AIster · The agentic age · Products
Clawdbot, now OpenClaw, brings an AI agent to chat apps
A one-person open-source agent you message like a friend, and that acts on your computer
Key facts
- Date
- Nov 2025–Feb 2026
- Era
- The agentic age
- Interest
- Products
- Threads
- Open vs closed, Agents
- Creator
- Peter Steinberger, Austrian developer (@steipete)
- First commit
- 24 November 2025
- Names
- Clawdbot, then Moltbot (27 Jan 2026), then OpenClaw (29 Jan 2026)
- Runs through
- WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Signal, iMessage and other chat apps
OpenClaw is an open-source personal AI assistant that runs on the user's own computer and is controlled through messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Signal and iMessage. It was started by Peter Steinberger, an Austrian developer, whose first commit to the project's GitHub repository is dated 24 November 2025. It began as a weekend project called "WhatsApp Relay", a small command-line tool for relaying WhatsApp messages, and grew into an agent that can manage a calendar, send messages and check in for flights, using Claude or other models.
Two renames in a week
Under the name Clawdbot, a play on Claude, the project went viral in January 2026, despite needing technical skill to install. Anthropic then asked for a new name on trademark grounds, and on 27 January it became Moltbot, after the way lobsters shed their shells to grow. Two days later, on 29 January, Steinberger renamed it again, to OpenClaw, after trademark searches came back clear.
Security concerns
Its appeal was that it took actions on the user's behalf, and that was also the risk. Investor Rahul Sood warned, as TechCrunch reported, that it "can execute arbitrary commands on your computer", and that a malicious message could steer it through prompt injection (hidden instructions planted in content the agent reads). Running it safely meant isolating it on a separate machine with throwaway accounts, which limited how useful it could be.
Joining OpenAI
On 15 February 2026 Steinberger announced he was joining OpenAI. "What I want is to change the world, not build a large company," he wrote. Sam Altman said Steinberger would "drive the next generation of personal agents" and that OpenClaw would "live in a foundation as an open source project that OpenAI will continue to support."
Why it matters
OpenClaw showed the demand for an always-on agent that lives inside the apps people already use. It also showed how quickly a hobby project could grow: TechCrunch counted more than 44,200 GitHub stars in late January 2026, and by October 2026 the repository had more than 390,000.
Questions people ask
What is OpenClaw?
OpenClaw is a free, open-source personal AI assistant created by Peter Steinberger. It runs on your own computer, takes instructions through chat apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram, and can carry out tasks like managing a calendar, sending messages and checking in for flights.
Why was Clawdbot renamed?
Anthropic asked for a name change on trademark grounds because Clawdbot was a pun on Claude. It became Moltbot on 27 January 2026 and, two days later, OpenClaw.
Is OpenClaw safe to use?
Investor Rahul Sood warned, as TechCrunch reported, that it "can execute arbitrary commands on your computer" and that a malicious message could steer it through prompt injection. Running it safely meant isolating it on a separate machine with throwaway accounts.
Sources
- GitHub, openclaw/openclaw, 2025-11-24
- OpenClaw, Introducing OpenClaw, 2026-01-29
- TechCrunch, OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger joins OpenAI, 2026-02-15
- TechCrunch, Everything you need to know about viral personal AI assistant Clawdbot (now Moltbot), 2026-01-27