ClaudeClaw

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Your Claude Code CLI, delivered to your phone via Telegram.

ClaudeClaw is not a chatbot wrapper. It spawns the actual claude CLI on your Mac or Linux machine and pipes the result back to your Telegram chat. Everything that works in your terminal (your skills, your tools, your context) works from your phone.

Get started

Follow these steps in order. The whole thing takes about 5 minutes.

Step 1: What you need before anything else

Requirement	Notes
Node.js 20+	Check: `node --version`. Download at nodejs.org
Git	Check: `git --version`. If you've never used git, also run the two commands below
Claude Code CLI	Install: `npm i -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code`
Claude account	Log in: `claude login` (free, Pro, or Max plan)
Telegram account	Any existing account works

First time using git? Run these two commands first (use your own name and email):

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"

Without this, git operations will fail with a confusing error about missing identity.

macOS users: After starting ClaudeClaw for the first time, your Mac may show "Node wants to access..." permission dialogs. You need to click Allow on each one or the bot will silently hang. Keep an eye on your Mac screen during the first run.

Which Claude plan works best? ClaudeClaw runs the claude CLI, so any plan works (Free, Pro, Max). However, complex multi-step tasks (building skills, debugging code, multi-agent work) perform significantly better on Opus: If you're on the Free or Pro plan and Claude struggles with a task, the model matters. Sonnet is fast but often can't handle the kind of agentic work ClaudeClaw enables. Max ($100 or $200) with Opus is the recommended experience.

New to the terminal? Download Warp, it's a modern terminal with AI built in. If you hit any OS-level issues during setup (permissions, missing tools, PATH problems), type /agent in Warp and describe what went wrong. It will walk you through fixing it. This alone will save you hours of Googling.

That's it for hard requirements. Everything else (voice, video, WhatsApp) is optional and the setup wizard will ask about them.

Step 2: Create a Telegram bot

You need a bot token from Telegram. This is what ClaudeClaw uses to send and receive messages.

Open Telegram and search for @BotFather
Send /newbot
Follow the prompts, give it a name and a username (e.g. MyAssistantBot)
Copy the token BotFather gives you, it looks like 1234567890:AAFxxxxxxx

Keep this token handy for the next step.

Step 3: Clone and install

git clone https://github.com/earlyaidopters/claudeclaw.git
cd claudeclaw
npm install

Step 4: Run the setup wizard

npm run setup

The wizard walks you through everything interactively:

Checks your environment (Node, Claude CLI, builds if needed)
Asks which features you want (voice input, voice output, video analysis, WhatsApp)
Sets up your Telegram bot token and chat ID
Configures security: PIN lock, emergency kill phrase, idle auto-lock
Opens your editor to personalize CLAUDE.md
Lists the skills you'll want to install and where to get them
Prompts for API keys only for the features you selected
Installs a background service (launchd on macOS, systemd on Linux, PM2 on Windows)

Prefer to let Claude handle it? After cloning, cd into the repo, run claude, and paste:
I just cloned ClaudeClaw. Please read README.md and set me up completely.
install deps, configure .env, help me get any API keys I need, and set up
the background service for my OS.

Step 5: Get your Telegram chat ID

Your chat ID locks the bot to you, no one else can use it.

Start the bot: npm start
Open Telegram and message your bot
Send /chatid
The bot replies with a number. that's your chat ID
Add it to .env:
```
ALLOWED_CHAT_ID=your_number_here
```
Restart: stop the bot (Ctrl+C) and run npm start again

The setup wizard does this step automatically if you run npm run setup before starting.

Step 6: Send your first message

With the bot running, send any message. Try:

What can you do?

or

Check my calendar for today

or just start talking. Claude Code is running on your machine, it has access to your files, the web, and every skill you've installed.

Step 7: Run as a background service

You probably want ClaudeClaw running automatically, not manually in a terminal.

macOS: the setup wizard installs a launchd agent. Or manually:

# After running npm run setup, it's already installed.
# Logs:
tail -f /tmp/claudeclaw.log

Linux: the setup wizard installs a systemd user service:

systemctl --user status claudeclaw
journalctl --user -u claudeclaw -f

Windows: use WSL2 (recommended) and follow the Linux steps, or:

npm install -g pm2
pm2 start dist/index.js --name claudeclaw
pm2 save && pm2 startup

Step 8: Check everything is healthy

npm run status

Output looks like:

  ✓  Node v22.3.0
  ✓  Claude CLI 1.0.12
  ✓  Bot token: @YourBotName
  ✓  Chat ID: 1234567890
  ✓  Voice STT: Groq (configured)
  ⚠  Voice TTS: not configured
  ✓  Service: running (PID 12345)
  ✓  Memory DB: 47 memories stored
  ─────────────────
  All systems go.

Updating ClaudeClaw

When a new version is released, update in 5 commands:

cd claudeclaw          # go to your ClaudeClaw directory
git pull               # pull the latest code
npm install            # install any new dependencies
npm run migrate        # apply any pending migrations
npm run build          # recompile TypeScript

Then restart the bot (Ctrl+C and npm start, or restart the background service).

Do not point Claude at the GitHub URL to read updates. Claude works with local files, so you need the repo cloned on your machine. git pull is how you stay current.

Upgrading from V1? If you heavily customized V1, start fresh with V2 and copy over your .env and any CLAUDE.md customizations. If you kept V1 mostly stock, git pull will work.

How it works

What's included

Zero extra API keys needed

With just TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN and ALLOWED_CHAT_ID:

Feature	Works?	Notes
Text messaging	✅	Full Claude Code, all tools
Photos	✅	Claude reads and analyzes them
Documents	✅	PDF, code, text. anything Claude Code can open
SQLite memory	✅	Auto-initialized on first run, nothing to configure
Session persistence	✅	Context carries across every message
Scheduled tasks	✅	Ask Claude to run anything on a cron schedule
Mission Control	✅	Dashboard task board with auto-assign. Needs `GOOGLE_API_KEY` for auto-assign
Web dashboard	✅	Live monitoring via Cloudflare tunnel. Needs `DASHBOARD_TOKEN`
Multi-agent	✅	Run multiple specialized agents in parallel
All your skills	✅	Every skill in `~/.claude/skills/` auto-loads
WhatsApp (`/wa`)	✅	No API key, but needs the wa-daemon running
Voice input	❌	Needs `GROQ_API_KEY`
Voice output (macOS)	✅	Uses `say` + ffmpeg locally, no API key needed
Voice output (cloud)	❌	ElevenLabs or Gradium API key for higher quality
Video analysis	❌	Needs `GOOGLE_API_KEY` + `gemini-api-dev` skill
Memory consolidation	❌	Needs `GOOGLE_API_KEY` for Gemini-powered pattern detection

API keys: what each does and alternatives

Telegram Bot Token (required)

Get it: @BotFather → /newbot. free, instant.

Groq: voice input (optional)

What it does: Transcribes your voice notes using Whisper before passing them to Claude.

Get it: console.groq.com. free tier, no card needed.

Model: whisper-large-v3

Alternative	Cost	Notes
Groq (default)	Free	Fastest to set up
OpenAI Whisper	~$0.006/min	Swap `transcribeAudio()` in `src/voice.ts`
AssemblyAI	Free tier	More features
Local Whisper.cpp	Free	No API, runs on your Mac. needs code change

ElevenLabs: voice output (optional)

What it does: Converts Claude's responses to audio in your cloned voice.

Get it: elevenlabs.io → clone your voice under "Voice Lab" → copy the Voice ID string.

Model: eleven_turbo_v2_5

Tuning: Edit src/voice.ts if the cloned voice sounds off:

stability: 0.5        (higher = more consistent but robotic)
similarity_boost: 0.75  (higher = closer to you but can distort)

Provider	Cost	Notes
ElevenLabs (primary)	Free tier + paid	Best cloning quality
Gradium AI (built-in alternative)	Free tier (45k credits/mo)	Add `GRADIUM_API_KEY` + `GRADIUM_VOICE_ID` to `.env`
macOS say + ffmpeg (built-in fallback)	Free	No API key. works offline. Set `TTS_VOICE` in `.env` to change voice
OpenAI TTS	~$0.015/1k chars	Good quality, no cloning. needs code change
Google Cloud TTS	Free tier	More robotic. needs code change

The TTS cascade tries ElevenLabs first, falls back to Gradium, then to macOS say. Configure whichever providers you want. even just the local fallback works fine.

Google: video analysis (optional)

What it does: Analyzes videos you send using Gemini. Also handles images, audio, function calling, structured output, and code execution via the gemini-api-dev skill.

Get it: aistudio.google.com → "Get API key". free tier.

Skill to install: The gemini-api-dev skill is published by Google at:

Skill docs: github.com/google-gemini/gemini-skills/.../gemini-api-dev/SKILL.md
Repo: github.com/google-gemini/gemini-skills
Install: copy the gemini-api-dev folder into ~/.claude/skills/

The skill reads GOOGLE_API_KEY from the environment automatically.

Anthropic API key (optional)

What it does: Bypasses your Max subscription and uses pay-per-token billing instead.

