OpenClaw Complete Guide: Deploy Your Personal AI Assistant
Last month I watched a guy run his entire $2M/year business from Telegram.
No employees. No VA. Just him and OpenClaw.
He'd message his bot: "Check if any customers complained in the last 24 hours." Two minutes later, full report. Customer names, order numbers, recommended responses—drafted and waiting for his approval.
Another message: "Schedule a call with anyone who spent over $500 this month."
Done. Calendar invites sent. Follow-up reminders set.
I thought: "This is either the future or a security nightmare."
Turns out it's both. Here's everything you need to know.
What the Hell Is OpenClaw?
OpenClaw is an AI agent that runs on YOUR hardware. Not OpenAI's servers. Not Anthropic's cloud. Your machine.
It connects to Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack—whatever you use. You message it. It does stuff.
Not "generates text about doing stuff." Actually does it.
- Reads your email
- Sends replies
- Manages your calendar
- Controls your smart home
- Runs code
- Browses the web
- Fills out forms
The difference between ChatGPT and OpenClaw:
ChatGPT: "Here's a draft email you could send."
OpenClaw: sends the email
That's it. That's the whole thing.
Why Should You Care?
Because you're leaving money on the table.
Every hour you spend:
- Checking email
- Scheduling meetings
- Researching competitors
- Filling out forms
- Managing tasks
Is an hour you're not spending on the work that actually moves the needle.
The math:
The average knowledge worker spends 2.5 hours/day on email. That's 650 hours/year. At $100/hour (conservative for most of you), that's $65,000 worth of your time.
OpenClaw costs ~$25/month to run.
Even if it only handles 20% of your email, that's $13,000/year in time saved. For $300/year.
43x ROI. And email is just one use case.
What Can It Actually Do?
Here's the real list. Not marketing fluff. Actual capabilities I've seen people use:
Daily Life:
- Summarize your inbox every morning
- Send WhatsApp messages to your wife when you're running late
- Track your habits and send you weekly reports
- Remind you to follow up with people who ghost you
Work:
- Draft responses to customer emails
- Research companies before sales calls
- Monitor competitors and alert you to changes
- Schedule meetings without the back-and-forth
Dev Stuff:
- Create GitHub issues from Slack messages
- Monitor your deploys and alert on failures
- Run database queries from your phone
- Review PRs and leave comments
Smart Home:
- "Turn off all the lights" at 11pm
- Adjust thermostat based on your calendar
- Alert you if the garage door is open
The Power Move:
Chain these together. "Every Monday at 9am, check my email for anything from investors, summarize it, add action items to my todo list, and send me the summary on Telegram."
One instruction. Runs forever.
How to Get Started (The Fast Version)
Option 1: Self-Host (Cheap, Risky)
curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash
Set up a Telegram bot. Connect your accounts. Done.
Cost: ~$10-20/month for a VPS.
Option 2: Clawctl (Easy, Secure)
Sign up at clawctl.com/checkout, pick a plan, and your agent is provisioned automatically in under 60 seconds. No server management.
Cost: $49/month.
I'll explain why you might want option 2 in a minute.
The Security Stuff (Don't Skip This)
Here's where most people screw up.
OpenClaw is powerful BECAUSE it has access to everything. Your email. Your files. Your APIs. Your shell.
That's also why it's dangerous.
Real incidents from the last 6 months:
-
Hundreds of exposed dashboards. Researchers found OpenClaw instances with no password. Full access to API keys, chat history, shell commands. Anyone could walk in.
-
One-click takeover. Visiting a malicious webpage could hijack your local OpenClaw instance. Patched now, but for how long were people vulnerable?
-
Poisoned plugins. A researcher uploaded a backdoored skill to the community repo. Dozens of people installed it within hours. He was nice about it. The next guy won't be.
-
Prompt injection. Someone sent an email with hidden instructions. OpenClaw read it and deleted the entire inbox. Including trash.
The default configuration is NOT secure.
Port 18789 is exposed by default. No auth. If you put this on a server without hardening it, you deserve what happens next.
