A single-user, local-first personal AI assistant designed to run on your own devices and connect to messaging channels including WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, and Discord. It provides an onboarding CLI for setup and a local gateway for managing channels and sessions.
Project overview
The project targets users who want a personal AI assistant that operates as a local control plane while interacting through existing messaging surfaces.
Project type
AI Agent
Use cases
Knowledge Q&A
Deployment
Refer to project documentation
License
License pending
Best for
General users and developers who need a single-user personal AI assistant that runs locally on their own devices.
Key capabilities
Connects to and receives messages from various channels such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, and Discord.
Provides a single control plane for managing sessions, channels, tools, and events running on your own devices.
Guides users step by step through setting up the gateway, workspace, channels, and skills.
Limitations and risks
Requires Node 24.15+ (recommended), Node 22.22.3+, or Node 25.9+. Coding knowledge is optional for setup and operation.
Inbound direct messages on real messaging surfaces must be treated as untrusted input during operation.
Getting started
Setup is rated easy due to an onboarding wizard CLI and native companion apps such as a Windows Hub for GUI setup. The documented first success path is to install via npm, run the openclaw onboard command, and send a message via the openclaw agent command.
Alternatives and comparisons
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README: **OpenClaw** is a _personal AI assistant_ you run on your own devices.
README: Preferred setup: run `openclaw onboard` in your terminal. OpenClaw Onboard guides you step by step through setting up the gateway, workspace, channels, and skills.