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Guide

OpenClaw 🦞

OpenClaw is a free, open-source personal assistant that runs on your own computer and lives inside the chat apps you already use — WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Discord and more. You message it like a colleague; it acts on your email, calendar and connected services.

7 min read
Open source · MITRuns on your machineChat-first

What OpenClaw is

OpenClaw was created by Austrian developer Peter Steinberger and launched in November 2025 (first as "Warelay", then briefly "Moltbot") before settling on OpenClaw in January 2026 — with a lobster mascot, Molty 🦞, that became something of an internet phenomenon.

It grew to one of the most-starred repositories on GitHub — close to 400,000 stars — within months. Steinberger has since joined OpenAI, while a non-profit OpenClaw Foundation stewards the project. The point for you: a very active community, rapid improvements, and a tool you can keep and control.

What it does well

💬

Chat-app interface

No separate app to learn — the agent lives inside WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal or Discord.

🧠

Persistent memory

Remembers context, people and preferences across sessions, around the clock.

🛠️

Skills (SKILL.md)

Reusable, shareable procedures for consistent work — with a large community ecosystem.

⏰

Heartbeats & scheduling

Proactive background tasks, reminders and scheduled jobs that run without you asking.

🔌

Deep integrations

Email, calendar, GitHub, 1Password, Beeper, Twilio, X and many more.

📱

Companion apps

Native apps for macOS, Windows and mobile (iOS/Android) to manage the gateway.

How you get it

OpenClaw is installed on a machine you control — a laptop, a small office computer or a server. Installation is a one-liner, followed by a guided onboarding:

Terminal
# Install OpenClaw (installs Node.js and everything else)
curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash

# ...or via npm
npm i -g openclaw

# Guided onboarding — meet your lobster
openclaw onboard
You don't have to do this yourself. For most self-employed people and SMEs, the sensible route is to have it set up and secured by someone who knows the terrain — then simply use it from your phone. That's exactly the kind of setup I do for clients.

Security considerations

OpenClaw's power comes from broad access, so treat it with respect:

Prompt injection and third-party skills. Because OpenClaw reads untrusted content (emails, web pages) and can install community skills, security researchers have flagged prompt-injection risks and noted that not every third-party skill is vetted. Install only skills you trust, keep a human approval step, and never let it act on sensitive accounts without review.
  • Microsoft's 2026 partnership brings native Windows support inside Execution Containers, for a more sandboxed experience.
  • Grant the least access each task needs, and review what it did regularly.
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