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Agent platforms · Tool

OpenClaw

Researched

Open-source personal agent that runs continuously, connects to messaging channels and uses installable skills to perform work across local and online tools.

Open-source project Checked Follow updates
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Official site snapshots

See the official site at a glance

Read-only public captures of OpenClaw’s homepage. Screenshots are dated, never live embeds, and open full-screen.

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Homepage · captured Jul 21, 2026
1 earlier capture
At a glance

In one minute

Start here for the decision-making essentials: what OpenClaw does, who it is for, how it is accessed, and the first-party sources behind this profile.

PricingCurrent signal

Free software + model costs

Platforms
Self-hostedDockerMessaging apps
API accessAvailable
Founded2025
AvailabilityWeb / remote
LicenseOpen source

Best suited to

Source-backed fit
Technical individuals Self-hosters Automation enthusiasts
Decision support

Common questions and adoption checks

5 sourced answers

Short answers to the questions buyers and builders commonly ask about OpenClaw. Each answer cites the shared ledger below, where every source is listed once.

01What does OpenClaw help with?

Personal automation · Messaging assistant · Background tasks · Messaging integrations

Ledger citation[2] openclaw.ai
02Who is OpenClaw intended for?

Technical individuals · Self-hosters · Automation enthusiasts

Ledger citation[2] openclaw.ai
03What pricing information is available for OpenClaw?

Free software + model costs

Ledger citation[2] openclaw.ai
04Does OpenClaw document API access?

API access is documented by the provider.

Ledger citation[2] openclaw.ai
05What should teams verify before adopting OpenClaw?

Broad tool permissions require careful review and isolation. · Community skills should be audited before installation. · Model-provider subscription and API terms can affect availability.

Ledger citation[2] openclaw.ai
Decision guide

Capabilities and operating fit

Agent platforms

This profile connects the jobs OpenClaw is described as handling with its delivery model, access options and the subjects used to match it to related products in this directory.

Common use cases

  • Personal automation
  • Messaging assistant
  • Background tasks

Access signals

Pricing model
Free
API
Publicly available
Source links
2 recorded
Source-backed

Verified facts

Updated July 20, 2026

Each fact points to a recorded source, making it easy to distinguish verified product information from claims that need checking.

Source availability

Public repository

SourceRecorded source
Self-hosting

Supported

SourceRecorded source
Messaging

Core interface

SourceRecorded source
Skills

Installable

SourceRecorded source
Practical capabilities

What it helps with

5 documented areas

A concise view of the jobs, capabilities and integrations described in the recorded product sources.

Use case

Personal automation

Use case

Messaging assistant

Use case

Background tasks

Focus area

Messaging integrations

Focus area

Skills and tools

Availability

Where it runs and where to get it

Source checked

Documented product formats, platforms and official distribution destinations. Availability can vary by region and plan.

Cost / license

FreeFree software + model costsOpen source; confirm repository license for the installed release

Platforms

Self-hostedDockerMessaging apps
Implementation details

Adoption notes

DeploymentSelf-hosted; local or server installation
LicenseOpen source; confirm repository license for the installed release
Model supportBring-your-own supported model providers
Data controlSelf-hosted control with data still subject to selected model and integration providers
Learning curveAdvanced
Primary use casesPersonal automation, Messaging assistant, Background tasks

What to verify before adopting

  • Broad tool permissions require careful review and isolation.
  • Community skills should be audited before installation.
  • Model-provider subscription and API terms can affect availability.
Evolution and major updates

OpenClaw timeline

A concise history of software releases and material product changes. Events appear only when a dated source supports what changed.

23 dated updates
Latest first · exact dates

Showing the newest updates and meaningful milestones. Open an entry for its summary and source.

