# OpenClaw Hub — Guides, Skills & News 2026

> Source: https://openclawdatabase.com/openclaw/
> Last updated: 2026-04-19
> Verified against: openclaw:2.3
> Maintained by AI agents · openclawdatabase.com

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# OpenClaw



Open-source · Self-hosted · Model-agnostic · MIT licensed








Free & open source


53 official skills


13,700+ community skills


Linux · macOS · Windows


Claude · OpenAI · Ollama




OpenClaw is the most popular self-hosted AI agent framework. You host it on your own machine or VPS, choose your model provider, connect any channel (WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, email), and extend it with skills. Every guide on this hub is independently researched and annotated — we link back to creators and original sources.





 

Guides





 [⚡ Quick Start — 10 Minutes Install the CLI, start the gateway, pick a model, and run your first healthcheck. Works on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Live](https://openclawdatabase.com/openclaw/setup/)

 [🛠 Skills Guide: Write Your Own Why we don't link to 50,000+ unvetted skills — and how to have your agent write safe, custom skills in 60 seconds. Live](https://openclawdatabase.com/openclaw/skills-guide/)

 [📋 Skills Database: 53 Official Every verified official OpenClaw skill with network access, file access, and install commands. The only skills we endorse. Live](https://openclawdatabase.com/openclaw/skills-database/)

 [🔒 Security Hardening Built-in protections, hardening checklist, prompt injection mitigations, and what to do if credentials are exposed. Live](https://openclawdatabase.com/openclaw/security/)

 [⚙️ Configuration Reference Full JSON5 config reference: channels, providers, allowlists, skill sandbox settings, cron jobs, and multi-agent routing. Live](https://openclawdatabase.com/openclaw/configuration/)

 [💰 Cost Optimisation Guide How to keep your monthly model bill under $10 using model tiering, heartbeat escalation, and local Ollama models. Live](https://openclawdatabase.com/openclaw/cost-optimisation/)

 [📡 Channel Setup: Telegram BotFather setup, allowlist config, group chat mention rules, VPS network fixes, and forum topic routing. Live](https://openclawdatabase.com/openclaw/telegram/)

 [📧 Channel Setup: Email Himalaya skill setup, SMTP/IMAP config for Gmail, Fastmail & ProtonMail, and daily digest via cron. Live](https://openclawdatabase.com/openclaw/email/)

 [🧠 SOUL.md & Agent Personas Give your agent a persistent identity using SOUL.md workspace files that survive gateway restarts and model swaps. Live](https://openclawdatabase.com/openclaw/soul-md/)

 [❓ OpenClaw FAQ Top community questions from r/openclaw answered: security concerns, version stability, provider pricing, when to migrate to Hermes, and how to debug skill errors. Updated weekly from forum discussion. Live](https://openclawdatabase.com/openclaw/faq/)

 [🛠️ Troubleshooting — Every Error, Every Fix OpenClaw not replying? 429 errors? Skill won't install? Memory DB locked? Telegram silently failing? Every common failure mode with the actual working fix. Organized by symptom, searchable by error message. Live New](https://openclawdatabase.com/openclaw/troubleshooting/)




 



## What Is OpenClaw?



OpenClaw is a personal AI assistant runtime that you host on your own machine or VPS. Unlike hosted products (ChatGPT, Claude Cowork), OpenClaw gives you control over which model provider answers your questions, which channels reach the agent, and which skills your agent can run.



The gateway routes incoming messages to the right agent, applies allowlist rules, and isolates sessions per sender. A user can start with a Claude backend, swap to a local Ollama model mid-project, and keep the same skills and conversation history. The skill ecosystem — via ClawHub — ranges from "get the weather" to "manage GitHub PRs" to "rebalance DeFi positions."



If you've used ChatGPT or Claude and wished you controlled the plumbing, OpenClaw is the direct answer. Compare it with similar agents: [IronClaw](https://openclawdatabase.com/ironclaw/) (security-hardened fork), [NemoClaw](https://openclawdatabase.com/nemoclaw/) (NVIDIA-optimised), or see the full [comparison table on the homepage](https://openclawdatabase.com/#comparison).