When to use it: Server deployments, or if you want zero ambiguity about billing. The Max plan assumes "ordinary individual usage". an always-on bot can hit limits faster than expected.

Get it: console.anthropic.com

Google Workspace CLI (optional)

ClaudeClaw ships with bundled Gmail and Google Calendar skills that work great out of the box. This is an optional alternative if you want broader Google Workspace access from a single tool.

Google released an official CLI that covers Drive, Gmail, Calendar, Sheets, Docs, Chat, Admin, and every other Workspace API in one tool. It's dynamically built from Google Discovery Service and includes 40+ agent skills out of the box.

Repo: github.com/googleworkspace/cli

What's a CLI, and how is it different from a skill or MCP?

There are three ways Claude can interact with external services. They all achieve similar things, but work differently under the hood:

	What it is	How Claude uses it
CLI (Command Line Interface)	A program you install on your machine that runs commands in the terminal. Think of it like a text-based app.	Claude runs terminal commands like `workspace drive list` or `workspace gmail send` through the Bash tool. It's the same as if you typed those commands yourself.
Skill	A markdown file (`.md`) that teaches Claude how to do something specific, usually by combining CLI commands, API calls, or code into a workflow.	Claude reads the skill file and follows its instructions. ClaudeClaw's bundled Gmail skill, for example, tells Claude which Python scripts to run and how to format the output.
MCP (Model Context Protocol)	A server that runs in the background and gives Claude access to tools directly, without going through the terminal.	Claude calls MCP tools natively, like calling a function. No terminal commands needed. It's the most seamless option but requires a running MCP server.

In short: a CLI is a tool you run in the terminal, a skill is a set of instructions that tells Claude how to use tools, and an MCP is a live server that gives Claude direct access to tools. They can all do similar things, just with different tradeoffs in setup and flexibility.

What it gives you beyond the bundled skills:

Google Drive (upload, download, search, share)
Sheets and Docs (read, write, create)
Chat (send messages, manage spaces)
Admin (user management, org units)
Every other Workspace API, auto-discovered

When to use it: If you want your assistant to interact with Google Workspace services beyond email and calendar, or if you prefer a single unified CLI over individual skills.

Setup: Follow the install instructions in the repo, then reference it in your CLAUDE.md so your assistant knows it's available.

Default behaviors

Voice notes → text reply (default)

Sending a voice note transcribes it and executes it as a command. The reply comes back as text by default: not audio.

To get a voice reply back from a specific voice note, say one of these anywhere in your message:

"respond with voice"    "respond via voice"    "respond in voice"
"send me a voice note"  "send a voice back"    "voice reply"
"reply with voice"      "reply via voice"

To toggle voice replies on permanently for all messages, send /voice. Send it again to turn it off. Resets on restart.

Voice output uses a cascade of TTS providers. If the first one fails, it tries the next:

ElevenLabs (primary). best quality, voice cloning
Gradium AI (alternative). free tier with 45k credits/month
macOS say + ffmpeg (local fallback), no API key needed, works offline on Mac

If all TTS providers fail, it falls back to text automatically.

Voice pipeline

Voice note sent
  ↓
.oga file downloaded → renamed .ogg (Groq requires this)
  ↓
Groq Whisper → transcribed text
  ↓
Check for voice-back trigger phrases
  ├── found → Claude runs → TTS cascade → audio reply
  │                         (ElevenLabs → Gradium → macOS say)
  └── not found → Claude runs → text reply

Photos → analyzed immediately

Send a photo with or without a caption. Caption becomes the instruction. No caption. Claude describes what it sees.

Documents → read and processed

Any file Claude Code can open: PDFs, code, markdown, CSV, plain text. Caption is the instruction.

Videos → Gemini analysis

ClaudeClaw downloads the video to workspace/uploads/ and tells Claude to analyze it with the gemini-api-dev skill. Without GOOGLE_API_KEY, Claude receives the file path but can't understand the content. Telegram caps downloads at 20MB.

File sending → Claude sends you files

Ask Claude to create a file (PDF, spreadsheet, image, text) and send it to you. Claude creates the file on your machine, includes a [SEND_FILE:/path] marker in its response, and the bot sends it as a Telegram attachment. Works with any file type up to 50MB.

"Write a haiku about AI and send it to me as a text file"
"Create a PDF summary of my meeting notes and send it"
"Generate a chart of monthly revenue and send the image"

Claude can also send photos inline using [SEND_PHOTO:/path], and attach captions via [SEND_FILE:/path|caption text]. Multiple files in a single response are sent in order. If a file doesn't exist, you get an error message instead of a crash.

Sessions persist

Claude Code sessions carry full context across messages. Reference something from earlier. Claude knows. Send /newchat to start fresh.

Skills load automatically

Every skill in ~/.claude/skills/ loads on every session. Call them directly (/gmail check inbox) or describe what you want. Claude routes automatically if you've listed the skill in CLAUDE.md.

Bot commands

Everyday commands:

Command	What it does
`/help`	List all available commands
`/stop`	Cancel the current agent query mid-execution. works from Telegram and the dashboard
`/model`	Switch Claude model for this chat. `/model haiku` for speed, `/model sonnet` for balance, `/model opus` (default) for full power. Resets on restart
`/voice`	Toggle voice replies on/off for all messages. When off, voice notes still get transcribed and executed. replies just come back as text
`/newchat`	Wipe the Claude Code session and start fresh. Use when context gets stale or the conversation window is filling up
`/respin`	Pull the last 20 conversation turns back into a fresh session. Run this right after `/newchat` to keep recent context without the full token weight
`/memory`	Show what the bot remembers about you (recent memories from SQLite)
`/forget`	Clear the session ID only. Memories stay and decay naturally over time

Integrations:

Command	What it does
`/wa`	Open the WhatsApp interface. shows recent chats, pick one to read and reply
`/slack`	Open the Slack interface, same flow as WhatsApp
`/dashboard`	Get a clickable link to the live web dashboard

Security:

Command	What it does
`/lock`	Lock the session immediately. Requires PIN to unlock. Only works when PIN is configured.
`/status`	Show current security status: PIN enabled, locked/unlocked, idle timeout, kill phrase

Setup (one-time):

Command	What it does
`/start`	First message to the bot, confirms it's running
`/chatid`	Shows your Telegram chat ID for the `ALLOWED_CHAT_ID` setting in `.env`

All built-in commands are registered in Telegram's command menu, so you get autocomplete when you type /.

Skill commands auto-register in Telegram

Any skill in ~/.claude/skills/ that has user_invocable: true in its SKILL.md frontmatter automatically shows up in Telegram's / command menu. No code changes needed -- just drop a skill folder in and restart the bot.

For example, if you install the bundled tldr skill:

cp -r skills/tldr ~/.claude/skills/tldr

The next time the bot starts, /tldr appears in Telegram's autocomplete alongside the built-in commands. The description shown in the menu comes from the skill's description field in its frontmatter.

How it works: On startup, ClaudeClaw scans ~/.claude/skills/ for folders containing a SKILL.md with valid YAML frontmatter. If user_invocable: true is set, the skill's name and description are registered with Telegram's setMyCommands API alongside the built-in commands. Telegram allows up to 100 commands total.

Important: Telegram aggressively caches the command menu on mobile. After installing a new skill and restarting the bot, you may need to fully close Telegram (swipe it away from your app switcher, not just minimize) and reopen it before the new / commands appear.

Any /command not in the built-in list (like /todo, /gmail, /tldr) passes through to Claude and routes to whatever matching skill you have installed.

/newchat + /respin workflow

Context windows fill up over long conversations. When things start feeling off or Claude starts missing context:

Send /newchat to start a completely fresh session
Send /respin immediately after

/respin pulls the last 20 conversation turns from the database and feeds them back into the new session as context. Claude sees what you discussed recently without carrying the full token weight of the old session. It's like a soft restart.

The pulled-in turns are marked as historical context (not new messages), so Claude treats them as background rather than active conversation.

/slack interface

Send /slack to enter Slack mode. It works like the WhatsApp interface:

/slack           list recent conversations (unread first)
1                open conversation #1, show last 15 messages
r <text>         reply to the open conversation
r 2 <text>       quick-reply to conversation #2 without opening it

Type anything that isn't a number or r <text> to exit Slack mode and return to normal Claude.

Dashboard (optional)

A live web page that shows you everything happening inside your assistant: what tasks are scheduled, what it remembers, how much you're spending, and whether it's healthy. You open it from Telegram with one tap.

How the dashboard works

When you start ClaudeClaw, a small web page starts running alongside the bot. It reads directly from the same database the bot uses and shows you the data in real time.

Here's what happens when you use it:

You send /dashboard in Telegram: the bot replies with a clickable link
You tap the link: a web page opens in your browser with four live panels
The page updates itself every 60 seconds: no need to refresh manually

By default, this web page only works on the same computer running the bot. If you want to open it from your phone while you're out, you can add a free tunnel (explained below).

Nothing leaves your machine. The dashboard reads your local database and shows it to you. No data is sent to any cloud service.

