2026 OpenClaw Batch Playbook: API & Script Templates for Multi-Platform Social PNGs on Remote Mac

Environment prep on the remote Mac

Reproducibility starts with a machine that does not change under your feet. On the rented or dedicated Mac, pin these basics before you touch OpenClaw:

• Shell and paths: Use one login user for batch jobs (e.g. batch), a fixed $HOME, and absolute paths in configs. Avoid iCloud-synced Desktop folders; use /Users/batch/jobs/ or a dedicated volume.
• OpenClaw runtime: Install the same OpenClaw version everywhere (Docker tag or pinned release). Record openclaw --version in logs/env-snapshot.txt at the start of each campaign.
• Image tooling: macOS sips is enough to read width/height after export. Add ImageMagick or pngcheck if you want alpha and chunk audits. Install via Homebrew once and lock the Brewfile in the repo.
• Network egress: Confirm the Mac can reach your model API and any storage (S3, R2) without interactive browser login. Run a five-line smoke script that performs one HEAD request and one tiny image job.

If you are still wiring the host itself, the SSH/VNC help pages cover access patterns; MacPng home summarizes rental nodes when you need stable M4 hardware off your laptop.

API keys, gateways, and least-privilege access

Treating the API key like a password is not enough—you also need to contain blast radius when a script leaks or a contractor copies a folder.

• Never in git: Put .env in .gitignore. On macOS, prefer security add-generic-password or a small helper that exports env vars for the job session only.
• Gateway instead of raw keys on laptops: Run a thin reverse proxy (Caddy or nginx) on the remote Mac or a VPC that adds auth, rate limits, and IP allow lists. OpenClaw calls https://gateway.internal/v1/... with a short-lived JWT, not the provider master key.
• Scoped keys: In the provider console, create keys limited to image endpoints and monthly caps. Rotate after any screen-share where a terminal was visible.
• Logs: Strip Authorization headers from access logs. Write job logs to logs/run-YYYYMMDD-HHMM.jsonl with request ids, not full payloads containing secrets.

Apply the same rules to any OpenClaw skill that can read files or call HTTP: whitelist hosts, cap payload size, and disable arbitrary shell execution unless the skill is explicitly reviewed.

Platform size matrix you can paste into config

Social networks change specs often; treat this table as a starting manifest you version in JSON or CSV. Width × height in pixels, PNG, sRGB.

Store as manifest.csv with columns platform, width, height, slug. Your batch loop reads one row at a time so adding YouTube thumbnails later is a row, not a rewrite.

Prompt and script templates

LLM image path: Split “what to draw” from “how to export.” Keep a frozen system block and only substitute variables in the user block.

SYSTEM (fixed):
You generate marketing stills. Output: one PNG, sRGB, no border, no watermark.
Always honor exact width and height given. If the tool returns wrong dimensions, respond with ERROR_DIMS and do not claim success.

USER (per row):
Campaign: {{campaign_slug}}
Visual brief: {{brief_one_line}}
Size: {{width}}x{{height}} px
Filename stem: {{campaign_slug}}__{{platform}}__{{width}}x{{height}}

Shell glue (conceptual): A loop reads manifest.csv, calls your OpenClaw CLI or HTTP skill with JSON body {"prompt": "...", "out": "staging/..."}, then runs sips -g pixelWidth -g pixelHeight on the result. Only on match does mv into out/. This is the same control flow whether the model runs locally or via API.

Retries, validation, and naming

Batch jobs fail for boring reasons: rate limits, TLS blips, model refusals, wrong aspect ratio. Make failure boring too.

• Retry policy: Exponential backoff with jitter: 2s, 4s, 8s caps at 60s; max 5 attempts per asset. Count 429 and 5xx as retryable; 400 with policy violation is not—log and skip.
• Dimension gate: After each write, assert width == expected && height == expected. On mismatch, move file to failed/dim-mismatch/ and append a JSON line to logs/errors.jsonl.
• Naming convention: {{campaign_slug}}__{{platform}}__{{width}}x{{height}}.png — double underscore separates token layers; lowercase; hyphens inside slugs only. Avoid spaces and localized characters so CI and CDNs stay happy.
• Idempotency: Include a content hash or brief checksum in a sidecar .meta.json if you regenerate often, so you can tell whether out/foo__ig__1080x1080.png is stale.

Folder output convention

Use one tree per campaign so designers, PMs, and scripts all speak the same language:

~/jobs/{{campaign_slug}}/
  manifest.csv
  inbox/           # optional source PSD/exports
  staging/         # raw model output, disposable
  out/             # validated PNGs ready for upload
  failed/          # dim errors, policy blocks, corrupt files
  logs/            # jsonl run logs, env snapshot
  archive/         # zip of out/ + manifest for handoff

At end of day, zip -r archive/{{campaign_slug}}-$(date +%Y%m%d).zip out manifest.csv logs/env-snapshot.txt gives auditors a reproducible bundle. If you need watch-folder rename steps after this stage, chain the flow from our watch-folder PNG rename guide.

When you outgrow a single Mac, the same manifest and naming rules move to a queue worker; only the executor changes.