• Real-time information: weather, news, stocks, etc.
• Web automation: auto-fill forms, click operations, scheduled check-ins
• Content screenshots: send you a snapshot of a page
• Crawling: scrape content from specific sites

The ARM64 Dilemma

The Chrome builds on the market are only for amd64, while many users run Apple-Silicon Macs or ARM servers (e.g., Tencent Cloud Lighthouse). This makes the usual Chrome installation methods unusable.

There are two solutions:

1. Use Snap Chromium: bundled with Ubuntu, but cumbersome to configure
2. Use Playwright Chromium: cross-platform, ARM64-compatible

This article chooses option 2 because it is more controllable.

Tech Stack

Complete Setup Steps

1. Install Playwright Chromium

Playwright automatically downloads the Chromium build for your architecture.

2. Install Chinese Fonts

Headless screenshots need extra font support:

3. Launch the Browser

We need Chromium started in CDP mode:

4. Configure OpenClaw

Edit ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json, add/modify the browser section:

5. Verify Configuration

Advanced Usage

Auto-start Script

To ensure the browser launches after reboot, create a systemd service:

[Unit]
Description=OpenClaw Headless Browser
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=liuyaowen
ExecStart=/home/liuyaowen/.cache/ms-playwright/chromium-1208/chrome-linux/chrome --headless=new --no-sandbox --disable-gpu --remote-debugging-port=18800 --disable-dev-shm-usage
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Browser Profile Persistence

To keep login sessions, specify a user-data directory:

The browser will then remember cookies and sessions—log in once and you’re done.

Common Issues

Fonts Still Garbled

Check whether fonts are loaded:

If empty, you may need to manually copy fonts to a directory Chrome can access.

CDP Connection Fails

1. Check port occupancy: lsof -i:18800
2. View browser logs: cat /tmp/chrome.log
3. Try restarting the browser

Screenshot Is Blank

The page may not have finished loading; increase wait time:

Showtime

Once configured you can:

1. Let AI check the weather for you and send a screenshot
2. Auto check-in: open the page and click the check-in button daily
3. Content monitoring: notify you when a page changes
4. Generate reports: auto-open the admin dashboard and screenshot a daily report

Summary

This article walked through the complete process of setting up a headless browser for OpenClaw on an ARM64 server. Although more involved than simply installing Chrome, the Playwright + CDP combo finally gives us:

• ✅ ARM64 compatibility
• ✅ Chinese-font support
• ✅ OpenClaw integration
• ✅ Automation capabilities

If you also need an AI assistant running on your server, give this approach a try.

References

• Playwright official docs
• OpenClaw docs
• mx-space project