What you'll see

At the top of the dashboard, a summary stats bar gives you an at-a-glance overview:

Stat	What it shows
Messages	Total conversation turns today across all agents
Agents	How many agents are currently running vs. configured
Cost Today	Total API spend for the day
Memories	Total memories stored in the system

Below that, the dashboard is organized into panels:

Panel	What it shows you
Agents	Status cards for every configured agent. Shows live/off status, model, today's turns and cost. Click a card to see recent conversation, hive mind activity, and Start/Stop/Delete controls. + New Agent button opens a 3-step wizard to create and activate a new agent directly from the dashboard.
Hive Mind	A real-time activity feed showing what each agent has been doing, with timestamps and color-coded agent names. Includes a privacy blur toggle.
Tasks	Unassigned mission tasks waiting to be routed. Create tasks with a title and prompt, then either drag them to an agent column or click Auto-assign to let Gemini classify and route them automatically.
Mission Control	A kanban board with one column per agent. Shows running and recently completed tasks per agent. Click History to open a paginated drawer of all completed tasks with full results. Completed tasks stay visible for 30 minutes, then move to history.
Scheduled Tasks	Recurring cron tasks. Shows status, next run countdown, last result. Pause, resume, or delete directly.
Memory Landscape	Total memories, consolidation insights, importance distribution chart. Sections for fading memories (salience < 0.5) and recently retrieved. Tap to browse all memories in a drill-down drawer. Includes a 30-day memory creation timeline.
System Health	Context window gauge (green/yellow/red), session age, compaction count, connection status for Telegram, WhatsApp, and Slack.
Tokens & Cost	Today's spend, all-time cost, 30-day cost timeline chart, cache hit rate chart.

The dashboard also has a live chat overlay: a floating chat button that opens a real-time conversation panel. You can send messages to Claude directly from the dashboard and see responses stream in via SSE (Server-Sent Events). It shows tool progress in real time and has a stop button to abort queries mid-execution. Messages sent from the dashboard are also relayed to your Telegram chat.

On your phone it's a single scrollable page. On a computer it splits into two columns automatically.

How to turn it on

Step 1: Generate a password for the dashboard

Open your terminal and paste this command:

node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(24).toString('hex'))"

It prints a long random string like a3f8c2d1e5b794.... this is your dashboard password. Copy it. You'll need it in the next step.

Step 2: Add the password to your settings

Open the .env file in your ClaudeClaw folder. (This is the same file where your Telegram token and other keys live. Open it with any text editor. TextEdit on Mac, Notepad on Windows, or whatever your terminal editor is.)

Add this line:

DASHBOARD_TOKEN=paste_the_long_string_here

That's the only setting you need. There are two optional ones you can ignore for now:

DASHBOARD_PORT=3141          # the dashboard uses port 3141 by default. only change this if something else on your computer already uses that port
DASHBOARD_URL=               # leave this blank for now. you only fill this in if you set up phone access (Step 5 below)

Save the file.

Step 3: Rebuild and restart

npm run build
npm start

You should see a log line that says Dashboard server running. If you don't, double-check that DASHBOARD_TOKEN is in your .env.

Step 4: Open the dashboard

The easiest way: send /dashboard to your bot in Telegram. It replies with a clickable link. Tap it. Done.

Or open your browser and go to:

http://localhost:3141/?token=YOUR_TOKEN&chatId=YOUR_CHAT_ID

Replace YOUR_TOKEN with the password from Step 1, and YOUR_CHAT_ID with the ALLOWED_CHAT_ID from your .env.

You're done. The dashboard now works on the machine running the bot.

If that's all you need, stop here. The next step is only if you want to access the dashboard from your phone while away from home.

Step 5 (optional). Access from your phone anywhere

Right now the dashboard only works when you're on the same computer. To open it from your phone (or anywhere), you need a "tunnel". a free service that securely connects your computer to the internet without opening any ports.

Option A: Quick tunnel (free, takes 2 minutes, but the link changes every time you restart)

Best for trying it out:

# Install the tunnel tool (Mac)
brew install cloudflare/cloudflare/cloudflared

# On Linux, use: curl -L https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflared/releases/latest/download/cloudflared-linux-amd64 -o /usr/local/bin/cloudflared && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/cloudflared

Start the tunnel:

cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:3141

It prints a URL like https://something-random.trycloudflare.com. Copy that URL, open your .env file, and set:

DASHBOARD_URL=https://something-random.trycloudflare.com

Restart the bot (npm run build && npm start). Now when you send /dashboard in Telegram, the link works from your phone.

Downside: The URL changes every time you restart the tunnel. You'll need to update .env each time.

Option B: Permanent URL (free, but you need to buy a cheap domain for $5-12/year)

This gives you a URL that never changes. like https://dash.mysite.com. You need a domain registered through Cloudflare. Go to dash.cloudflare.com → Domain Registration → Register Domain. Cheapest options: .work, .xyz, .site (around $5-12/year).

Once you have a domain, run these commands one at a time:

# 1. Install the tunnel tool (skip if you already did this)
brew install cloudflare/cloudflare/cloudflared

# 2. Log in to Cloudflare (this opens your browser: pick your domain when asked)
cloudflared tunnel login

# 3. Create a tunnel (remember the ID it prints: you'll need it)
cloudflared tunnel create claudeclaw

# 4. Connect your domain to the tunnel (replace with your actual domain)
cloudflared tunnel route dns claudeclaw dash.yourdomain.com

Now you need to create a config file. Open your terminal and paste:

nano ~/.cloudflared/config.yml

This opens a text editor in the terminal. Paste the following (replace the two placeholder values with what the tunnel create command printed):

tunnel: YOUR_TUNNEL_ID
credentials-file: /Users/yourname/.cloudflared/YOUR_TUNNEL_ID.json

ingress:
  - hostname: dash.yourdomain.com
    service: http://localhost:3141
  - service: http_status:404

Save and exit (in nano: press Ctrl+X, then Y, then Enter).

Start the tunnel:

cloudflared tunnel run claudeclaw

Update your .env:

DASHBOARD_URL=https://dash.yourdomain.com

Restart the bot. Your permanent dashboard URL is now live.

First time? The secure certificate can take 1-5 minutes to activate on a brand new domain. If your browser shows an error page, wait a couple minutes and refresh.

To make the tunnel start automatically when your computer boots:

brew services start cloudflared

Moving to a new machine later? Copy two files from the old machine: ~/.cloudflared/config.yml and the .json credentials file next to it. Run cloudflared tunnel run claudeclaw on the new machine. Same URL, no changes needed.

Things to know

The dashboard link contains your password. Treat it like you'd treat a password. Don't screenshot the address bar and post it somewhere. The dashboard can only show data (nobody can change or delete anything through it), but your task details and memory content would be visible.
If the bot stops, the dashboard stops. They run together. Restart the bot and the dashboard comes back automatically.
Quick tunnel links are temporary. If you used Option A and restart the tunnel tool, you get a new URL and the old one stops working. Option B (permanent URL) doesn't have this problem.
For extra security: Cloudflare Access (free for up to 50 users) can add a login page in front of the dashboard, so even if someone finds the URL they'd need to authenticate. This is optional. the token alone is fine for personal use.

Dashboard API reference (for developers)

All endpoints require ?token=YOUR_TOKEN. Per-user endpoints also need &chatId=YOUR_CHAT_ID.

Endpoint	Returns
`GET /`	Dashboard HTML page
`GET /api/tasks`	All scheduled tasks
`GET /api/memories?chatId=`	Memory stats, fading list, top accessed, timeline
`GET /api/memories/list?chatId=&sector=&limit=&offset=`	Paginated memory drill-down
`GET /api/health?chatId=`	Context gauge, session stats, connections
`GET /api/tokens?chatId=`	Cost stats, 30-day timeline, cache rate
`GET /api/info`	Bot name, username, PID
`GET /api/chat/stream`	SSE stream for real-time chat events (user messages, assistant responses, tool progress)
`GET /api/chat/history?chatId=&limit=&beforeId=`	Paginated conversation history
`POST /api/chat/send`	Send a message from the dashboard (`{"message": "..."}`)
`POST /api/chat/abort`	Abort the current agent query

Slack (optional)

Requires a Slack User OAuth Token. This connects to your workspace so ClaudeClaw can read and send messages on your behalf.

Step 1: Create a Slack app

Go to api.slack.com/apps
Click the green Create New App button (top right)
In the popup, choose From scratch (not "From an app manifest")
Fill in:
- App Name: anything you want (e.g. ClaudeClaw)
- Pick a workspace: select the Slack workspace you want to connect
Click Create App

You'll land on the Basic Information page for your new app.

Step 2: Add User Token Scopes

This is the critical step. You need to add permissions so the app can read and send messages as you.

