Overview

OpenClaw is the free, open-source, local-first AI agent platform. Built by Peter Steinberger (formerly Clawdbot/Moltbot), OpenClaw connects large language models to messaging platforms and enables AI to take real actions on your local machine — with no cloud service required.

What is OpenClaw?

OpenClaw is a free, open-source AI agent gateway that runs entirely on your local hardware. It connects LLMs (Claude, GPT, DeepSeek, Gemini, local models via Ollama) to messaging platforms (WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Signal, and more) and enables AI to take real actions — file management, browser automation, shell commands, web scraping, scheduling, and more.

Key differentiator: OpenClaw's design centers on tool chaining — configure which tools the agent has access to and it chains them reactively. A broad community library of 5,700+ skills in the ClawHub marketplace handles common workflows without significant upfront configuration.

Key Features

Core Capabilities

Local-first architecture: Gateway runs on your machine, your data stays on your hardware
Multi-channel messaging: WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Signal, IRC, Matrix, Mattermost, BlueBubbles, Feishu, Google Chat, Nextcloud Talk, Microsoft Teams, Zalo
Built-in tools: exec (shell), browser, web_search, web_fetch, read/write/edit, cron, canvas, media generation
Skills system: Markdown SKILL.md instruction files teaching the agent how to combine tools
Lobster workflows: Companion workflow engine for composable, typed automation pipelines
Plugin ecosystem: Extension packages registering tools, skills, channels, or model providers
JSON5 configuration: Single config file with comments, trailing commas, unquoted keys
A2UI Canvas: Visual workspace with live rendering of agent actions

Architecture Components

Gateway: WebSocket control plane on ws://127.0.0.1:18789 routing messages between channels, models, and tools
Channels: Messaging platform connectors (Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack, Discord, Signal, IRC, Matrix, etc.)
Tools: Built-in capabilities (exec, browser, web_search, web_fetch, read/write/edit, cron, canvas)
Skills: Markdown instruction files teaching agent how to combine tools for specific tasks
Lobster: Workflow engine for typed automation pipelines with approval gates
Plugins: Extension packages from ClawHub (5,700+ community packages)

Prerequisites

Required: Node.js 22.16+ or 24+ (recommended)
Required: Basic command-line proficiency
Required: Basic understanding of JSON/JSON5 syntax
Helpful: Familiarity with at least one LLM API and messaging platform bots
Not required: Prior OpenClaw experience

Quick Start

# Install OpenClaw globally via npm
npm install -g openclaw@latest
 
# Run interactive onboarding (installs daemon)
openclaw onboard --install-daemon
 
# Verify installation
openclaw --version
openclaw doctor

See the By Example tutorial for 80 heavily annotated examples covering 95% of OpenClaw.

How This Tutorial Is Organized

By Example

Learn OpenClaw through 80 self-contained, heavily annotated examples:

Beginner (Examples 1-27) — Installation, CLI, JSON5 configuration, built-in tools, simple skills (0-40% coverage)
Intermediate (Examples 28-54) — Channel integration, advanced skills, Lobster workflows, multi-agent patterns (40-75% coverage)
Advanced (Examples 55-80) — Plugin development, security hardening, production deployment, scaling (75-95% coverage)

Why OpenClaw Matters

OpenClaw's local-first architecture eliminates vendor lock-in and data privacy concerns that plague hosted AI agent platforms. Organizations handling sensitive data (healthcare, finance, legal) can deploy AI agents without sending conversations through third-party servers.

The low setup overhead — a real reason OpenClaw spread to 214,000+ GitHub stars faster than Docker, Kubernetes, or React ever achieved — makes it the fastest path from "idea" to "working AI agent." The tool-chaining philosophy means broad capability out of the box without custom configuration for each workflow.

Hermes Agent — Alternative AI agent platform focused on self-improving skill learning
Claude Code — Anthropic's AI-powered coding assistant

Next Steps

Start with the By Example tutorial to master OpenClaw through 80 heavily annotated, runnable examples.

Overview

Command Palette