Note: The tool mentioned in this article, formerly known as Clawdbot, has been rebranded to OpenClaw. This article has been updated to reflect the new name and installation instructions. For the latest information, please visit the official website: openclaw.ai.
Meet the latest innovation in personal productivity: OpenClaw (formerly Clawdbot). This is a significant development in the world of AI assistance.
What is OpenClaw?
OpenClaw is a powerful, automatic AI personal assistant created by solo developer Peter Steinberger. It’s crucial to understand that this tool has no affiliation with Anthropic’s Claude models or Claude Code. It is an independent project that runs directly on your local machine.
You can interact with OpenClaw through its desktop user interface or integrate it with messaging platforms like Telegram, WhatsApp, and Discord. This allows you to text or message commands and tasks directly to your assistant.
Core Features
One of OpenClaw’s most compelling features is its persistent memory. It learns from your interactions, behaviors, and professional life to proactively perform tasks. All this data remains on your local machine, ensuring privacy as nothing is transmitted to third-party services.
OpenClaw boasts a range of powerful capabilities:
- Full System Access: It can operate on your machine with root access.
- Browser Control: It can navigate and interact with websites.
- Extensibility: You can enhance its functionality with a vast array of skills and plugins from the dedicated “OpenClaw Hub.” This community-driven marketplace allows you to grant OpenClaw control over tools like Trello, Slack, and much more.
Automating Your Life
The potential for automation is immense. For instance, you could set up a recurring task for OpenClaw to download specific files from a service weekly, preparing them for you without any manual intervention.
Another practical use is daily planning. You can have OpenClaw analyze your calendar each morning, providing an assessment of your day with focus areas and even a difficulty rating for your schedule. It can also perform real-world queries, like finding the nearest van rental service. It’s a personal assistant and automation tool rolled into one, capable of replacing other complex systems. You can even direct it to create an application, as it can interface with any IDE you use.
If an idea strikes while you’re away from your desk, you can simply send a text to your OpenClaw, and it will prepare everything for your return.
The Second Brain Concept
Perhaps the most impactful application is using OpenClaw as a “second brain.” By collecting and processing everything it learns about you, it can provide feedback and guidance. On a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis, you can review its learnings and receive business-oriented advice on what to focus on next. This transforms it from a simple task-doer into a strategic partner.
Installation Guide
Getting started is straightforward. The installation is handled by a single bash command.
curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash
When you run this in your terminal, the setup process will begin.
A Note on Security: The installer will correctly warn you about the safety risks. OpenClaw requires deep access to your system. It’s highly recommended to run it on a separate, dedicated machine like a Mac Mini, a Raspberry Pi, or a Virtual Private Server (VPS) from a provider like AWS or Digital Ocean. It doesn’t require significant resources to run.
The main benefit of running it on a Mac is for users deeply embedded in the Apple ecosystem (e.g., Apple Reminders, iCal). Otherwise, a cheaper VPS or a Raspberry Pi is a perfectly viable and more secure option. You can also run local models for complete privacy.
Ultimately, this software will have root access to your files and applications. While much of its work can be done through APIs, it can also directly manipulate files on your system. You might want to start in a sandboxed environment to limit its capabilities initially.
Configuration Steps
- Initial Setup: After agreeing to the terms, choose the
Quickstartoption. - AI Service: Select an AI service. While many options are available, models like Anthropic’s Haiku are fast, cheap, and effective. Experiment to find the model that works best for you.
- Communication Channels:
- Telegram: This is an excellent choice due to its robust bot ecosystem. You can create a dedicated channel to communicate with your OpenClaw. To get a token, open Telegram, chat with
@BotFather, and type/newbot. Paste the provided token back into the OpenClaw setup. - WhatsApp: This option watches your “message yourself” channel. If you use this feature frequently for notes, this might not be the ideal route unless you set up a separate WhatsApp number.
- Discord: Also a straightforward option.
- Telegram: This is an excellent choice due to its robust bot ecosystem. You can create a dedicated channel to communicate with your OpenClaw. To get a token, open Telegram, chat with
- Skills Configuration: You can configure skills during setup or skip it for later. The installer supports
npm,pnpm, andbun. You can browse available skills like Google Workspace CLI, Google Places, and Apple Notes. Many of these will require you to set up API keys. You can always ask OpenClaw to help you with this later. - Memory and Logging: Enable
Session MemoryandCommand Logger. - Wake Up: The setup will complete and “wake up” OpenClaw. You can close the terminal window once it’s running.
- Introduce Yourself: The final step is to tell OpenClaw who you are. Provide it with all the important details about yourself, and it will begin to build its persistent memory.
Browser Integration
To allow OpenClaw to control your browser sessions, you’ll need to install the Chrome extension.
- Run the extension installation command provided by OpenClaw.
- In your Chrome-based browser, navigate to
Manage Extensions. - Enable
Developer mode. - Click
Load unpackedand select theOpenClaw-browser-extensiondirectory. - Pin the extension and ensure it is turned on.
Now, OpenClaw can interact with websites you are already logged into. Be aware that this is susceptible to prompt injection, so it’s wise to limit its use to trusted, business-focused enterprise sites.
Extending Capabilities with the OpenClaw Hub
The OpenClaw Hub is where you can find community-built skills to extend your assistant’s power. You can browse by installations to see what’s popular. You’ll find skills for coding, accessing Twitter, controlling Home Assistant, and more.
For example, to install a skill like humanizer, you can simply ask OpenClaw:
install humanizer skill
It will search for the skill and install it, making it ready to use instantly.
OpenClaw is an exciting tool with the potential to revolutionize personal productivity. As you discover its capabilities, you’ll find more and more ways to integrate it into your daily workflow.