In the left sidebar, click OAuth & Permissions
Scroll down past "OAuth Tokens for Your Workspace" until you see the Scopes section
You'll see two subsections: Bot Token Scopes and User Token Scopes
Ignore Bot Token Scopes entirely. Click Add an OAuth Scope under User Token Scopes

Add each of these scopes one at a time (click Add an OAuth Scope, type the name, select it):

Scope	Description
`channels:history`	View messages and other content in public channels
`channels:read`	View basic information about public channels in a workspace
`chat:write`	Send messages on a user's behalf
`groups:history`	View messages and other content in private channels
`groups:read`	View basic information about private channels
`im:history`	View messages and other content in direct messages
`im:read`	View basic information about direct messages
`mpim:history`	View messages and other content in group direct messages
`mpim:read`	View basic information about group direct messages
`search:read`	Search a workspace's content
`users:read`	View people in a workspace

After adding all 11, your User Token Scopes section should show all of them listed.

Step 3: Install the app to your workspace

Scroll back up to the top of the OAuth & Permissions page
Under OAuth Tokens for Your Workspace, click Install to Workspace
Slack will show a permissions screen listing everything the app can do
Click Allow
You'll be redirected back to the OAuth & Permissions page
You'll now see a User OAuth Token field with a token that starts with xoxp-
Click Copy to copy the token

Step 4: Add the token to ClaudeClaw

Open your .env file in the ClaudeClaw project directory
Add the token:
```
SLACK_USER_TOKEN=xoxp-your-token-here
```
Restart ClaudeClaw

Step 5: Verify it works

Send /slack in your Telegram chat. You should see a numbered list of your recent Slack conversations with unread counts.

If you get "Slack not connected", double-check:

The token starts with xoxp- (not xoxb- which is a bot token)
The .env file has no extra spaces around the = sign
You restarted ClaudeClaw after adding the token

Using Slack from Claude Code (skill)

ClaudeClaw ships with a Slack CLI at dist/slack-cli.js and a matching skill in skills/slack/. To use Slack via natural language from any Claude Code session:

cp -r skills/slack ~/.claude/skills/slack

Then just say "check my slack" or "message Jane on slack saying hey" and Claude handles the rest.

Slack CLI reference

cd /path/to/claudeclaw

node dist/slack-cli.js list              # List conversations with unread counts
node dist/slack-cli.js list --limit 10   # Limit results
node dist/slack-cli.js read <channel_id> # Read messages from a conversation
node dist/slack-cli.js send <channel_id> "message"  # Send a message
node dist/slack-cli.js send <channel_id> "reply" --thread-ts 1234.5678  # Thread reply
node dist/slack-cli.js search "jane"     # Find conversations by name

WhatsApp (optional)

No API key needed. Uses your existing WhatsApp account via Linked Devices.

Start the daemon

npx tsx scripts/wa-daemon.ts

A QR code prints. Open WhatsApp → Settings → Linked Devices → scan within 30 seconds. Session saves to store/waweb/. you only scan once.

Use it from Telegram

/wa              list 5 most recent chats (unread first)
1                open chat #1, show last 10 messages
r <text>         reply to the open chat
r 2 <text>       quick-reply to chat #2 without opening it

Incoming message notifications

When someone messages you on WhatsApp:

📱 John Smith. new message
/wa to view & reply

No content is forwarded automatically. You pull it on demand.

How the outbox works

Messages you send via the bot go into a wa_outbox SQLite table. The daemon's outbox poller (every 3 seconds) picks them up and delivers them. If the daemon is temporarily down, messages queue and deliver when it comes back.

Message security

All WhatsApp message bodies are encrypted at rest using AES-256-GCM before being written to the database. Even if someone accesses store/claudeclaw.db directly, message content is unreadable without the encryption key in your .env.

Messages are also automatically deleted after 3 days: The retention sweep runs on startup and every 24 hours, covering wa_messages, wa_outbox, and wa_message_map. This is enforced in code and cannot be bypassed without modifying runDecaySweep() in src/memory.ts.

The store/ directory (database, WhatsApp session, logs) is gitignored with multiple layers of protection. It will never be committed to the repo.

Memory

ClaudeClaw has a structured memory system that extracts, consolidates, and recalls knowledge across all sessions. Everything is automatic.

Layer 1. Session resumption

Every time you send a message, Claude Code resumes the same session using a stored session ID. This means Claude carries your full conversation history across messages without you re-sending anything. It's the same as if you never left the terminal.

Use /newchat to start a completely fresh session when you want a clean slate.

Layer 2. Structured memory extraction (Gemini-powered)

After each conversation turn, Gemini Flash evaluates whether the exchange contains anything worth remembering long-term. If it does, it extracts structured data: a summary, entities, topics, connections to other memories, and an importance score (0.0 to 1.0). Only memories scoring 0.5+ are saved. This filters out noise like "ok thanks" or command acknowledgments.

Each memory also gets a vector embedding for semantic search.

Importance tiers and decay:

Importance	What gets this score	Daily decay	Approximate lifespan
0.8 - 1.0	Core identity, critical rules, strong preferences	1% per day	~460 days
0.5 - 0.7	Useful context, standing decisions, workflows	2% per day	~230 days
Below 0.5	Not saved (filtered at extraction)	n/a	n/a
Pinned	Anything you mark as permanent	No decay	Forever

Memories that are actually useful in conversations get a salience boost (+0.1 per use). Memories that surface but aren't relevant get penalized (-0.05). This feedback loop means the system learns what matters over time.

Layer 3. Five-layer context injection

Before every message, five parallel searches build your memory context:

Semantic vector search: finds memories similar in meaning to your message (cosine similarity > 0.3)
High-importance recall: recent memories with importance >= 0.5
Consolidation insights: patterns detected across multiple memories (e.g., "User consistently prefers X over Y")
Team activity: what other agents have done in the last 24 hours (from the Hive Mind)
Conversation history recall: triggered when you say things like "remember when" or "what did we discuss"

The results are deduplicated and prepended to your message as a block Claude sees:

[Memory context]
Relevant memories:
- [0.8] User prefers short bullet replies over long paragraphs
- [0.6] Working on YouTube channel rebrand this week

Insights:
- User has strong communication preferences: concise, no fluff

[Team activity]
- [comms] 2h ago: Processed weekly email digest
[End memory context]

Consolidation (every 30 minutes)

A background process finds patterns across unconsolidated memories: themes, contradictions, and connections. When a newer memory contradicts an older one, the older memory is superseded (importance reduced, marked as outdated). Consolidation insights surface in the memory context block.

Requires GOOGLE_API_KEY in your .env (Gemini Flash, costs ~$0.03/day).

Commands

/memory    show the most recent memories stored for this chat
/forget    clear the current session (memories keep decaying naturally)

Pinning memories

High-importance memories (0.8+) trigger a Telegram notification when saved, giving you a chance to pin them. Pinned memories never decay.

Changing how memory works

src/memory-ingest.ts: controls what gets extracted and the importance threshold:

// The Gemini extraction prompt defines what's worth remembering
// Importance threshold (default: 0.5) filters low-value memories

src/db.ts: controls decay constants:

// importance >= 0.8: 0.99 multiplier (1% daily decay)
// importance >= 0.5: 0.98 multiplier (2% daily decay)
// pinned = 1: no decay
// Deleted when salience < 0.05

Scheduled tasks

Tell Claude what you want, in plain language:

Every Monday at 9am, summarize AI news from the past week and send it to me
Every weekday at 8am, check my calendar and inbox and give me a briefing
Every 4 hours, check for new emails from clients and flag anything urgent

Claude creates and manages tasks via the built-in CLI. Manage them directly too:

node dist/schedule-cli.js list
node dist/schedule-cli.js create "summarize AI news" "0 9 * * 1"
node dist/schedule-cli.js pause <id>
node dist/schedule-cli.js delete <id>

Cron pattern	Meaning
`0 9 * * 1`	Every Monday at 9am
`0 8 * * 1-5`	Every weekday at 8am
`0 9 1 * *`	First of the month at 9am
`0 /4 * *`	Every 4 hours
`0 7 * * *`	Every day at 7am

Mission Control

Mission Control lets you create one-shot tasks and assign them to any agent from the dashboard or via Telegram.

How it works

Create a task from the dashboard (click "+ New") or tell your main agent: "have research look into X"
The task appears in the Tasks inbox on the dashboard, unassigned
Assign it by dragging it to an agent column, or click Auto-assign to let Gemini classify and route it to the best agent automatically
The target agent picks it up within 60 seconds, executes it, and sends the result to your Telegram chat
Completed tasks appear in the agent's column for 30 minutes, then move to the History drawer

Auto-assign

When you click Auto-assign, Gemini Flash reads the task prompt and matches it against your agent descriptions (from their agent.yaml files). A task about "draft a reply to John's email" routes to the comms agent. A task about "research competitors" routes to the research agent. Costs about $0.0001 per classification.

From Telegram

Your main agent can create mission tasks for other agents. Just say things like:

"have research look into the top competitors in AI coding"
"get ops to update the Stripe pricing"
"ask comms to draft a reply to that partnership email"

The main agent creates the task via CLI and responds immediately. The target agent picks it up asynchronously.

CLI

node dist/mission-cli.js create --agent research --title "Competitor analysis" "Full prompt here"
node dist/mission-cli.js list
node dist/mission-cli.js result <id>
node dist/mission-cli.js cancel <id>

Omit --agent to create an unassigned task (assign from dashboard).

Safety

Mission tasks go through the same FIFO message queue as user messages and scheduled tasks. They can never collide with an active conversation. Each task runs in a fresh session and has a 10-minute timeout.

Database

ClaudeClaw ships with SQLite and creates everything automatically on first run: No migrations, no setup, no external database server. File lives at store/claudeclaw.db.

Schema:

sessions          -- Claude Code session IDs, one per chat per agent
memories          -- Structured memories with importance, salience, embeddings
memories_fts      -- Virtual FTS5 table, auto-synced via triggers
consolidations    -- Insights synthesized across memories (patterns, contradictions)
scheduled_tasks   -- Cron-scheduled recurring tasks (per agent)
mission_tasks     -- One-shot async tasks for Mission Control
conversation_log  -- Full conversation turns (per agent, used by /respin)
token_usage       -- Per-turn token counts and cost tracking
hive_mind         -- Cross-agent activity log
inter_agent_tasks -- Real-time delegation tracking (@agent: syntax)
wa_message_map    -- Maps Telegram message IDs to WhatsApp chats
wa_outbox         -- Queued outgoing WhatsApp messages
wa_messages       -- Incoming WhatsApp message history (encrypted, 3-day retention)
slack_messages    -- Slack message history (encrypted, 3-day retention)

Encryption: WhatsApp and Slack message bodies are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before storage. The key lives in your .env as DB_ENCRYPTION_KEY. Raw SELECT queries on the body column will return ciphertext. Use the app's read functions to get decrypted content.

Retention: Messages in wa_messages, wa_outbox, wa_message_map, and slack_messages are auto-deleted after 3 days by runDecaySweep().

Inspect it directly:

sqlite3 store/claudeclaw.db

SELECT summary, importance, salience FROM memories ORDER BY created_at DESC LIMIT 10;
SELECT * FROM scheduled_tasks;
SELECT title, status, assigned_agent FROM mission_tasks ORDER BY created_at DESC;
SELECT agent_id, action, summary FROM hive_mind ORDER BY created_at DESC LIMIT 10;
SELECT * FROM sessions;

Customizing your assistant (CLAUDE.md)

CLAUDE.md is loaded into every Claude Code session. It's the personality and context file. the main thing to edit to make ClaudeClaw yours.

The sections that matter most:

Personality rules: Be specific. "No em dashes, ever" and "don't narrate what you're about to do, just do it" change behavior on every single message.

Who you are: What you do, your projects, your context. The more specific, the less you have to explain per message.

Your environment: File paths Claude should be able to reach without being told: your Obsidian vault, project directories, anything you reference regularly.

Skills table: Maps skill names to trigger phrases. This teaches Claude to invoke them automatically when you describe a task.

Message format: How responses should look in Telegram: tight and scannable, summary-first for long outputs, how to handle task lists.

Customizing the ASCII art

The startup banner is in banner.txt at the project root. Replace it with anything or leave it empty. It's read fresh on every start.

Skills to install

ClaudeClaw auto-loads every skill in ~/.claude/skills/. Install a skill by copying its folder there.

Bundled skills

ClaudeClaw ships with ready-to-use skills in the skills/ directory. Copy any of these to activate them:

# Gmail: read, triage, reply, send, create filters
cp -r skills/gmail ~/.claude/skills/gmail

# Google Calendar: schedule meetings, check availability, send invites
cp -r skills/google-calendar ~/.claude/skills/google-calendar

# Slack: list conversations, read messages, send replies
cp -r skills/slack ~/.claude/skills/slack

# TLDR: summarize conversations and save as notes
cp -r skills/tldr ~/.claude/skills/tldr

Gmail + Calendar require Google OAuth credentials. See .env.example for the variables and each skill's SKILL.md for one-time setup instructions (create a Google Cloud project, enable the API, download credentials, run auth once).

Slack requires a User OAuth Token. See the Slack setup section above for step-by-step instructions.

Other recommended skills

todo. read tasks from Obsidian or text files
agent-browser. browse the web, fill forms, scrape data
maestro. run multiple tasks in parallel with sub-agents

For video analysis:

gemini-api-dev. published by Google, handles video/image/audio/text
- Docs: github.com/google-gemini/gemini-skills/.../gemini-api-dev/SKILL.md
- Install: copy the gemini-api-dev folder to ~/.claude/skills/

Browse more: github.com/anthropics/claude-code

Configuration reference

Variable	Required	Description
`TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN`	Yes	From @BotFather
`ALLOWED_CHAT_ID`	Yes	Your chat ID. send `/chatid` to get it
`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`	No	Pay-per-token instead of Max subscription
`GROQ_API_KEY`	No	Voice input. console.groq.com
`ELEVENLABS_API_KEY`	No	Voice output. elevenlabs.io
`ELEVENLABS_VOICE_ID`	No	Your ElevenLabs voice ID string
`GOOGLE_API_KEY`	No	Gemini. aistudio.google.com
`SLACK_USER_TOKEN`	No	Slack User OAuth Token (starts with `xoxp-`)
`GOOGLE_CREDS_PATH`	No	Path to Google OAuth credentials.json (default: `~/.config/gmail/credentials.json`)
`GMAIL_TOKEN_PATH`	No	Path to Gmail OAuth token (default: `~/.config/gmail/token.json`)
`GCAL_TOKEN_PATH`	No	Path to Calendar OAuth token (default: `~/.config/calendar/token.json`)
`DASHBOARD_TOKEN`	No	48-char hex token for dashboard access
`DASHBOARD_PORT`	No	Dashboard port (default: `3141`)
`DASHBOARD_URL`	No	Public URL if using Cloudflare Tunnel
`CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN`	No	Override which Claude account is used

Available scripts

npm run setup     # Interactive setup wizard
npm run status    # Health check. env, bot, DB, service
npm run build     # Compile TypeScript → dist/
npm start         # Run compiled bot (production)
npm run dev       # Run with tsx, no build needed (development)
npm test          # Run test suite (vitest)
npm run typecheck # Type-check without compiling

Is this compliant with Anthropic's Terms of Service?

Yes. On February 19, 2026, Anthropic published their Legal and Compliance page banning OAuth tokens in third-party tools. ClaudeClaw is not affected.

What's banned: Tools that extract your OAuth token and make API calls with it from third-party code. impersonating Claude Code without running it (e.g. the old OpenClaw).

Why ClaudeClaw is different: @anthropic-ai/claude-agent-sdk's query() spawns the claude binary as a child process. That subprocess manages its own OAuth from ~/.claude/. ClaudeClaw never reads or transmits your token. It runs Claude Code and reads the output. identical to claude -p "message" in a terminal.

	ClaudeClaw	Token-extraction tools
Runs the official `claude` CLI	✅	❌
OAuth stays in `~/.claude/`	✅	❌
Uses Anthropic-published SDK	✅	❌
Single-user, personal machine	✅	❌
Anthropic telemetry intact	✅	❌

For server or multi-user deployments, set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY to use pay-per-token billing.

Security

ClaudeClaw has multiple security layers. Some are always on, others are opt-in. The setup wizard (npm run setup) configures all of them interactively.

Always on

These protections are active in every ClaudeClaw installation, no configuration needed.

Layer	What it does
Chat ID restriction	`ALLOWED_CHAT_ID` locks the bot to a single Telegram account. Messages from any other user are silently dropped.
Private chat only	The bot rejects all group chats. Only private (1-on-1) conversations are accepted.
Audit logging	Every action (messages, commands, delegations, lock/unlock, blocked attempts) is recorded to the `audit_log` table in SQLite with timestamps, agent ID, and chat ID.
DB file permissions	The `store/` directory is set to `0700` and all database files to `0600` on startup (owner-only access).
Message encryption	WhatsApp and Slack message bodies are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before being written to the database. The key is stored in `.env` (gitignored).
Message auto-purge	A 3-day retention sweep runs on startup and every 24 hours, deleting all message data from `wa_messages`, `wa_outbox`, `wa_message_map`, and `slack_messages`.

bypassPermissions mode. The bot runs Claude Code with permissionMode: 'bypassPermissions' because there is no terminal to approve tool-use prompts. Claude can execute any tool (shell commands, file reads, web requests) without confirmation. This is safe when the bot is locked to your chat ID on your own machine. Do not expose it to untrusted users.

PIN lock (opt-in)

PIN lock adds a session gate. When enabled, the bot starts locked and ignores all messages until you send the correct PIN.

Behavior	Detail
Startup	Bot starts locked. Send your PIN as a regular message to unlock.
`/lock`	Locks the session immediately.
`/status`	Shows current security status (locked/unlocked, idle timeout, kill phrase).
Idle auto-lock	If `IDLE_LOCK_MINUTES` is set, the session re-locks after that many minutes of inactivity.

The PIN is stored as a salted SHA-256 hash. The plaintext never touches disk.

Emergency kill switch (opt-in)

Set EMERGENCY_KILL_PHRASE to a unique phrase. Sending it immediately stops all ClaudeClaw launchd/systemd services and force-exits the process. This is a hard stop, not a lock. Use it if something goes wrong and you need everything shut down now.

