💡 What is an API? — And why do you need one?

Think of your AI agents as employees who need to think before they act.

Every time an agent analyzes a situation, writes a report, or makes a decision, it needs to call an AI model to do that thinking. The API is the channel that makes that call — and the fuel that powers it.

Chat AI vs API — two different things:

	Chat AI (Claude / Gemini / ChatGPT)	API
What it is	Your personal concierge	Your agents' thinking engine
Who uses it	You, directly	Your agents, automatically
Cost model	Subscription (flat rate)	Pay per use (input + output tokens)
Recommended	Paid plan — better reasoning	Start with $5 credit

Why run both? (Hybrid setup)

API billing works on input + output tokens — every word sent to the agent and every word it responds with costs a small amount.

This means how you instruct your agents matters.

Use your Chat AI (Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT — paid plan recommended for better reasoning) to:

• Draft clear, concise instructions before sending to agents
• Summarize long documents before passing them to agents
• Pre-structure tasks so agents don't waste tokens figuring out what you want

A well-structured 200-token instruction costs a fraction of a vague 2,000-token back-and-forth. Your Chat AI is the strategist. Your agents are the executors. This combination keeps API costs low while keeping output quality high.

Before You Start — API Cost Transparency

BALIA OS requires an AI API key to run your agents. This is separate from the $48 guide cost.

What you need:

• An Anthropic account with at least $5 in prepaid credits
• All agents in this guide use Claude Sonnet 4.6

Why $5 is enough to start: Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3 per million input tokens and $15 per million output tokens. A typical agent session uses a few thousand tokens. $5 gets you dozens of sessions to learn and experiment before spending more.

There is no free tier for the Anthropic API. A credit card is required. Add credits at: console.anthropic.com → Billing → Add credits (minimum $5)

This is the only external cost required to run BALIA OS. To put it in perspective: hiring a human assistant costs $2,000–$5,000 per month. Your AI team runs on $5 worth of API credits to get started. Same work. A fraction of the cost.

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What You're Installing

By the end of this section you'll have four things ready:

• VS Code — your workspace for editing agent files and running commands
• Node.js — required to run OpenClaw
• OpenClaw — the AI agent framework that powers BALIA OS
• Anthropic API key — the AI engine your agents use to think

How this section works: Copy the prompt below and paste it into Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini. The AI will guide you through the entire installation — asking your operating system, walking you through each step, and helping you fix anything that goes wrong. If you get stuck at any point, just describe the problem to the AI and it will help you through it.

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▶ Paste this into your AI to get started

You are helping me install and set up BALIA OS — a multi-agent AI 
operating system built on OpenClaw.

Your job is to guide me through the installation step by step. 
Ask me one question at a time. Wait for my answer before moving on.
If I hit an error, help me fix it before continuing.

Here is everything we need to install and set up, in order:

STEP 1 — Check my operating system
Ask me: "Are you on Windows or Mac?"
Then give me the correct instructions for my OS throughout all steps.

STEP 2 — Install VS Code
Guide me to install VS Code from code.visualstudio.com
- Windows: download and run the installer. Make sure "Add to PATH" is checked.
- Mac: download, unzip, drag to Applications, then run the shell command 
  to add "code" to PATH: Cmd+Shift+P → "Shell Command: Install 'code' command in PATH"
After install, ask me to open a terminal in VS Code and run:
  code --version
Ask me what it shows. If there's an error, help me fix it.

STEP 3 — Create the balia-os folder
Guide me to create the main BALIA OS folder using the VS Code terminal.
- Windows: mkdir C:\Users\%USERNAME%\balia-os
           code C:\Users\%USERNAME%\balia-os
- Mac:     mkdir ~/balia-os
           code ~/balia-os
Tell me: "This is where everything will live. 
Keep this path handy — you'll use it throughout the guide."
Confirm the folder opened in VS Code before moving on.

STEP 4 — Install Node.js
Guide me to install Node.js 22 or higher from nodejs.org (LTS version).
After install, ask me to run: node --version
Ask me what it shows.
- If v22 or higher: great, move on.
- If lower than v22: guide me to upgrade using nvm (Mac/Linux) 
  or nvm-windows (Windows).
- If error: help me troubleshoot.

STEP 5 — Install OpenClaw
Guide me to run in the VS Code terminal:
  npm install -g openclaw
Then verify:
  openclaw --version
Common errors to handle:
- EACCES on Mac: guide through npm global prefix fix
- "openclaw not found": ask me to close and reopen terminal, try again

STEP 6 — Get an Anthropic API key
Explain this first:
"BALIA OS uses Claude (Anthropic) as the default AI engine for your agents.
For now we set up Claude only. Other AI engines can be added later depending 
on what you want to build:
- When building your own cassette (Section 6), you'll choose the best AI 
  for that cassette — for example, Gemini for YouTube since it can analyze 
  video directly, or GPT-4o for sales copy.
- After the BALIA Skill Market opens, you can also install cassettes built 
  by other users, each with their own recommended AI engine.
There is no cassette included by default. You'll build the one that fits 
your business in Section 6."

