OpenClaw

OpenClaw is an open-source, local-first assistant gateway distributed as the openclaw npm package. It gives an agent access to messaging channels, sessions, tools, events, browser control, mobile nodes, and multi-agent routing so it can carry out tasks from chat apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, or Discord. The documentation covers installation, channels, agents, tools and plugins, models, gateway operations, platforms, and security.

Top features

• Local-first gateway: a control plane for sessions, channels, tools, and events, with health, readiness, diagnostics, protocol, and operations documentation.
• Chat-app interface: documented channels include WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Google Chat, Signal, iMessage, IRC, Microsoft Teams, Matrix, Feishu, LINE, Mattermost, Nextcloud Talk, Nostr, Synology Chat, Tlon, Twitch, Zalo, WeChat, QQ, WebChat, macOS, iOS, and Android.
• Multi-agent routing: route inbound channels, accounts, and peers to isolated agents, each with its own workspace, state directory, and session history.
• Mobile and node hosts: support platform-specific capabilities closer to the user’s devices.
• Browser tooling: OpenClaw-managed browser support can route browser tool calls to a node host on the machine that has the browser available.
• MCP support: managed MCP server definitions live under mcp.servers, with CLI commands such as openclaw mcp list, show, and set.
• Voice workflows: Voice Wake and Talk Mode support wake-word or continuous voice interactions, with ElevenLabs and system TTS fallback paths.
• Operational controls: includes openclaw doctor, channel allowlists, explicit DM policy controls, authentication/secrets docs, and security/sandboxing documentation.

Use cases

• Run a self-hosted assistant that can receive and act on messages from multiple chat platforms.
• Separate work, personal, and automation flows into different routed agents with isolated state.
• Give an assistant controlled access to a browser on a specific machine through node-hosted tooling.
• Build messaging bots that coordinate tools, sessions, memory, and events through a local gateway.
• Route different contacts, channels, or accounts to different assistants or workspaces.
• Operate an assistant from mobile devices or chat clients while keeping gateway control local.
• Add MCP-backed tools for custom integrations or internal services.