The AI agent gateway that connects all your chat apps to powerful AI — on your own hardware.
WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, iMessage, Mattermost — one Gateway, infinite agents.
Architecture
A single process bridges every chat app to your AI agents — no vendor lock-in, no cloud dependency, runs on your machine.
All your chat apps connect to a single Gateway. No separate bots, no duplicate configs — one process handles everything.
Routes messages to the correct session, handles auth tokens, and streams responses back to the right channel in real time.
Assembles context from memory and skills, calls your AI model, orchestrates tool execution, and streams the reply.
Shell, browser, search, files, memory, cron — attach exactly the tools your agent needs. Extend with custom plugins.
How It Works
The agent loop turns a simple chat message into a full AI-powered response with tool use — in seconds.
Your message hits the Gateway's webhook or polling loop instantly. Any channel, same experience.
Multi-channelSessions are isolated per sender. Your conversation history, memory, and workspace are loaded for context continuity.
Sessions & MemoryLong-term memory, workspace files, and pluggable skill prompts combine into a rich context window.
Context AssemblyClaude, GPT, Ollama — whichever model you configure. Tool calls are parsed from the model output automatically.
Model InferenceTool results feed back into the loop. The agent can chain multiple tools until the task is complete.
Tool ExecutionStreaming tokens appear in real time in your chat. Markdown, code blocks, rich formatting — Gateway handles it all.
Streaming ReplyCapabilities
10 core capabilities built into every OpenClaw installation — no plugins required for the essentials.
One process serves WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, iMessage, Mattermost simultaneously. Add more channels without running new bots.
Full message → context → inference → tool execution → streaming reply pipeline. Handles multi-step tasks end-to-end.
Per-sender sessions with workspace files and long-term memory. Your agent remembers context across conversations.
Shell execution, file operations, web search, browser control, cron scheduling — attach the right tools for any task.
Pair iOS and Android devices to unlock camera, location, notifications, and hardware sensors as agent tools.
Route to isolated agents by session, workspace, or sender. Run specialist coding agents, research agents, and more in parallel.
Pluggable skill modules — GitHub integration, weather, coding assistants, custom APIs. Skills snap in like LEGO bricks.
Schedule background tasks and proactive automations. Your agent checks in, sends reminders, and runs jobs without prompting.
Allowlists, auth tokens, command sandboxing, and safety filters. Self-hosted means your data never leaves your infrastructure.
Hook into every part of the pipeline — message ingress, tool execution, response formatting. Extend anything, override anything.
Quick Start
Node 22+, an API key, and a couple of commands. That's all it takes to deploy your first AI agent gateway.
Install OpenClaw globally via npm. Requires Node 22 or newer.
Run the onboard wizard to configure your first channel and AI provider. Interactive, takes ~2 minutes.
Start the Gateway and connect your first chat app. OpenClaw prints the webhook URL and QR code.
Send a message in WhatsApp, Telegram, or Discord. Your AI agent replies in seconds.
You're live. Add more channels, skills, and tools from the config file anytime.
Use Cases
From personal assistants to team bots — OpenClaw is the foundation for any AI-powered workflow.
Your own always-on assistant in WhatsApp or Telegram. Search the web, manage files, set reminders, answer questions — on your hardware.
Deploy a shared agent in your Discord or Mattermost. Answer team questions, run CI, fetch metrics, automate standups.
Connect Claude Code or GPT-4 to your chat app. Review PRs, write code, run tests, and commit — all from a chat message.
Pair with mobile nodes for camera, location, and sensors. Control smart home devices and get proactive notifications via chat.