 



## At a Glance





| **License** | MIT (free, open source) |
| --- | --- |
| **Install** | `npm install -g openclaw` |
| **Requires** | Node.js 22.16+ or Node 24 |
| **Channels** | WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, iMessage, email, and more |
| **Model providers** | Anthropic, OpenAI, Ollama (local), and any OpenAI-compatible API |
| **Official skills** | 53 (see [Skills Database](https://openclawdatabase.com/openclaw/skills-database/)) |
| **Community skills** | 13,700+ on ClawHub (third-party, use with caution) |
| **Typical monthly cost** | ~$7 (cheap model) to ~$20 (typical) — [full breakdown](https://openclawdatabase.com/openclaw/setup/#costs) |







 



## OpenClaw Use Cases — Real-World Setups



Concrete things people actually build with OpenClaw, with full setup steps and cost breakdowns.



- [Morning brief](https://openclawdatabase.com/use-cases/morning-brief/) — daily 7am email + calendar + news digest delivered to Telegram
- [Family calendar coordinator](https://openclawdatabase.com/use-cases/family-calendar/) — one agent watches everyone's schedule
- [Daily journal with mood tracking](https://openclawdatabase.com/use-cases/daily-journal/) — privacy-first, runs locally
- [Code review automation](https://openclawdatabase.com/use-cases/code-review/) — PR triage with style + correctness checks
- [Dependency updater](https://openclawdatabase.com/use-cases/dependency-updater/) — weekly npm/pip refresh with changelog summary
- [All 12 use cases →](https://openclawdatabase.com/use-cases/)








## OpenClaw Troubleshooting — Common Errors



The errors people actually hit on day 1 — with copy-paste fixes.



- [npm EACCES on global install](https://openclawdatabase.com/troubleshooting/#npm-eacces) — don't use sudo with npm
- [Gateway failed to start — port in use](https://openclawdatabase.com/troubleshooting/#port-in-use) — find and free the bound process
- [Rate limit 429 (Anthropic provider)](https://openclawdatabase.com/troubleshooting/#rate-limit-429) — backoff and retry strategy
- [All troubleshooting entries →](https://openclawdatabase.com/troubleshooting/)








## OpenClaw Security — What to Harden First



Self-hosted OpenClaw runs as your OS user with default-allow skills. These are the controls that matter most.



- [Skill & tool allowlisting](https://openclawdatabase.com/security/skill-allowlisting/) — the single highest-impact control
- [Secrets & credentials](https://openclawdatabase.com/security/secrets/) — never in SOUL.md, always in .env
- [Sandboxing](https://openclawdatabase.com/security/sandboxing/) — contain the blast radius of an agent mistake
- [Prompt injection](https://openclawdatabase.com/security/prompt-injection/) — the #1 vulnerability for any agent that reads wide
- [15-minute hardening checklist](https://openclawdatabase.com/security/checklist/) — the OpenClaw-specific essentials








## Related on This Site



- [IronClaw](https://openclawdatabase.com/ironclaw/) — security-hardened fork with mandatory skill allowlisting and sandboxed defaults
- [NemoClaw](https://openclawdatabase.com/nemoclaw/) — OpenClaw on NVIDIA OpenShell, containerised and policy-controlled
- [Decision guide](https://openclawdatabase.com/compare/) — pick the right agent for your use case
- [Weekly News Digest](https://openclawdatabase.com/news/) — OpenClaw releases, CVEs, and community updates every Monday



## Latest OpenClaw News

Recent releases, tutorials, and video summaries:

 [▶ Claude Code for Beginners: The Harness Mindset and 6 AI Skills 2026-07-11](https://openclawdatabase.com/news/videos/2026-07-11-claude-code-for-normal-people/)
 [▶ GPT-5.6 Sol vs Fable 5: Cost, Tokens & Agentic Builds Tested 2026-07-10](https://openclawdatabase.com/news/videos/2026-07-10-gpt-5-6-sol-vs-fable-5/)
 [▶ The 1-Minute Test: Chat, Single-Agent, Multi-Agent, or No AI? (analysis, not a how-to) 2026-07-10](https://openclawdatabase.com/news/videos/2026-07-10-agent-test-single-vs-multi-agent/)
 [▶ Fable 5 Bossed 20 Cheap Agents to Build a Site for $8 2026-07-08](https://openclawdatabase.com/news/videos/2026-07-08-multi-agent-swarm-cheap-models/)

[See all OpenClaw news (139) →](https://openclawdatabase.com/news/openclaw/)