Security Hardening Checklist
If you're self-hosting, do these BEFORE exposing it to the internet:
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| Gateway exposed on 0.0.0.0:18789 | Set gateway.auth.token |
| DM policy allows everyone | Set dm_policy to allowlist |
| Sandbox disabled | Enable sandbox=all |
| Credentials in plaintext | Use env vars, chmod 600 |
| No network isolation | Docker network isolation |
| No audit logging | Enable session logging |
| Dangerous commands allowed | Block rm -rf, force push, etc. |
The honest truth:
Most people won't do this right. It takes time. One mistake and you're exposed.
That's why managed options exist.
Commands You'll Actually Use
Every day:
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| /new | Fresh conversation, keeps memory |
| /compact | Compress context when it gets slow |
| /usage | See how much you're spending |
When you need more power:
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| /think high | Deep reasoning mode |
| /think off | Fast mode for simple stuff |
| /stop | Kill a runaway response |
| /subagents | Manage background workers |
My daily workflow:
- Check /usage to see token burn
- /compact if context is bloated
- Continue working
When it gets slow: /new. Instant fix.
Tips From People Who Use This Daily
1. Start with Opus 4.5 if you can afford it.
The quality difference is real. Especially for complex tasks. Budget alternative: GLM 4.7 or MiniMax M2.
2. Use subagents for batch work.
Don't make your main agent do everything. Spin off subagents for research, monitoring, data crunching. Keep the main one responsive.
3. Don't let it write code directly.
Have OpenClaw DRIVE coding tools like Claude Code. It monitors progress, you review results. Better output, less context burn.
4. Use CAPITAL INSTRUCTIONS for permanent rules.
"IMPORTANT: Always draft emails for my review before sending."
Capitals = save to memory. It sticks.
5. Add access incrementally.
Don't give it everything on day one. Start with calendar. Then email. Then files. Build trust.
6. Ask it to learn.
After a good session: "What from above should you learn forever? Write a skill."
This is how it gets smarter. Use it.
The Skills Ecosystem
700+ community-built skills. Install with one command:
npx clawdhub@latest install <skill-slug>
Categories:
- DevOps (41): Kubernetes, Docker, Cloudflare
- Productivity (41): Task management, scheduling
- Notes (44): Notion, Obsidian, Logseq
- Marketing (42): CRM, outreach, analytics
- Finance (29): Banking, crypto, budgeting
- Smart Home (31): HomeKit, IoT
Warning: These are community-built. Not vetted. Not signed. Install at your own risk.
Self-Hosted vs Managed: The Real Comparison
Self-Hosted:
- Cost: $10-20/month
- Setup: 2-4 hours
- Maintenance: Ongoing (patches, monitoring, security)
- Security: 100% your problem
- Control: Full root access
Clawctl (Managed):
- Cost: $49/month
- Setup: 60 seconds
- Maintenance: Zero
- Security: Built-in (auth, sandbox, audit logs, kill switch)
- Control: Sandboxed
The honest breakdown:
| What can go wrong | Self-Hosted | Clawctl |
|---|---|---|
| Exposed dashboard | Your problem | Never exposed |
| Auth bypass | You patch | We patch |
| Credentials leak | Plaintext on disk | Injected at runtime |
| Prompt injection | Full system access | Sandboxed |
| Audit trail | You build it | Built-in |
| Kill switch | SSH + find process | One click |
If you have DevOps skills and time, self-host.
If you want to ship, not manage infrastructure, use Clawctl.
Who Should NOT Use OpenClaw
Let me be real:
Don't use this if:
- You're not comfortable with AI having access to your accounts
- You can't handle the risk of it doing something wrong
- You don't have time to review what it does
- You're in a regulated industry without proper compliance setup
This is powerful. That means it can do powerful damage if misconfigured or misused.
Start small. Give it limited access. Review everything. Expand slowly.
The Bottom Line
OpenClaw is the closest thing to having a digital employee.
It remembers context. It takes action. It learns from you.
But it's also a security liability if you don't set it up right.
Your options:
-
Self-host — Full control, full responsibility. Read the security docs. Harden everything. Monitor constantly.
-
Use Clawctl — We handle the infrastructure and security. You just use your agent. $49/month. Production-ready in 60 seconds.
I've seen both work. The difference is how much time you want to spend on infrastructure vs. actually using the thing.
Get Started
Self-host (proceed with caution):
curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash
Read the security guide first: How to Run OpenClaw Safely
Managed with Clawctl:
Sign up at clawctl.com/checkout, pick a plan, and your agent is provisioned automatically in under 60 seconds. Security built in. No server management. Start using it today.