The setup wizard can generate one for you, or you can choose your own.

Security .env reference

Variable	Required	Description
`ALLOWED_CHAT_ID`	Yes	Your Telegram chat ID. Bot ignores all other users.
`DB_ENCRYPTION_KEY`	Yes	AES-256 key for message field encryption. Auto-generated on first run.
`SECURITY_PIN_HASH`	No	Salted SHA-256 hash of your PIN. Format: `salt:hash`. Setup wizard generates this.
`IDLE_LOCK_MINUTES`	No	Auto-lock after N minutes of inactivity. Only active when PIN is set.
`EMERGENCY_KILL_PHRASE`	No	Phrase that immediately kills all agents and exits.

Viewing the audit log

sqlite3 store/claudeclaw.db \
  "SELECT datetime(created_at,'unixepoch'), action, detail FROM audit_log ORDER BY created_at DESC LIMIT 20;"

Or view it in the dashboard via the API: GET /api/audit?limit=50.

Other things to know

WhatsApp daemon runs on localhost only. The wa-daemon HTTP API (port 4242) and Chrome DevTools Protocol (port 9222) bind to 127.0.0.1. They are not accessible from outside your machine, but any local process can reach them.

notify.sh is called by Claude. The notification script sends Telegram messages via curl. Since Claude has full shell access, it can call this script with any content. This is by design (progress updates), but prompt injection via external content could theoretically cause unexpected messages.

Troubleshooting

Bot doesn't respond

Check ALLOWED_CHAT_ID matches the number from /chatid
Check logs: tail -f /tmp/claudeclaw.log
Run npm run status for a full health check
Verify Claude auth: claude --version
macOS: Check if your Mac is showing "Node wants to access..." permission dialogs. The bot hangs until you click Allow. This is easy to miss if your Mac screen is off or in the background.

Setup fails at bracket placeholders

CLAUDE.md ships with [BRACKETED] placeholder values like [YOUR NAME] and [YOUR ASSISTANT NAME]
These must be replaced before the bot can work properly
The setup wizard opens CLAUDE.md in your editor for this, but if you skip it or your editor doesn't save, edit it manually: open CLAUDE.md in any text editor, find/replace all [BRACKETED] values with your actual info
You do not need to fill in every bracket. At minimum: [YOUR ASSISTANT NAME], [YOUR NAME], and [PATH TO CLAUDECLAW] (the full path to your claudeclaw directory)

Git errors during setup

"Please tell me who you are". run git config --global user.name "Your Name" and git config --global user.email "you@email.com"
Git needs these set once, globally, before it can do anything

Can't access the internet / "break out"

ClaudeClaw runs the real Claude Code CLI, which has full internet access through its built-in tools (web search, web fetch, bash with curl, etc.)
If Claude says it can't access the internet, it's likely a skill or prompt issue, not a ClaudeClaw limitation
Make sure your Claude Code CLI works in the terminal first: open a terminal, run claude, and ask it to search the web

Voice notes return an error

GROQ_API_KEY must be in .env and the bot restarted after adding it

Voice replies not working

Both ELEVENLABS_API_KEY and ELEVENLABS_VOICE_ID must be set
Voice ID is a string like 21m00Tcm4TlvDq8ikWAM, not the voice name
Either /voice mode must be on, or say "respond with voice" in your message

WhatsApp not connecting

wa-daemon must be running separately: npx tsx scripts/wa-daemon.ts
QR code expires after ~30s. kill and restart the daemon if it timed out
To force re-authentication, delete store/waweb/ and restart the daemon

"409 Conflict: terminated by other getUpdates request"

Two instances running. Kill the old one: kill $(cat store/claudeclaw.pid)

Session feels off or confused

Send /newchat for a fresh start

File downloads fail

Telegram caps downloads at 20MB. this is a Telegram API limit, not a ClaudeClaw one

Common confusions

"Do I need the mega prompt / Rebuild_Prompt.md?" No. There is no separate prompt to execute and no Rebuild_Prompt.md file. CLAUDE.md in the repo is the prompt, it loads automatically into every Claude Code session. You personalize it once (replace the [BRACKETED] placeholders with your info) and forget about it. Just clone the repo, run setup, and go. When you git pull updates, your personalized .env stays untouched (gitignored) and CLAUDE.md changes are merged by git.

"Does this use Claude Remote?" No. ClaudeClaw has nothing to do with Anthropic's Remote product. It runs the claude CLI locally on your own machine (Mac, Linux, or Windows via WSL2) and pipes results to Telegram. No cloud VMs, no remote sessions.

"Does this work on Windows?" Yes, through WSL2. Install WSL2, clone ClaudeClaw inside the WSL filesystem, and follow the normal Linux setup steps. The setup wizard detects Windows and offers WSL2 or PM2 options.

"What is GOOGLE_API_KEY for?" Video analysis via Google Gemini. It is not for Gmail or Google Calendar (those use separate OAuth credentials via the gmail and google-calendar skills). Get it free at aistudio.google.com.

"Should I watch the Claude Code video first?" Recommended but not required. The video covers how Claude Code works under the hood, which helps you understand what ClaudeClaw is actually doing. But you can set up ClaudeClaw first and watch it later.

"How do I update when a new version drops?" cd claudeclaw && git pull && npm install && npm run migrate && npm run build then restart. See Updating ClaudeClaw above.

"Telegram formatting looks broken / not formatting properly" ClaudeClaw converts Claude's Markdown to Telegram-safe HTML (bold, italic, code blocks, links). Telegram's formatting support is limited compared to a full web page. If something looks off, it's usually Telegram's rendering, not a bug. For very long or complex responses, the formatting is intentionally kept simple to avoid Telegram parse errors.

"Can I add extra security like 2FA?" ALLOWED_CHAT_ID restricts the bot to your Telegram account, which is the default security layer. Community members have added Google Authenticator (TOTP) for tiered permissions (read-only vs elevated actions with time-limited re-auth). This isn't built in yet, but it's a straightforward addition to handleMessage() in src/bot.ts if you want that extra layer.

Architecture

flowchart TD
    Phone["Telegram App"] -->|message| TGAPI["Telegram Bot API"]
    TGAPI -->|long-poll| Bot["bot.ts\n(grammy)"]

    Bot -->|voice note| STT["Groq Whisper\nTranscription"]
    Bot -->|photo / doc / video| DL["Media Download\nworkspace/uploads/"]
    STT --> Handler
    DL --> Handler
    Bot -->|text| Handler["handleMessage()"]

    Handler -->|"5-layer retrieval"| Mem["Memory Layer\nVector + FTS5 + Gemini"]
    Mem -->|context block| Agent

    Handler -->|"@agent: syntax"| Orch["orchestrator.ts\nAgent delegation"]
    Orch -->|route to agent| Agent

    Agent["agent.ts\nClaude Agent SDK"] -->|spawns subprocess| CC["claude CLI\n~/.claude/ auth"]
    CC -->|loads| Config["CLAUDE.md\n+ ~/.claude/skills/"]
    CC -->|uses| Tools["Bash · Web · MCP\nFile system · APIs"]
    CC -->|result| Agent

    Agent --> Format["Format + Split\nMarkdown to HTML"]
    Format -->|reply| TGAPI

    Sched["Scheduler\ncron + mission tasks"] -->|every 60s| Agent
    WA["WhatsApp daemon\n:4242"] --> Bot
    Dashboard["Dashboard\nHono + SSE"] --> Bot
    Mission["Mission Control\nTasks inbox + kanban"] --> Sched

    DB[("SQLite\nstore/claudeclaw.db")] --- Mem
    DB --- Sched
    DB --- WA
    DB --- Dashboard
    DB --- Mission

    Gemini["Gemini API\nextraction + auto-assign"] --- Mem
    Gemini --- Mission

Project structure

claudeclaw/
│
│  ← Files you'll actually touch
├── CLAUDE.md             ← START HERE: your assistant's personality and context
├── banner.txt            ← ASCII art shown on startup. edit or replace freely
├── .env                  ← Your API keys (created by setup wizard, gitignored)
│
│  ← Configuration and setup
├── .env.example          Template for .env. shows all available variables
├── claudeclaw.plist      macOS LaunchAgent template (setup wizard uses this)
├── package.json          npm scripts and dependencies
├── tsconfig.json         TypeScript compiler config
│
│  ← Bot source code (src/)
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts             Main entrypoint. starts everything
│   ├── bot.ts               Handles all Telegram messages (text, voice, photo, etc.)
│   ├── agent.ts             Runs Claude Code via Agent SDK
│   ├── agent-config.ts      Loads agent YAML configs and CLAUDE.md templates
│   ├── orchestrator.ts      Agent delegation routing (@agent: syntax)
│   ├── db.ts                SQLite database. all tables and queries
│   ├── memory.ts            5-layer context injection and memory feedback
│   ├── memory-ingest.ts     Gemini-powered memory extraction from conversations
│   ├── memory-consolidate.ts Pattern detection across memories (every 30 min)
│   ├── embeddings.ts        Vector embeddings for semantic memory search
│   ├── gemini.ts            Gemini API client (extraction, classification)
│   ├── scheduler.ts         Cron + mission task runner. checks every 60 seconds
│   ├── schedule-cli.ts      CLI for managing scheduled tasks
│   ├── mission-cli.ts       CLI for creating/managing mission tasks
│   ├── voice.ts             Voice transcription (Groq) and synthesis (ElevenLabs)
│   ├── media.ts             Downloads files from Telegram, cleans up after 24h
│   ├── slack.ts             Slack API client (conversations, messages, send)
│   ├── slack-cli.ts         CLI wrapper for Slack (used by the slack skill)
│   ├── whatsapp.ts          WhatsApp client via whatsapp-web.js
│   ├── dashboard.ts         Web dashboard server (Hono + API routes + token auth)
│   ├── dashboard-html.ts    Dashboard HTML/CSS/JS (Tailwind + Chart.js, no build step)
│   ├── state.ts             Shared state and SSE event emitter
│   ├── message-queue.ts     Per-chat FIFO queue (prevents session collisions)
│   ├── config.ts            Reads .env safely (never pollutes process.env)
│   ├── env.ts               Low-level .env file parser
│   ├── obsidian.ts          Obsidian vault context injection (per agent)
│   └── logger.ts            Structured logging via pino
│
│  ← Skills (copy to ~/.claude/skills/ to activate)
├── skills/
│   ├── gmail/SKILL.md     Gmail inbox management
│   ├── google-calendar/   Calendar events, invites, availability
│   └── slack/SKILL.md     Slack conversations and messages
│
│  ← Scripts (scripts/)
├── scripts/
│   ├── setup.ts          Interactive setup wizard. run with: npm run setup
│   ├── status.ts         Health check. run with: npm run status
│   ├── notify.sh         Sends a Telegram message from the shell (used by Claude)
│   └── wa-daemon.ts      WhatsApp daemon. run separately for WhatsApp bridge
│
│  ← Runtime data (auto-created, gitignored)
├── store/
│   ├── claudeclaw.db     SQLite database. created automatically on first run
│   ├── claudeclaw.pid    Tracks the running process to prevent duplicates
│   └── waweb/            WhatsApp session. scan QR once, persists here
│
└── workspace/
    └── uploads/          Telegram media downloads. auto-deleted after 24 hours

The only files you need to edit to get started:

CLAUDE.md. fill in your name, what you do, your file paths, your skills
.env. add your API keys (the setup wizard does this for you)

Everything else runs without modification.

Creating a team of agents

ClaudeClaw can run specialist agents alongside the main bot. Each agent is its own Telegram bot with its own personality, its own Claude Code session, and its own chat on your phone.

Example setup: Comms, Content, Ops, and Research agents, each with a pop-art avatar generated via Gemini.

Why agents?

Your main ClaudeClaw bot does everything. That's powerful but also means one long conversation, one context window, and one personality trying to handle email, research, billing, and content all at once.

Agents let you split the work:

What	Main bot	Specialist agents
Context window	Shared across all tasks	Each gets its own 1M window
Personality	General purpose	Focused CLAUDE.md per role
Model	Opus (default)	Sonnet (cheaper, fast enough for routine work)
Scheduled tasks	All fire in one process	Scoped per agent
Obsidian context	Optional	Auto-injected from assigned vault folders
Cost	Full Opus pricing	Sonnet by default, /model opus when needed

All agents share your machine, your SQLite database, your global skills (~/.claude/skills/), and your .env secrets. A hive mind table lets agents log what they did so any agent (or the main bot) can see cross-agent activity.

This is 100% optional. npm start with no flags works exactly like before. Zero breaking changes.

Step 1: Decide what agents you want

Think about the roles that make sense for your workflow. Here are the templates we ship:

Template	What it handles	Default model
`comms`	Email, Slack, WhatsApp, YouTube comments, community forums, LinkedIn DMs	Sonnet
`content`	YouTube scripts, LinkedIn posts, carousels, trend research	Sonnet
`ops`	Calendar, billing, Stripe, Gumroad, admin, task management	Sonnet
`research`	Deep web research, academic sources, competitive intel	Sonnet

You can start with one and add more later. Or use the blank _template and define your own role entirely.

Step 2: Create Telegram bots

Each agent needs its own Telegram bot. Open Telegram and message @BotFather:

Send /newbot
Choose a name (e.g., "MyName Comms", "MyName Ops")
Choose a username ending in _bot (e.g., yourname_comms_bot)
Copy the token BotFather gives you

Repeat for each agent you want. Keep the tokens handy.

Or use the interactive wizard:

npm run agent:create

It walks you through template selection, bot creation, token setup, and a test start.

Step 3: Configure each agent

For each agent, you need two files in agents/<name>/:

agent.yaml -- the agent's config:

name: Comms
description: Email, Slack, WhatsApp, YouTube comments, community forums, LinkedIn
telegram_bot_token_env: COMMS_BOT_TOKEN
model: claude-sonnet-4-6

# Optional: auto-inject open tasks from your Obsidian vault
obsidian:
  vault: /path/to/your/obsidian/vault
  folders:
    - Inbox/
    - Client Work/
  read_only:
    - Daily Notes/

CLAUDE.md -- the agent's personality and instructions:

# Comms Agent

You handle all human communication on the user's behalf.
[... focused instructions for this role ...]

Add the bot token to .env:

COMMS_BOT_TOKEN=1234567890:AAFxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Step 4: Start your agents

You have two options: run agents in foreground terminals (great for testing), or install them as persistent background services with launchd (recommended for daily use).

Option A: Foreground (testing / debugging)

Open a new terminal tab for each agent:

npm start -- --agent comms      # Terminal 1
npm start -- --agent content    # Terminal 2
npm start -- --agent ops        # Terminal 3
npm start -- --agent research   # Terminal 4

Each will show:

ClaudeClaw agent [comms] online: @yourname_comms_bot

Your main bot keeps running in its own terminal as usual (npm start). Close the terminal and the agent dies.

Option B: Background services with launchd (recommended)

What is launchd? On macOS, launchd is the system's built-in service manager (like systemd on Linux). It starts your agents automatically when you log in, and if an agent crashes, launchd restarts it within 30 seconds. No open terminals needed. Your agents just run.

Why this is better than running terminals:

Agents survive reboots -- they start automatically when you log in
Agents auto-restart on crash -- if one dies, launchd brings it back
No open terminal tabs -- they run invisibly in the background
One command installs everything -- main bot + all agents at once

Install all agents with one command:

bash scripts/install-launchd.sh

This script:

Builds the project (npm run build)
Removes any stale/orphaned agents from previous installs
Copies each agent's .plist config to ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
Loads them into launchd (they start immediately)
Verifies all agents are running and shows their PIDs

After installation you'll see:

com.claudeclaw.main:     running (PID: 12345)
com.claudeclaw.comms:    running (PID: 12346)
com.claudeclaw.content:  running (PID: 12347)
com.claudeclaw.ops:      running (PID: 12348)
com.claudeclaw.research: running (PID: 12349)

All agents installed and running.

Useful commands after install:

# Check which agents are running
launchctl list | grep claudeclaw

# View logs for a specific agent
tail -f logs/main.log
tail -f logs/comms.log

# Restart a single agent (e.g., after code changes)
launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.claudeclaw.comms.plist
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.claudeclaw.comms.plist

# Restart ALL agents after a rebuild
npm run build
for agent in main comms ops content research; do
  launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.claudeclaw.$agent.plist 2>/dev/null
  launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.claudeclaw.$agent.plist
done

# Remove all agents (stop everything)
bash scripts/uninstall-launchd.sh

How the plist files work: Each agent has a .plist file in the launchd/ directory that tells macOS how to run it. These are XML config files that specify the command, working directory, environment variables, and log paths. You shouldn't need to edit them unless you're adding a custom agent -- the install script handles everything.

Logs: Each agent writes stdout and stderr to logs/<agent-name>.log. These files grow over time; you can safely truncate them with > logs/comms.log if they get large.

Linux users: launchd is macOS-only. On Linux, use systemd or run agents with pm2 / screen / tmux. The same npm start -- --agent comms command works everywhere.

Step 5: Message your agents

Open each agent's chat in Telegram and send /start. They'll respond with their name and role. From there, use them like you use the main bot -- voice notes, photos, files, slash commands -- everything works.

What each agent gets automatically

Every agent runs the exact same createBot() code path as the main bot. There's no "lite" agent mode -- they inherit everything with zero extra config:

Voice notes (STT via Groq, TTS via ElevenLabs/Gradium/macOS say)
Photo, document, and video handling (including Gemini video analysis)
File sending ([SEND_FILE:...] markers)
All built-in slash commands: /newchat, /respin, /voice, /model, /memory, /stop, /wa, /slack
All global skills from ~/.claude/skills/ (auto-discovered and registered in each bot's Telegram command menu)
Memory system (FTS5 search, salience decay) -- isolated per agent
Context window tracking and compaction warnings
WhatsApp and Slack integration

Inheritance works like this: agents and the main bot share the same compiled codebase (dist/), the same SQLite database, the same .env secrets, and the same global skills directory (~/.claude/skills/). Each agent just has its own Telegram bot token, its own CLAUDE.md personality, and its own session state.

