Atbash Plugin — Installation Guide

Prerequisites

Before you install, make sure you have:

• Node.js v18 or later installed (node --version to check)
• OpenClaw CLI installed and accessible in your terminal
• A terminal with access to your home directory

The plugin uses a secp256k1 keypair to authenticate your client with the Guardian AI API. You'll generate this in Step 1.

Step 1: Generate a secp256k1 Keypair

Skip this step if you already have a keypair saved at ~/.config/ai-guardian/guard-client-key.

Your keypair is a private/public key pair used to sign requests to the Chromia blockchain. Think of the private key as your password — keep it secret.

Run this command in your terminal — it generates the keypair and saves it to the right place automatically:

bash
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node -e "
const crypto = require('crypto');
const fs = require('fs');
const os = require('os');
const path = require('path');

const privkey = crypto.randomBytes(32).toString('hex');
const ec = crypto.createECDH('secp256k1');
ec.setPrivateKey(privkey, 'hex');
const pubkey = ec.getPublicKey('hex', 'compressed');

const content = [
  '#Keypair generated using secp256k1',
  '#' + new Date().toString(),
  'privkey=' + privkey,
  'pubkey=' + pubkey,
].join('\n') + '\n';

const dir = path.join(os.homedir(), '.config', 'ai-guardian');
fs.mkdirSync(dir, { recursive: true });
fs.writeFileSync(path.join(dir, 'guard-client-key'), content, { mode: 0o600 });

process.stdout.write('pubkey=' + pubkey + '\n');
"

Important: The private key is written to ~/.config/ai-guardian/guard-client-key and is never printed.

Step 2: Install the Plugin

Run the following command to install the Atbash via the OpenClaw CLI:

bash
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openclaw plugins install @chrguard/ai-guardian-plugin

This command downloads the plugin from npm and places it in ~/.openclaw/extensions/ai-guardian-plugin. The openclaw.json file will be partially updated automatically, but you still need to configure it manually as described in Step 3.

Step 3: Configure openclaw.json

Open your openclaw.json file — typically located at ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json. Apply each of the following sub-steps:

3.1 Enable plugins

Make sure the top-level plugins block is enabled:

json
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"plugins": {
    "enabled": true,
    ...
}

Note: This unlocks the entire plugin system inside the gateway.

3.2 Add to the allow list

In plugins.allow, add "ai-guardian-plugin" to the array:

json
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"allow": [
    "...",
    "ai-guardian-plugin"
]

Security: This explicitly permits the Guardian plugin to run.

3.3 Register the load path

Find the installPath from where you installed it, and add it to plugins.load.paths:

json
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"load": {
    "paths": [
        "...",
        "/Users/<your-username>/.openclaw/extensions/ai-guardian-plugin"
    ]
}

Important: The path must match your system exactly — replace <your-username> with your actual macOS username.

3.4 Add the plugin entry

Under plugins.entries, add the full Guardian configuration block:

json
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"entries": {
    "ai-guardian-plugin": {
        "enabled": true,
        "config": {
            "enabled": true,
            "enforceDecision": true,
            "chromiaBrid": "1B9B3D0FCA70ED1460A4BD02DAF47229DFBEEC61EBAF1E4D47920D8165F393FC",
            "chromiaNodes": [
                "https://node6.testnet.chromia.com:7740",
                "https://node7.testnet.chromia.com:7740",
                "https://node8.testnet.chromia.com:7740"
            ],
            "chromiaJudgeOperation": "judge_action",
            "chromiaStatusQuery": "get_judgment_status",
            "chromiaFtAuth": false,
            "chromiaTxAwait": true,
            "timeoutMs": 15000,
            "chromiaTxTimeoutMs": 25000,
            "chromiaQueryTimeoutMs": 8000,
            "chromiaPollTimeoutMs": 30000,
            "chromiaPollIntervalMs": 1000,
            "chromiaSecretPath": "~/.config/ai-guardian/guard-client-key"
        }
    }
}

Note: chromiaSecretPath uses ~ to expand to your home directory, pointing to the keypair generated in Step 1.

Step 4: Restart the Gateway

Once all changes are saved, restart the OpenClaw gateway to load the new plugin configuration:

bash
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openclaw gateway restart

Success: You should see a terminal confirmation that the gateway has restarted and the plugin is active.

Summary

After completing all steps, your setup should reflect the following: