Blog
Field notes from the lobster tank.
Guides, comparisons and deep dives on self-hosted AI agents — for the people who'd rather host their own than rent another seat.
cornerstone
3 articles
How multi-channel AI agents actually work under the hood
A deep dive into the openclawOS kernel: routing, sessions, identity, memory and the tricky parts of making one agent feel coherent across WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord and the rest.
How to build a self-hosted WhatsApp AI bot in 2026
A practical walkthrough of pairing WhatsApp to a self-hosted AI agent powered by Claude or GPT — using openclawOS, no Meta Business API, no cloud SaaS in the middle.
Telegram AI bot with Claude — a 5-minute self-hosted setup
Build a Telegram bot powered by Claude (or any LLM) without a SaaS in the middle. Step-by-step setup with openclawOS, @BotFather, and Pi.
comparison
3 articles
openclawOS vs Zapier AI — which is right for a self-hosted AI agent?
Zapier and openclawOS look similar from far away — both connect AI to other tools. Here's how they actually differ and when each one wins.
openclawOS vs n8n for AI agents — when each one wins
n8n is the open-source workflow automator. openclawOS is the open-source AI agent gateway. They overlap on the surface and differ a lot in shape.
Self-hosted openclawOS vs Claude.ai: the real cost difference
Honest math on what a self-hosted multi-channel AI agent costs vs Claude.ai or ChatGPT Plus — for personal, family, and small-team use cases.
technical
2 articles
How Pi's tool use works (and how to add your own tools)
Pi, the agent bundled with openclawOS, has a tool loop with browser, shell, file system, vector memory, and more. Here's how it works and how to extend it.
How openclawOS uses sqlite-vec for agent memory
An honest look at how openclawOS stores Pi's memory: sessions in normal SQLite tables, vector recall via sqlite-vec, no Pinecone or Weaviate required.
narrative
2 articles
Home automation via WhatsApp — Pi, Grafana, Roborock and a Bambu printer
A real-world setup: openclawOS Pi running on a Mac mini, taking commands via WhatsApp to control a Roborock, monitor a Bambu print, and query Grafana.
PR code review from Telegram, by way of Pi
How I review pull requests from the sofa: a Telegram binding that pipes GitHub PRs to Pi, who summarises diffs and surfaces likely regressions.
supporting
5 articles
A Discord AI bot without giving your data to OpenAI
Self-host a Discord AI bot that talks to Claude, Gemini, or a local model — never sees OpenAI's servers, runs on your own machine, supports Components v2.
A self-hosted iMessage AI assistant on a Mac mini
How to turn a Mac mini into a 24/7 iMessage AI assistant — blue bubbles, group chats, vision, voice, all self-hosted with openclawOS.
A private AI assistant on Signal — fully self-hosted
Signal is the most privacy-respecting mass-market messenger. Pair it with openclawOS for an AI agent that respects the same privacy posture, end to end.
Self-hosted Slack AI assistant — bring Pi to your workspace
Add a Pi-powered AI assistant to your Slack workspace, self-hosted, no SaaS in the middle. Per-channel bindings, ACK reactions, thread summaries.
A federated AI agent on Matrix with openclawOS
Add Pi to your Matrix homeserver — end-to-end encrypted rooms, federated identity, sessions per room, all on your hardware.
Welcome to the lobster tank.
Star the repo, join Discord, ship your first agent before lunch.