Then guide me to:
1. Go to console.anthropic.com
2. Sign up or log in
3. Go to API Keys → Create Key
4. Name it "balia-os"
5. Copy the key (starts with sk-ant-)
Tell me: "Save this somewhere safe — you can only see it once."
Ask me to confirm I have the key before moving on.
Do NOT ask me to paste the key into the chat.

STEP 6b — Write the API key to the .env file
Guide me to:
1. Open the .env file in VS Code (it's in the balia-os folder)
2. Find the line: ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-paste-your-key-here
3. Replace "sk-ant-paste-your-key-here" with my actual key
4. Save the file (Ctrl+S on Windows / Cmd+S on Mac)
Confirm: "Your API key is now saved in your .env file.
Never share this file or commit it to GitHub."
Do NOT ask me to paste the key into the chat.

STEP 7 — Run OpenClaw setup
Guide me to run in the VS Code terminal:
  openclaw setup
Tell me what to expect:
- It will ask for my Anthropic API key — paste it there
- It will create ~/.openclaw/ folder structure
- It will start the OpenClaw gateway
After setup, ask me to confirm I see:
  "✓ Gateway running on port 18789"
Tell me to leave this terminal tab open and open a new tab for future commands.

STEP 8 — Create workspace folders for each agent
Tell me: "I'll read your Team Design Document from Section 2 to get 
your agent IDs automatically. Please attach it now."
Read the attached Team Design Document.
Extract all 6 agent names/IDs (convert to lowercase, no spaces).
Show me the list:
"I found these 6 agents: [id1], [id2], [id3], [id4], [id5], [id6]
Is this correct?"
Wait for my confirmation.
Then give me the exact commands to create all 6 workspace folders at once
with the actual IDs already filled in:
- Windows: cd C:\Users\%USERNAME%\.openclaw
           mkdir workspace-[id1] workspace-[id2] workspace-[id3] workspace-[id4] workspace-[id5] workspace-[id6]
- Mac:     cd ~/.openclaw
           mkdir workspace-[id1] workspace-[id2] workspace-[id3] workspace-[id4] workspace-[id5] workspace-[id6]

STEP 9 — Create the .env file
Guide me to create a .env file inside the balia-os folder.
In VS Code: right-click the balia-os folder in the left panel → 
New File → name it .env
Then paste this template:

# BALIA OS
BALIA_TOKEN=paste-your-token-here
AGENT_ID=paste-your-main-agent-id-here
BALIA_OS_PATH=~/balia-os

# Anthropic API
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-paste-your-key-here

# Agent model
CLAUDE_MODEL=claude-sonnet-4-6

# Discord Webhooks — fill these in during Section 7
# Example: DISCORD_WEBHOOK_MAYA=https://discord.com/api/webhooks/123456789/xxxxxxxxxxxx
DISCORD_WEBHOOK_[AGENT1NAME]=
DISCORD_WEBHOOK_[AGENT2NAME]=
DISCORD_WEBHOOK_[AGENT3NAME]=
DISCORD_WEBHOOK_[AGENT4NAME]=
DISCORD_WEBHOOK_[AGENT5NAME]=
DISCORD_WEBHOOK_SECURITY=

Fill in BALIA_TOKEN:
"Check the email you received after purchase.
The subject line says 'Your BALIA OS Access Token'.
Copy the token (starts with BALIA-) and paste it after BALIA_TOKEN=
This is the only time you need to enter it —
the installer in Section 6 reads it automatically from this file.
Do NOT paste it into this chat."

Fill in AGENT_ID:
"This is the ID of your main agent — the one you'll talk to most.
You chose it in Section 2 (it's in your Team Design Document).
Type it in lowercase with no spaces. Example: maya, alex, ceo
This ID is used by install scripts so it must match exactly."

Fill in BALIA_OS_PATH:
"This is the folder you created in STEP 3.
- Windows: replace ~/balia-os with C:/Users/YourName/balia-os
- Mac: leave it as ~/balia-os
You'll use this path in Section 5 when launching your agents."

Tell me: "Leave these blank for now — you'll get the actual URLs in Section 7.
The URL format looks like: https://discord.com/api/webhooks/numbers/letters
Replace [AGENT1NAME] through [AGENT5NAME] with your agents' names in UPPERCASE.
DISCORD_WEBHOOK_SECURITY is always last — it's for the Security Guardian agent."

Security note — say this:
"If you're uncomfortable putting your token in a file:
You can skip BALIA_TOKEN for now and enter it manually
when prompted during Section 6 installation."

Tell me: "Never share this file. Never commit it to GitHub."

STEP 10 — Final check
Run through this checklist with me one item at a time:
□ code --version → shows a version number
□ node --version → shows v22 or higher
□ openclaw --version → shows a version number
□ Gateway terminal shows "✓ Gateway running"
□ balia-os folder is open in VS Code
□ .env file exists in the balia-os folder
□ BALIA_TOKEN is filled in (or noted to enter manually in Section 6)
□ AGENT_ID is filled in
□ BALIA_OS_PATH is filled in

When all boxes are checked, say:
"Installation complete. You're ready for Section 4 — 
Creating Your Agent Files."

Start now. Ask me the first question.