Your one-stop hub for the open-source personal AI agent platform — tutorials, showcase projects, skills, ecosystem tools, and the latest news.
What is it?
OpenClaw is an open-source, self-hosted personal AI agent that runs as a local process, bridging AI models to the messaging apps you already use.
Runs on your own machine. No cloud lock-in, no subscriptions. Your data stays yours. Gateway bound to localhost by default.
Bring your own key. Supports Claude, GPT-4o, Gemini, Grok, and local Ollama models. Auto-switches providers when rate-limited.
WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack, iMessage, Signal, Teams, Matrix, LINE, and more. Use the apps you already have.
Execute shell commands, browse the web, write & run code, manage files, control browsers, and automate workflows.
Extend with 13,700+ community skills. A skill is just a folder with a SKILL.md file — no SDK or compilation needed.
Remembers context and preferences across sessions via local Markdown files. Define your agent's identity in SOUL.md.
Supported platforms
Quick Start
Requires Node.js ≥ 22. Works on macOS, Linux, and Windows (WSL2).
# Install OpenClaw globally npm install -g openclaw@latest # Onboard and install the background daemon openclaw onboard --install-daemon # Check that the gateway is running openclaw gateway status # Open the dashboard at http://127.0.0.1:18789/ openclaw dashboard
Learn
From zero to shipping — beginner walkthroughs, cloud deployments, custom skill building, and deep dives.
The official documentation walkthrough: install, configure, connect your first messaging platform.
A comprehensive beginner guide covering installation, setup, connecting platforms, and running your first automations.
In-depth guide from Every.to covering architecture, SOUL.md, advanced workflows, and getting the most from your agent.
Single-command setup using Ollama for a fully local, zero-cloud-cost AI agent. No API key required.
Fast-paced full tutorial for getting productive quickly. Covers the essentials without the fluff.
Security-hardened cloud deployment on DigitalOcean with 1-Click Deploy. Always-on agent accessible anywhere.
Official AWS quick-start guide with a pre-configured blueprint including Amazon Bedrock and Claude Sonnet 4.6.
Learn how to create your own skills — just a folder with a SKILL.md file. No SDK or compilation required.
A deep-dive walkthrough of 25 built-in tools and 53 community skills with practical usage examples for each.
Covers hardening your OpenClaw gateway, avoiding prompt injection, and setting up a secure "digital twin" identity.
Comprehensive reference for every built-in tool, how skills differ from tools, and building your first integration.
Everything in one place — Mikhail Shcheglov's exhaustive breakdown of the full OpenClaw ecosystem and workflows.
Built with OpenClaw
Real projects built by the community — from autonomous businesses to holographic pets.
Given $1,000 startup capital by Nat Eliason. Felix autonomously built a product, created a marketplace, launched a website, and ran an X account — earning $14,700 in 3 weeks.
Automated car dealership negotiation across browser, email, and iMessage simultaneously. Researched comparable prices, composed counter-offers, and tracked responses.
Full iOS application built and submitted to the App Store entirely via Telegram messages. No IDE open — just chatting with the agent while going about daily life.
Full educational platform built entirely through WhatsApp conversations. Proof that you can ship production software while doing dishes — no laptop required.
A $35 holographic display cube running a Tamagotchi-style AI agent interface powered by OpenClaw. The agent responds to voice, tracks moods, and evolves over time.
Set coding agents to work at 12:30 AM, woke up at 7 AM to completed features. Multi-agent orchestration that runs your dev pipeline while you sleep.
Complete language learning app with TTS, STT, pronunciation feedback, and spaced repetition — built in 2 days using OpenClaw as the entire dev and runtime layer.
365-day meal planning template, smart shopping lists organized by store and aisle, weather-based suggestions, and automatic nutritional tracking.
Pulled and processed posts from 100 top X (Twitter) accounts in 24 hours. Fully autonomous aggregation, deduplication, and summarization pipeline.
One-tap voice command integration with OpenClaw via a wearable smart ring. Control your entire agent from your finger — no phone needed.
Full video generation pipeline with autonomous character creation, watermark removal, and Sora 2 integration — end-to-end from prompt to published video.
200 projects competed for $100K at the BNB Chain OpenClaw Hackathon. Winners included ShieldBot (real-time transaction protection), AGOS Marketplace (agent commerce), and ProceedGate (agent governance).
ClawHub Skills
Install in one command. A skill is just a SKILL.md file — no SDK, no compilation, no runtime.
Install any skill in one command: clawhub install <skill-slug>
Ecosystem
Forks, dashboards, cloud runners, and companion projects from the community and major companies.