This means when you:

Install a new skill to ~/.claude/skills/ -- every agent picks it up on restart, including its /slash command in Telegram's menu
Change code and rebuild (npm run build) -- every agent picks up the changes on restart
Add a new .env variable -- every agent can use it on restart

Restarting agents after changes:

Agents load code and skills at startup. Rebuilding dist/ or adding skills doesn't hot-reload running processes. You need to restart:

# Rebuild first
npm run build

# If running via launchd (recommended): reload each agent
for agent in main comms ops content research; do
  launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.claudeclaw.$agent.plist 2>/dev/null
  launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.claudeclaw.$agent.plist
done

# If running in terminals: Ctrl+C each agent, then restart
npm start -- --agent comms
npm start -- --agent content

# Or re-run the install script (rebuilds + restarts everything)
bash scripts/install-launchd.sh

Note: After restarting, Telegram may cache the old command menu for a few minutes. Force-close and reopen Telegram on your phone to see updated / commands immediately.

Obsidian auto-injection

If you use Obsidian, agents can be assigned vault folders. Open tasks (- [ ] lines) from those folders are automatically prepended to every message -- the agent just knows what's on your plate without you having to say anything.

# In agent.yaml
obsidian:
  vault: ~/ObsidianVault
  folders:
    - Client Work/       # agent can read and reference
    - Inbox/
  read_only:
    - Daily Notes/       # reference only

What the agent sees before every message:

[Obsidian context]
  Client Work//
    Open: Send proposal to Acme Corp (Acme Deal)
    Open: Follow up on invoice #42 (Billing)
  Inbox//
    Open: Get back to Brock about podcast (Podcast Invite)
[End Obsidian context]

Scanned every 5 minutes (cached), only open tasks, only from assigned folders. Lightweight -- typically 200-500 tokens.

Hive mind

When an agent completes a meaningful action, it logs it to the shared hive_mind table. Any agent can query what others have done:

SELECT agent_id, action, summary, datetime(created_at, 'unixepoch')
FROM hive_mind ORDER BY created_at DESC LIMIT 20;

The dashboard shows the hive mind feed in real-time across all agents.

Agent-scoped scheduled tasks

Cron jobs belong to the agent that creates them. A task created in the comms agent only fires in the comms agent's process:

# Create a task for the comms agent
node dist/schedule-cli.js create "check youtube comments" "0 */4 * * *" --agent comms

# List tasks for a specific agent
node dist/schedule-cli.js list --agent comms

The dashboard with agents

When agents are configured, the dashboard adds panels at the top:

Summary Stats Bar -- messages today, active agents count, today's cost, total memories
Agent Status Cards -- each agent with a color-coded status (live/offline), model, today's turns and cost
Hive Mind Feed -- timestamped cross-agent activity table, color-coded by agent, with full summary text that wraps cleanly

All existing dashboard panels (tasks, memory, health, tokens, chat) continue to work as before.

Create your own agent

There are three ways to create an agent. Pick whichever fits your workflow.

Option A: Dashboard wizard (recommended)

Click "+ New Agent" in the Agents section of the dashboard. The wizard walks you through three steps:

Basics -- pick an agent ID, display name, description, model, and template
Connect Telegram -- the wizard suggests a bot name and username for BotFather, then you paste the token. It validates the token live against the Telegram API and shows the resolved @username on success.
Activate -- creates the agent directory, writes agent.yaml and CLAUDE.md, saves the bot token to .env, generates a launchd/systemd service config, and optionally starts the agent immediately.

Available templates: comms, content, ops, research, and blank (the default _template). The template dropdown is populated from agents/ on disk, so any custom template directories you add will appear automatically.

Option B: CLI

The agent-create-cli handles everything non-interactively. Useful for scripting or when the dashboard isn't running.

# Create and activate in one shot
node dist/agent-create-cli.js \
  --id analytics \
  --name "Analytics" \
  --description "Data analysis and reporting" \
  --template research \
  --token "123456789:ABCdef..." \
  --activate

# Validate a token without creating anything
node dist/agent-create-cli.js --validate --token "123456789:ABCdef..."

# List available templates
node dist/agent-create-cli.js --templates

# Get suggested BotFather names for an ID
node dist/agent-create-cli.js --suggest --id analytics

Flags:

Flag	Required	Description
`--id`	Yes	Lowercase identifier (letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores)
`--name`	Yes	Display name shown in the dashboard and logs
`--description`	Yes	What this agent does
`--token`	Yes	Telegram bot token from @BotFather
`--model`	No	Claude model (default: `claude-sonnet-4-6`)
`--template`	No	Template to clone from (default: `_template`)
`--activate`	No	Install launchd/systemd service and start immediately

The CLI validates the bot token against the Telegram API before creating anything. If validation fails, it exits with a non-zero code and no files are written.

Option C: Manual setup (advanced)

If you prefer full control, create the files yourself:

# 1. Copy the template
cp -r agents/_template agents/myagent

# 2. Edit the personality
vim agents/myagent/CLAUDE.md

# 3. Create agent.yaml from the example
cp agents/myagent/agent.yaml.example agents/myagent/agent.yaml
vim agents/myagent/agent.yaml

# 4. Create a bot via @BotFather, add token to .env
echo "MYAGENT_BOT_TOKEN=your_token_here" >> .env

# 5. Build and start
npm run build
npm start -- --agent myagent

With the manual approach you also need to create launchd/systemd configs yourself if you want the agent to run as a background service. The dashboard wizard and CLI handle this automatically.

Profile pictures

Use any image generation tool (Gemini, DALL-E, Midjourney) to create pop-art or branded avatars for your agents. Set them via the Telegram Bot API:

curl -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot<TOKEN>/setMyProfilePhoto" \
  -F 'photo={"type":"static","photo":"attach://file"}' \
  -F "file=@assets/agent-comms.png"

Resource usage

5 Node.js processes (main + 4 agents) use ~500MB RAM total at idle. Each runAgent() call spawns a separate Claude Code subprocess that exits when done. SQLite WAL mode handles concurrent access from all processes with no contention.

Other channels

The same runAgent() pattern in src/agent.ts works on any channel:

NanoClaw: WhatsApp, isolated Linux containers
OpenClaw: Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack, Discord, iMessage, Signal, and more
TinyClaw: ~400 lines of shell, Claude Code + tmux, zero dependencies

License

MIT

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 101 Commits
.claude/skills/add-migration		.claude/skills/add-migration
.github		.github
agents		agents
assets		assets
docs		docs
launchd		launchd
migrations		migrations
scripts		scripts
skills		skills
src		src
.env.example		.env.example
.gitignore		.gitignore
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CLAUDE.md		CLAUDE.md
CLAUDE.md.example		CLAUDE.md.example
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
README.md		README.md
banner.txt		banner.txt
claudeclaw.plist		claudeclaw.plist
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json
setup		setup
tsconfig.json		tsconfig.json
vitest.config.ts		vitest.config.ts

Folders and files

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ClaudeClaw

Get started

Step 1: What you need before anything else

Step 2: Create a Telegram bot

Step 3: Clone and install

Step 4: Run the setup wizard

Step 5: Get your Telegram chat ID

Step 6: Send your first message

Step 7: Run as a background service

Step 8: Check everything is healthy

Updating ClaudeClaw

How it works

What's included

Zero extra API keys needed

API keys: what each does and alternatives

Telegram Bot Token (required)

Groq: voice input (optional)

ElevenLabs: voice output (optional)

Google: video analysis (optional)

Anthropic API key (optional)

Google Workspace CLI (optional)

Default behaviors

Voice notes → text reply (default)

Voice pipeline

Photos → analyzed immediately

Documents → read and processed

Videos → Gemini analysis

File sending → Claude sends you files

Sessions persist

Skills load automatically

Bot commands

Skill commands auto-register in Telegram

/newchat + /respin workflow

/slack interface

Dashboard (optional)

How the dashboard works

What you'll see

How to turn it on

Step 1: Generate a password for the dashboard

Step 2: Add the password to your settings

Step 3: Rebuild and restart

Step 4: Open the dashboard

Step 5 (optional). Access from your phone anywhere

Things to know

Slack (optional)

Step 1: Create a Slack app

Step 2: Add User Token Scopes

Step 3: Install the app to your workspace

Step 4: Add the token to ClaudeClaw

Step 5: Verify it works

Using Slack from Claude Code (skill)

Slack CLI reference

WhatsApp (optional)

Start the daemon

Use it from Telegram

Incoming message notifications

How the outbox works

Message security

Memory

Layer 1. Session resumption

Layer 2. Structured memory extraction (Gemini-powered)

Layer 3. Five-layer context injection

Consolidation (every 30 minutes)

Commands

Pinning memories

Changing how memory works

Scheduled tasks

Mission Control

How it works

Auto-assign

From Telegram

CLI

Safety

Database

Customizing your assistant (CLAUDE.md)

Customizing the ASCII art

Packages