OpenClaw
Peter Steinberger / OpenClaw Foundation
Overview
The original open-source personal AI agent platform, formerly known as Clawdbot. Created by Peter Steinberger in November 2025, it became the fastest-growing GitHub repo in history, surpassing React to become the most-starred software project. A self-hosted, model-agnostic autonomous agent that integrates with messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, and Discord. Now maintained by an open-source foundation after Steinberger joined OpenAI.
Features
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Largest community and plugin ecosystem (290K+ GitHub stars)
- Fully customizable and model-agnostic
- Privacy-focused with local-first architecture
- Free forever with active community development
Cons
- Requires self-hosting setup and Node.js knowledge
- Security concerns with community skills (prompt injection risks)
- Large codebase (430K+ lines) makes auditing difficult
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Quick Facts
- Vendor
- Peter Steinberger / OpenClaw Foundation
- Type
- Open Source
- Status
- Released
- Pricing
- Free and open source (MIT license). API costs depend on chosen LLM provider.
- GitHub Stars
- 287,000