Claw 101 — The Complete Guide to OpenClaw

What is OpenClaw?

OpenClaw is an open-source, local-first personal AI agent framework that runs on your own machine. It connects to messaging apps you already use — Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack, Discord, Signal, iMessage, and 22+ platforms — letting an LLM act as a persistent, always-on assistant that can take real actions on your behalf.

Local-First

All data stays on your machine. Conversations, memory, and configs are stored as local files. No cloud dependency, no data leaving your control.

Provider-Agnostic

Works with any LLM — Anthropic Claude, OpenAI GPT, Google Gemini, or local models via Ollama. Switch models per task, set up failover chains.

Configuration Over Code

Agents are defined in JSON, not application code. Skills are MCP plugins. No framework lock-in, no custom DSL to learn.

The Origin Story

From a weekend WhatsApp hack to the fastest-growing open-source AI project of 2026.

Nov 2025

WhatsApp Relay

Peter Steinberger (founder of PSPDFKit) builds a weekend project to relay WhatsApp messages to an LLM.

Jan 2026

Clawd → Moltbot → OpenClaw

Originally "Clawd" (Claude + claw pun), renamed after Anthropic's legal request. Briefly "Moltbot" (lobster molting = growth), then OpenClaw — open source meets lobster heritage.

Feb 2026

Goes Viral

100K+ GitHub stars in under a week. 2 million visitors in one week. Steinberger announces he's joining OpenAI; OpenClaw moves to an independent foundation.

Mar 2026

Today

302K stars, 57K forks, 18K+ commits, 3,200+ skills on ClawHub. Active community, MIT license, backed by an independent foundation.

Architecture

A modular monolith with five core components — logically separated but running in a single process for simplicity.

ChannelsTelegram, Slack, WhatsApp, Discord, Signal, iMessage, 22+

↓

GatewayAuth, routing, WebSocket control plane, rate limiting

↓

BrainLLM reasoning engine, context assembly, skill orchestration

↙ ↘

MemorySQLite + JSONL, vector search, FTS5, sliding window

SkillsMCP plugins, 3,200+ on ClawHub, any language

Gateway

The entry point. Runs as a daemon (launchd on macOS, systemd on Linux) on a configurable port. Handles authentication, message dispatch, rate limiting, and load balancing across agent instances. Supports loopback-only mode for security.

Brain

The reasoning engine. Assembles context from Memory, calls the configured LLM, orchestrates skill invocations, and produces responses. Supports primary + fallback models with per-task model selection.

Memory

Hybrid storage: SQLite with embedding extensions for semantic vector search, plus FTS5 for keyword matching. Session transcripts in JSONL files. Context window management via sliding window + summarization.

Skills

MCP (Model Context Protocol) plugins that give your agent capabilities. Communicate over stdio or HTTP. Written in any language — TypeScript, Python, Go, Rust. Discoverable via ClawHub marketplace.

Channels

Platform adapters that normalize messages into a common internal format. Each channel handles platform-specific auth, message types, media, and delivery confirmation.

Key Features

22+ Messaging Platforms

WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Signal, iMessage, Teams, Matrix, LINE, IRC, and more. One agent, all your channels.

Built-in Cron Scheduler

Schedule recurring tasks with standard cron syntax and timezone support. Morning greetings, news digests, health checks — all automated.

Agent Spawning

Parent agents can spawn sub-agents with their own context, models, and timeouts. Delegate complex tasks to specialized sub-agents.

Browser Automation

Built-in Chromium via CDP (Chrome DevTools Protocol). Your agent can browse the web, fill forms, scrape data, and interact with web apps.

Voice Wake + Talk

Voice activation on macOS, iOS, and Android. Wake your agent with a keyword and have a natural conversation.

DM Security

Pairing mode by default — unknown senders must be approved. Built-in openclaw doctor for security auditing.

Live Canvas + A2UI

Agent-driven visual workspace. Your agent can generate and manipulate interactive UI elements in real time.

Tailscale Integration

Access your agent remotely via Tailscale serve/funnel. Secure, zero-config networking without exposing ports to the internet.

The Ecosystem

OpenClaw isn't just a tool — it's a thriving ecosystem of skills, extensions, and community resources.

ClawHub

The official skill marketplace with 3,200+ community-reviewed MCP plugins. Browse, install, and publish skills. Everything from office productivity to social media management to web scraping.

clawhub.dev →

Extensions

npm-based plugin system for deep integrations. Custom LLM providers, storage backends, auth methods, and more. Install with openclaw ext install <name>.

Companion Apps

Native apps for macOS, iOS, and Android. Quick access to your agent, voice control, notification management, and status monitoring from your pocket.

Community

Active Discord, GitHub Discussions, and a growing ecosystem of tutorials, blog posts, and video guides. Featured on Lex Fridman Podcast #491.

How Does It Compare?

OpenClaw occupies a unique position: local-first, always-on, and messaging-native.

	OpenClaw	n8n	Dify	AutoGPT
Approach	Personal AI agent	Workflow automation	LLM app platform	Autonomous agent
Local-First	Yes	Self-hosted	Self-hosted	Yes
Messaging Platforms	22+	Via nodes	Limited	None
Always-On Daemon	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
MCP Skills	3,200+	N/A	Limited	Limited
Multi-Model	Any LLM	Any LLM	Any LLM	OpenAI-focused
Config Format	JSON	Visual flows	Visual + YAML	YAML
GitHub Stars	302K	68K	95K	175K

Get Started in 5 Minutes

1

Install

npm install -g openclaw@latest

Requires Node.js 22 or later. Works on macOS, Linux, and Windows (WSL2).

2

Onboard

openclaw onboard --install-daemon

The wizard walks you through gateway setup, workspace initialization, LLM provider config, and your first channel connection.

3

Connect a Channel

# Example: connect Telegram
openclaw channel add telegram
# Follow the prompts to link your bot

Your agent is now live. Send it a message from Telegram and watch it respond.

4

Install Skills

# Browse skills
openclaw skills search "web scraper"

# Install one
openclaw skills install @clawhub/web-scraper

Give your agent new capabilities from the 3,200+ skills on ClawHub.

5

Customize

# Edit your agent's personality
nano ~/.openclaw/workspace/SOUL.md

# Set up a cron job
openclaw cron add "Morning news" \
  --schedule "30 9 * * *" \
  --timezone "Asia/Shanghai"

Make it yours. Define personality, schedule tasks, configure models per use case.

Configuration at a Glance

Everything is a JSON file. Here's what a typical openclaw.json looks like:

{
  "gateway": {
    "port": 18789,
    "bind": "127.0.0.1",
    "auth": { "type": "token" }
  },
  "models": {
    "default": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "fallback": "ollama/llama3",
    "aliases": {
      "fast": "anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5",
      "strong": "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6"
    }
  },
  "channels": {
    "telegram": {
      "enabled": true,
      "bot_token_ref": "secret:telegram_bot_token"
    }
  },
  "agent": {
    "name": "my-agent",
    "max_concurrency": 4,
    "max_subagents": 8
  }
}