The Lowkey installer is the script you get from install.lowkey.run. You can run it interactively (it walks you through every choice) or pass flags to skip the prompts entirely. This page covers every flag, the environment variables the installer respects, and the exit codes it returns.
Flag reference
| Flag | Purpose |
|---|
-y, --yes, --non-interactive | Accept all defaults and skip every prompt. Required for unattended or CI installs. |
--simple | Force simple mode — only asks for pack and profile, auto-configures everything else. |
--advanced | Force advanced mode — prompts for every parameter (VPC, instance type, each security service, etc.). |
--pack <name> | Pre-select the agent pack. Valid values: openclaw, claude-code, codex-cli, kiro-cli, nemoclaw, hermes, pi, ironclaw. |
--profile <name> | Pre-select the permission profile. Valid values: builder, account_assistant, personal_assistant. |
--method <cfn|terraform|tf> | Pre-select the deploy method. Default is CloudFormation via CLI (cfn). Use terraform or tf for Terraform. |
--kiro-from-secret <id-or-arn> | Secrets Manager secret id or ARN whose SecretString is your Kiro API key. Only the reference passes through deploy state — the raw key is resolved on the instance at install time. |
--debug-in-repo | Dev-only flag: run the installer from the current working directory instead of cloning from GitHub. |
--help, -h | Print the help text and exit. |
Any explicit flag wins over an environment variable, which wins over the pack manifest default.
Canonical non-interactive invocations
Use -y combined with --pack and --profile to deploy without any prompts.
OpenClaw builder
Claude Code builder
Codex CLI builder
Kiro CLI headless
NemoClaw personal
Account assistant
curl -sfL install.lowkey.run | bash -s -- -y \
--pack openclaw --profile builder
curl -sfL install.lowkey.run | bash -s -- -y \
--pack claude-code --profile builder
curl -sfL install.lowkey.run | bash -s -- -y \
--pack codex-cli --profile builder
CREATE_COMPLETE, SSM into the instance and run codex login to authenticate.curl -sfL install.lowkey.run | bash -s -- -y \
--pack kiro-cli --profile builder \
--kiro-from-secret /lowkey/kiro-api-key
curl -sfL install.lowkey.run | bash -s -- -y \
--pack nemoclaw --profile personal_assistant
personal_assistant profile — its sandbox blocks all AWS API access.curl -sfL install.lowkey.run | bash -s -- -y \
--pack openclaw --profile account_assistant
--method terraform to have the installer run Terraform instead of CloudFormation:
curl -sfL install.lowkey.run | bash -s -- -y \
--pack openclaw --profile builder \
--method terraform
terraform init → validate → apply -auto-approve under deploy/terraform/. If you want to review the plan before it applies, deploy Terraform directly instead — see Deploy Lowkey with Terraform.
Advanced mode
Advanced mode prompts for every parameter: VPC reuse, instance type, data volume size, region, and each security service individually. Pass --advanced to enable it, even alongside -y:
curl -sfL install.lowkey.run | bash -s -- -y \
--pack openclaw --profile builder \
--advanced
Advanced mode still honors -y for prompts that have a clear safe default. It only stops to ask for choices that genuinely need a decision.
Connect via SSM after install
SSH is disabled by default (SSHAllowedCidr=127.0.0.1/32). Once your stack reaches CREATE_COMPLETE, connect using AWS Systems Manager Session Manager:
aws ssm start-session --target <instance-id> --region <region>
aws cloudformation describe-stacks \
--stack-name <stack-name> \
--query 'Stacks[0].Outputs[?OutputKey==`InstanceId`].OutputValue' \
--output text
SSHAllowedCidr to your IP CIDR (for example, 1.2.3.4/32).
Environment variables honored
Set these in your shell before piping the installer to bash:
| Variable | Effect |
|---|
AWS_REGION / AWS_DEFAULT_REGION | Sets the deploy region. Overrides the AWS CLI profile default. |
AWS_PROFILE | Uses the named AWS CLI profile for all AWS API calls during install. |
DEBUG_IN_REPO=1 | Equivalent to --debug-in-repo. Runs the installer from the current directory instead of cloning. |
Exit codes
| Code | Meaning |
|---|
0 | Install succeeded. |
1 | Install failed — check stderr and /tmp/loki-install.log. |
2 | Bad arguments — unknown flag or missing required value. |
130 | Interrupted by Ctrl-C or SIGTERM. |