Rust-based reimplementation of OpenClaw focused on security and privacy. Uses WebAssembly sandboxes, AES-256 encrypted secrets, and PostgreSQL instead of SQLite.
Real-time mission control dashboard for managing OpenClaw agents. 3D office visualization, cost analytics, cron management, and memory browser. Reads directly from OpenClaw's SQLite database.
Run OpenClaw inside a Cloudflare Sandbox container — zero self-hosting required. Includes Control UI, multi-channel connectivity, R2 persistence, and browser automation via Chrome DevTools Protocol.
"OpenClaw as Your AI Coworker" — a framework for multi-agent workflows with specialized roles. Team earned $15K in 11 hours using the system.
Zero-deployment cloud service for accessing OpenClaw without self-hosting. Integrated directly into the Baidu App with 700 million monthly active users.
Connects OpenClaw agents to crypto wallets via ERC-4337 smart accounts. Supports token swaps, bridging, NFT management, staking, and multi-step trading strategies via natural language.
Curated list of 5,494 high-quality skills filtered from ClawHub's 13,729 total. Excludes spam, duplicates, and 373 identified malicious entries. Organized into 25+ categories.
Community-maintained collection of 36+ verified real-world OpenClaw use cases across 7 categories — from podcast pipelines to Polymarket autopilot bots.
Latest
What's happening in the OpenClaw ecosystem right now.
Major architectural release with 89 commits and 200+ fixes. Introduces lifecycle hooks (bootstrap, ingest, assemble, compact, afterTurn) for custom RAG pipelines and memory strategies.
Moltbook, a Reddit-like platform where only AI agents can post and comment, was acquired by Meta. The platform grew to 32,000+ agents before the acquisition.
OpenClaw went viral in China under the nickname "Lobster." A cottage industry of install-service providers emerged, charging fees to set it up for non-technical users.
Chinese authorities moved to limit OpenClaw use at state agencies and banks, citing concerns about data leakage, deletion, and misuse when broad system permissions are granted.
With 303,000+ stars, OpenClaw has surpassed React and Linux to become the most-starred project in GitHub history. But security researchers are raising flags about its default permissions model.
CoinFello's new ClawHub skill brings DeFi to OpenClaw agents — token swaps, bridging, NFT management, and multi-step trading strategies via natural language commands.
Baidu's DuClaw brings zero-deployment OpenClaw access to its 700 million monthly active users via the Baidu App. No self-hosting, no setup — just activate and go.
Patches CVE-2026-25253, a WebSocket hijacking vulnerability in the gateway. All users on versions before v2026.1.29 should update immediately.
Best Practices
OpenClaw can read files, run code, and send messages autonomously. Lock it down before you do anything else.
The gateway binds to 127.0.0.1:18789 by default — localhost only. Never forward that port through your router or firewall. If you need remote access, use a VPN or SSH tunnel instead.
CVE-2026-25253 (WebSocket hijacking) was patched in v2026.1.29. Run npm install -g openclaw@latest regularly. Subscribe to the GitHub security advisories to catch future CVEs early.
Every new client connection requires a pairing code. Never reuse codes across devices and revoke old pairings from the dashboard when a device is no longer in use.
Pairing & connections →Create separate API keys for OpenClaw with the minimum required permissions. Never paste production keys into SOUL.md or skill files — use environment variables or the secrets store instead.
Secrets & credentials →Only install skills from ClawHub's curated list or sources you trust. Skills have full agent-level access. Check the SKILL.md for unexpected shell commands or network calls before running clawhub install.
Use your SOUL.md to explicitly forbid high-risk actions — e.g. "never delete files without confirmation", "never send messages to contacts I haven't explicitly approved". Treat it as a security policy, not just a personality file.
SOUL.md reference →Set confirmDestructive: true in your gateway config. This forces the agent to pause and request human approval before deleting files, sending emails, or executing shell commands.
If an API key appears in logs, a commit, or a shared skill file, rotate it immediately. Audit your ~/.openclaw/ directory and git history regularly for accidental credential leaks.
Don't run the gateway as root or your main admin account. Create a dedicated OS user with access only to the directories and ports the agent actually needs. This limits blast radius if a skill goes rogue.
Deployment hardening →OpenClaw logs every action the agent takes. Review openclaw logs --tail 100 periodically to spot unexpected behavior — unauthorized file access, unusual outbound requests, or skills acting outside their stated scope.
FAQ
Everything you need to know about OpenClaw before you get started.
npm install -g openclaw@latest — installs the CLI. Then openclaw onboard --install-daemon — sets up and starts the Gateway. Finally openclaw gateway status — confirms it is running. Requires Node.js 22+. Works on macOS, Linux, and Windows via WSL2.clawhub install <skill-slug>.