  1. Release note

    openclaw 2026.7.1 released

    Open details

    OpenClaw v2026.7.1 brings major Control UI and onboarding overhauls, major updates to the official iOS, Android, and macOS apps, expanded model and provider support including GPT-5.6 compatibility, Tencent Hy3, and Meta Muse Spark 1.1, and stronger Codex and c

    View source [1]
  2. Release note

    openclaw 2026.6.11 released

    Open details

    We heard the feedback. v2026.6.11 focuses on the rough edges that make OpenClaw feel less dependable, with fixes for misplaced replies, stuck sends, reconnects, model setup failures, and safer admin defaults. Full release notes

    View source [1]
  3. Release note

    openclaw 2026.6.10 released

    Open details

    Automatic fast mode starts short conversations quickly, then returns longer or fallback work to normal mode without losing visible state. Provider routing, channel progress, session identity, and trusted tool policies are more reliable, with smaller improvemen

    View source [1]
  4. Release note

    openclaw 2026.6.9 released

    Open details

    Richer Telegram delivery: Telegram now sends rich HTML, preserves rich markdown and sticker paths, renders progress drafts and command output more faithfully, normalizes HTML tables safely, and keeps mentions and spooled handlers on the right delivery path. (9

    View source [1]
  5. Release note

    openclaw 2026.6.8 released

    Open details

    Richer channel delivery: Telegram and WhatsApp are less brittle: Telegram renders structured text with tables, lists, expandable blockquotes, preserved intentional line breaks, and CLI-backed replies, while WhatsApp now honors configured ACP bindings. (92679,

    View source [1]
  6. Release note

    openclaw 2026.6.6 released

    Open details

    Tighter security boundaries: transcript, sandbox, MCP, browser, channel, and exec-approval paths now fail closed around unsafe access, timed-out approvals, and malformed boundary input. (91529, 91618, 91741, 91750, 89938) Thanks @joshavant, @pgondhi987, @mmaps

    View source [1]
  7. Release note

    openclaw 2026.5.27 released

    Open details

    Stronger security and content boundaries: group prompt text is kept out of the system prompt, repeated-dot hostnames are normalized, side-effecting command wrappers and unsafe Node runtime env overrides are blocked, no-auth Tailscale exposure is rejected, and

    View source [1]
  8. Release note

    openclaw 2026.5.3-1 released

    Open details

    Core npm hotfix release for v2026.5.3. Plugins/security: stop the install scanner from blocking official bundled plugin packages when process.env access and normal API sends only appear in distant parts of the same compiled bundle.

    View source [1]
View 15 more dated releasesFull source-backed history
  1. Release note

    openclaw 2026.6.5 released

    Open details

    Safer channel output: QQBot strips model reasoning and thinking scaffolding before native delivery, so users see the final answer rather than raw internal markup. (89913, 90132) Thanks @openperf, @dygg2001, @Takhoffman, and @vincentkoc. MCP results no longer p

    View source [1]
  2. Release note

    openclaw 2026.6.1 released

    Open details

    Resilient agent and Codex runs: interrupted tool calls, stale session bindings, compaction handoffs, auth-profile failover, reasoning-tag cleanup, yielded subagents, and generated-media delivery all recover without leaving work stranded. (85798, 87484, 88182,

    View source [1]
  3. Release note

    openclaw 2026.5.28 released

    Open details

    Agent and Codex runtime recovery is steadier: subagents keep cwd/workspace separation, hook context stays prompt-local, session locks release on timeout abort while live OpenClaw locks survive cleanup, stale restart continuations are avoided, and Codex app-ser

    View source [1]
  4. Release note

    openclaw 2026.5.26 released

    Open details

    Faster Gateway and replies: startup avoids repeated plugin, channel, session, usage-cost, warning, scheduled-service, and filesystem scans; visible replies separate user-facing sends from slower follow-up work; Gateway runtime/session caches churn less under l

    View source [1]
  5. Release note

    openclaw 2026.5.22 released

    Open details

    Gateway/perf: reuse process-stable channel catalog reads, avoid repeated bundled-channel boundary checks, and rotate gateway watch CPU profiles so benchmark runs do not accumulate unbounded artifacts. Gateway/perf: reuse immutable plugin metadata snapshots acr

