What is OpenClaw?

OpenClaw is an open-source AI agent platform that runs on your machine and works from the chat apps you already use—WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack, Teams, and more.

Your assistant. Your machine. Your rules.

Unlike SaaS assistants where your data lives on someone else’s servers, OpenClaw runs where you choose—laptop, homelab, or VPS. Your infrastructure. Your API keys. Your data.

By the Numbers

Metric	Value
⭐ GitHub Stars	151,000+
🍴 Forks	22,800+
👥 Contributors	377+
📦 Releases	36
📝 Commits	8,700+
📄 License	MIT

“The most close-to-science-fiction ‘takeoff’ I’ve seen in a while… AI assistants organizing themselves, having private discussions.” — Andrej Karpathy, Former Tesla AI Director

In the News

OpenClaw has been covered by major tech media:

Publication	Coverage
TechCrunch	”OpenClaw’s AI assistants are now building their own social network”
The Guardian	”A step change in AI personal assistants”
CNBC	”Security experts raise alarm over OpenClaw’s rapid adoption”
Forbes	Deep dive analysis on the platform’s viral growth

Why OpenClaw?

Feature	Description
100% Local	Runs entirely on your machine—your data never leaves your computer
Chat-First	Control your Mac/PC from WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack, or Teams
Open Source	Community-driven, transparent, and free to use
Real Tasks	Handle emails, files, browser automation, terminal commands, and more

How it Works

flowchart LR
  A["Chat apps + plugins"] --> B["Gateway"]
  B --> C["Pi agent"]
  B --> D["CLI"]
  B --> E["Web Control UI"]
  B --> F["macOS app"]
  B --> G["iOS and Android nodes"]

The Gateway is the single source of truth for sessions, routing, and channel connections.

Key Capabilities

Capability	Description
Multi-channel gateway	WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, and iMessage with a single Gateway process
Plugin channels	Add Mattermost and more with extension packages
Multi-agent routing	Isolated sessions per agent, workspace, or sender
Media support	Send and receive images, audio, and documents
Web Control UI	Browser dashboard for chat, config, sessions, and nodes
Mobile nodes	Pair iOS and Android nodes with Canvas support

The Story Behind the Name

What started as a weekend project became one of the fastest-growing open source projects of 2025:

November 2025 — Peter Steinberger hacks together “WhatsApp Relay” over a weekend
Clawd — A playful pun on “Claude” with a claw 🦞 (Anthropic’s legal team kindly asked us to reconsider)
Moltbot — Molting represents growth—lobsters shed their shells to become something bigger
OpenClaw — The final form, trademarked and here to stay:
- Open: Open source, open to everyone, community-driven
- Claw: Our lobster heritage, a nod to where we came from

The lobster has molted into its final form. Welcome to OpenClaw. 🦞

What Can OpenClaw Do?

Task	Example Command
Read Emails	”Summarize my unread emails”
Manage Files	”Find all PDFs in my Downloads folder”
Browser Tasks	”Open GitHub and check my notifications”
Terminal Commands	”Run npm install in my project folder”
Calendar	”What meetings do I have today?”
Smart Home	”Turn on the living room lights”

Getting Started

Quick Install

curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash

Manual Download

Get the latest release from GitHub:

👉 Download OpenClaw from GitHub

Choose the installer for your platform:

macOS: .dmg or .pkg
Windows: .exe installer
Linux: .deb or .AppImage

Connect Your Phone

Launch OpenClaw—you’ll see a QR code in the dashboard
Open WhatsApp or Telegram on your phone
Scan the QR code
Send “Hello” to test the connection

That’s it! You can now control your computer from anywhere.

Supported Channels

OpenClaw works with all major messaging platforms:

Platform	Status
WhatsApp	✅ Supported
Telegram	✅ Supported
Discord	✅ Supported
Slack	✅ Supported
Microsoft Teams	✅ Supported
Google Chat	✅ Supported
Twitch	✅ Supported
iMessage	✅ Supported

Dashboard

Open the browser Control UI after the Gateway starts:

Local default: http://127.0.0.1:18789/
Remote access: See Remote Gateway and Tailscale setup

Configuration (Optional)

Config lives at ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json.

If you do nothing, OpenClaw uses the bundled Pi binary in RPC mode with per-sender sessions.
If you want to lock it down, start with channels.whatsapp.allowFrom and (for groups) mention rules.

Example:

{
  channels: {
    whatsapp: {
      allowFrom: ["+15555550123"],
      groups: { "*": { requireMention: true } },
    },
  },
  messages: { groupChat: { mentionPatterns: ["@openclaw"] } },
}

Security First

Security is our top priority. Recent security work includes:

34 security-related commits to harden the codebase
Machine-checkable security models for formal verification
Security best practices guide for safe deployment

⚠️ Important: Prompt injection is still an industry-wide unsolved problem. Always use strong models and study our security best practices.

Get Involved

OpenClaw is community-driven. Here’s how you can help:

Action	Link
🐛 Report Issues	GitHub Issues
💻 Contribute Code	Contributing Guide
💰 Sponsor	GitHub Sponsors
💬 Join Discord	discord.gg/openclaw

Official Resources

Resource	Link
Website	openclaw.ai
Download	GitHub Releases
Source Code	GitHub Repository
Documentation	docs.openclaw.ai
Community	Discord
Blog	OpenClaw Blog

Next Steps

⚠️ This is a community resource. For authoritative information, visit openclaw.ai.

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