IronClaw vs OpenClaw — Which Should You Run?

The Decision in One Sentence

Run OpenClaw if you're a developer or home user who values flexibility and a fast setup. Run IronClaw if your agent will handle credentials, production infrastructure, financial data, or anything where a compromised agent causes real harm.

Full Comparison Table

When to Choose OpenClaw

• You're building a home assistant for everyday tasks: reminders, weather, notes, light automation
• You want to experiment quickly with community skills and don't want allowlisting friction
• Your agent doesn't touch credentials, financial accounts, or production systems
• You're the only person who can reach the agent (no shared channels or group chats)
• You're learning how agent frameworks work and want the simplest path

OpenClaw with the Security Hardening guide applied gets you 80% of IronClaw's protection with none of the mandatory friction. For most home users, that's the right balance.

When to Choose IronClaw

• Your agent has access to SSH keys, API tokens, or cloud credentials
• Your agent manages production infrastructure (servers, databases, CI/CD)
• You run the agent in a group chat or give access to people other than yourself
• You're in a regulated industry where you need an audit trail of agent actions
• You want supply-chain attack protection — a compromised skill update can't run without your re-approval
• You want OS-level enforcement rather than depending solely on the model's judgment

The Friction That IronClaw Adds — Honestly

IronClaw is not harder to use day-to-day once it's set up. The friction is front-loaded:

• Initial setup: 15–20 minutes instead of under 10
• Each new skill: requires two commands instead of one (install + allowlist add) plus thinking about what network grants to give
• Debugging: when a skill breaks, check the audit log for violations before debugging the skill itself — adds one step
• Channel setup: you must find and specify your numeric user ID; there's no "allow anyone" shortcut

After initial setup, a typical day of use is identical. The allowlist overhead is felt once per skill, not per session.

Can They Run Side by Side?

Yes. IronClaw uses port 18790, OpenClaw uses 18789. They have separate config directories, separate workspaces, and separate audit logs. A common setup: run OpenClaw for experimentation and skill development, run IronClaw for production use with your live credentials and channels.

# OpenClaw — development/experimentation
openclaw gateway   # port 18789

# IronClaw — production with real credentials
ironclaw gateway   # port 18790

# They're independent and don't interfere

Migrating from OpenClaw to IronClaw

Moving from OpenClaw to IronClaw is a one-way migration in practice — the configs aren't compatible. Use this checklist:

Step 1 — Install IronClaw alongside OpenClaw

npm install -g ironclaw
ironclaw onboard   # creates fresh config at ~/.ironclaw/

Step 2 — Inventory your OpenClaw skills

openclaw skill list
# Write down which skills you actually use day-to-day

Step 3 — Use audit-only mode to discover required grants

# Set IronClaw to audit-only temporarily (logs everything, blocks nothing)
ironclaw config set security.sandbox.mode "audit-only"
ironclaw gateway

# Install your skills
ironclaw skill install github himalaya weather

# Use each skill normally for a few days
# Check what the audit log shows each skill actually needs
ironclaw audit show --filter NETWORK_BLOCK,FILESYSTEM_BLOCK

Step 4 — Write the allowlist entries

# For each skill, add the grants you discovered from the audit log
ironclaw allowlist add github \
  --network "api.github.com:443,github.com:443,raw.githubusercontent.com:443" \
  --env "GITHUB_TOKEN"

ironclaw allowlist add himalaya \
  --network "imap.gmail.com:993,smtp.gmail.com:587"

ironclaw allowlist add weather \
  --network "api.open-meteo.com:443,geocoding-api.open-meteo.com:443"

Step 5 — Switch sandbox to strict and verify

ironclaw config set security.sandbox.mode "strict"
ironclaw gateway restart

# Test each skill — anything that breaks shows up in:
ironclaw audit tail --filter ALLOWLIST_VIOLATION,NETWORK_BLOCK

Step 6 — Update channels and copy SOUL.md workspace

# Copy workspace files to IronClaw's workspace
cp ~/.openclaw/workspace/SOUL.md ~/.ironclaw/workspace/SOUL.md
cp ~/.openclaw/workspace/MEMORY.md ~/.ironclaw/workspace/MEMORY.md
# etc.

# Configure channels in ironclaw.json (must use allowlist dmPolicy)
ironclaw config set channels.telegram.enabled true
ironclaw config set channels.telegram.botToken '"${TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN}"'
ironclaw config set channels.telegram.dmPolicy '"allowlist"'
ironclaw config set channels.telegram.allowFrom '["YOUR_USER_ID"]'

Step 7 — Stop OpenClaw and run IronClaw

openclaw gateway stop
ironclaw gateway

# Verify health
curl http://127.0.0.1:18790/health

Migrating Back to OpenClaw

Your IronClaw workspace files (SOUL.md, MEMORY.md, AGENTS.md etc.) copy directly to OpenClaw's workspace — the format is identical. Skills installed by IronClaw are compatible with OpenClaw and vice versa. The only thing that doesn't transfer is the allowlist itself (OpenClaw doesn't use one) and the audit log.