openclaw/OpenClaw
Your own personal AI assistant. Any OS. Any Platform. The lobster way. 🦞
OpenClaw by Peter Steinberger and the openclaw organization is the most-starred open-source personal AI assistant on GitHub, with 20+ chat-channel integrations (WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, iMessage, Signal, Teams, and more). Self-hosted, MIT licensed, sponsored by OpenAI, GitHub, and NVIDIA.
Our Review
OpenClaw is the most-starred open-source personal AI assistant project on GitHub -- 372,000 stars and 77,300 forks in six months as of May 2026. Released November 2025 by the openclaw organization (led by Peter Steinberger, formerly PSPDFKit founder, with backing from OpenAI, GitHub, and NVIDIA as sponsors) under MIT, it runs as an always-on personal assistant that you self-host and reach through every chat channel you already use.
What OpenClaw does:
- •20+ chat channels 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 all supported out of the box.
- •Voice on mobile can speak and listen on macOS, iOS, and Android, turning the assistant into a hands-free productivity layer.
- •Live Canvas rendering assistant can render and update a live canvas you control, for visualization, dashboards, or interactive output.
- •Skills system pluggable skill packages from the openclaw skills marketplace, extensible per user or per workspace.
- •Gateway + assistant split the Gateway is the control plane, the assistant is the product; the architecture supports running gateway and assistant in different locations.
- •openclaw onboard CLI guided step-by-step setup wizard for gateway, workspace, channels, and skills; macOS, Linux, and Windows (via WSL2).
- •NVIDIA NemoClaw integration can run sandboxed inside NVIDIA OpenShell via the NemoClaw reference stack for additional security.
OpenClaw ecosystem:
- •NVIDIA NemoClaw official NVIDIA reference stack for running OpenClaw safely inside NVIDIA OpenShell.
- •openclaw skills marketplace community-published skill packages extending the assistant.
- •Sponsors OpenAI, GitHub, NVIDIA, and others contribute infrastructure and visibility to the project.
- •DeepWiki searchable wiki at deepwiki.com/openclaw/openclaw for community knowledge.
Getting started:
Preferred path: run openclaw onboard in your terminal. The Onboard CLI walks you through setting up the gateway, workspace, channel connections, and skills. Works with npm, pnpm, or bun. Windows users should use WSL2. For container-based install, follow the Docker install docs at docs.openclaw.ai/install/docker. After install, point any supported channel at your gateway and chat away.
Limitations:
OpenClaw is a self-hosted personal assistant, so you handle the gateway uptime yourself. The list of supported channels is broad but each channel has its own auth setup (OAuth, bot tokens, API keys) you must complete individually. Project is young (six months as of May 2026) and iterating rapidly with weekly releases, so expect API changes between minor versions. Single-user by design; multi-tenant or family-shared assistant patterns are not the primary use case.
Our Verdict
OpenClaw in 2026 is the most-starred open-source personal AI assistant project on GitHub -- 372,000 stars in six months, MIT licensed, and backed by sponsors including OpenAI, GitHub, and NVIDIA. Led by Peter Steinberger and the openclaw organization, it has hit a real product gap: an always-on assistant that lives in the chat tools you already use rather than its own dedicated app.
For Vibe Builders who want one assistant reachable from WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, and Discord without rebuilding integration plumbing for each channel, OpenClaw is the strongest open-source option in 2026. The openclaw onboard CLI handles the most painful parts (gateway setup, channel auth) and the skills marketplace covers extensibility.
For Developers, OpenClaw is interesting as a reference architecture for self-hosted always-on assistants. The Gateway + assistant split is clean, the channel adapters are modular, and the codebase is real production TypeScript with active CI and 30+ releases since November 2025.
Skip OpenClaw if you only need a chat UI for one LLM provider (NextChat or Open WebUI are simpler). Skip if uptime SLA matters and you cannot self-host reliably -- managed assistants like Claude or ChatGPT bring their own SLA. For NVIDIA-blessed sandboxed deployment, see NVIDIA's NemoClaw reference stack that bundles OpenClaw inside OpenShell.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is OpenClaw?
OpenClaw is an open-source self-hosted personal AI assistant that you reach through every chat channel you already use, including WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Signal, iMessage, and Microsoft Teams. Released November 2025 by the openclaw organization under MIT, it has 372,000 GitHub stars in six months as of May 2026, with sponsorship from OpenAI, GitHub, and NVIDIA.
Is OpenClaw free?
Yes. OpenClaw is open source under the MIT license, free to install, run, fork, and modify. You will pay for whatever LLM API you wire it to (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or local Ollama models) and any channel API fees (WhatsApp Business API has its own pricing, for example). The gateway and assistant themselves cost nothing in software.
Which channels does OpenClaw support?
OpenClaw ships first-class support for over 20 channels: 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, and a built-in WebChat. Each channel has its own auth setup (OAuth, bot tokens, or API keys) you configure once via the onboard CLI.
How do I install OpenClaw?
Run openclaw onboard in your terminal. The Onboard CLI walks you through gateway setup, workspace creation, channel connections, and initial skill installation. Works with npm, pnpm, or bun on macOS, Linux, or Windows (WSL2 strongly recommended). Full docs at docs.openclaw.ai/start/getting-started, and Docker install instructions at docs.openclaw.ai/install/docker.
Who is behind OpenClaw?
OpenClaw is led by Peter Steinberger (steipete on GitHub), formerly founder of PSPDFKit, with co-contributors including vincentkoc and shakkernerd. The openclaw organization has 64 public repositories and 21,000+ followers. Sponsorship from OpenAI, GitHub, and NVIDIA, along with NVIDIA's official NemoClaw integration, places OpenClaw at the center of a real production ecosystem.
What license does OpenClaw use?
OpenClaw uses the MIT license.
What are alternatives to OpenClaw?
Explore related tools and alternatives on My AI Guide.
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