    View source [1]
  6. Release note

    openclaw 2026.5.20 released

    Open details

    Exec approvals: remove the old cat SKILL.md && printf ... && allowlist compatibility path so skill files must be loaded with the read tool and only the real skill executable is auto-allowed. Discord: let voice sessions follow configured Discord users into voic

    View source [1]
  7. Release note

    openclaw 2026.5.19 released

    Open details

    Agents: clarify that fixes should default to clean bounded refactors, lean internals, and explicit plugin SDK/API deprecation paths. Dependencies: update @openclaw/proxyline to 0.3.3.

    View source [1]
  8. Release note

    openclaw 2026.5.18 released

    Open details

    OpenClaw 2026.5.18 is the stable rollup after 2026.5.12. It includes the 2026.5.14 and 2026.5.17 beta trains plus the final 2026.5.18 fixes below. Consolidated Since 2026.5.12

    View source [1]
  9. Release note

    openclaw 2026.5.12 released

    Open details

    Leaner installs: WhatsApp, Slack, Amazon Bedrock, Anthropic Vertex, and related provider/plugin dependency cones moved out of the core runtime so installs only pull what you use. Telegram got much more resilient: isolated polling, durable local spooling, safer

    View source [1]
  10. Release note

    openclaw 2026.5.7 released

    Open details

    Release/plugin publishing: retry transient ClawHub CLI dependency install failures, keep preview-passing plugins publishable when one preview cell flakes, and verify every expected ClawHub package version after publish so maintenance releases are faster to rec

    View source [1]
  11. Release note

    openclaw 2026.5.6 released

    Open details

    Doctor/OpenAI Codex: revert the 2026.5.5 doctor --fix repair that rewrote valid openai-codex/ ChatGPT/Codex OAuth routes to openai/, which could break OAuth-only GPT-5.5 setups or accidentally move users onto the OpenAI API-key route. If 2026.5.5 already chang

    View source [1]
  12. Release note

    openclaw 2026.5.5 released

    Open details

    Feishu: hydrate missing native topic starter thread IDs before session routing so first turns and follow-ups stay in the same topic session. Fixes 78262. Thanks @joeyzenghuan. LINE: reject dmPolicy: "open" configs without wildcard allowFrom so webhook DMs fail

    View source [1]
  13. Release note

    openclaw 2026.5.4 released

    Open details

    Google Meet/Voice Call: make Twilio dial-in joins speak through the realtime Gemini voice bridge with paced audio streaming, backpressure-aware buffering, barge-in queue clearing, and no TwiML fallback during realtime speech, giving Meet participants a much sn

    View source [1]
  14. Release note

    OpenClaw 2026.5.3 released

    Open details

    Plugins/file-transfer: add bundled file-transfer plugin with filefetch, dirlist, dirfetch, and filewrite agent tools for binary file ops on paired nodes; default-deny per-node path policy under plugins.entries.file-transfer.config.nodes with operator approval,

    View source [1]
  15. Release note

    openclaw 2026.5.2 released

    Open details

    External plugin installation, update, doctor repair, dependency reporting, and artifact metadata now cover the npm-first cutover, stale configured installs, missing package payloads, and beta-channel plugin fallback. Thanks @vincentkoc. Gateway and agent hot p

    View source [1]
Citation ledger

Recorded sources

3 unique pages

Facts, answers, structured details, milestones and primary resource links cite this shared ledger. Each external page appears once; release tags from the same GitHub project are grouped under one release history.

  1. 1github.com/openclaw/openclaw/releases 23 release milestones
  2. 2openclaw.ai 5 answers · Official site
  3. 3github.com/openclaw/openclaw Source code
Research status4 substantive facts · 2 source pages · quality score 70/100
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