NanoClaw

// Overview

NanoClaw is a self-hosted personal AI assistant that reaches you through the messaging apps you already use, and its distinguishing choice is where the sandbox lives. Rather than restricting what an agent may do with application-level permission prompts, NanoClaw runs each agent inside its own Linux container with explicit mount controls, so the isolation is enforced by the operating system. The README positions it as a lighter, more legible alternative to OpenClaw — "small enough to understand", with few dependencies.

Underneath it is built on Anthropic's official Agent SDK, and it adds the pieces a long-lived personal assistant needs: persistent conversation memory, recurring scheduled jobs, and credential handling that routes API access through OneCLI's Agent Vault so raw keys never enter a container. User data, credentials and agent state stay on your machine by default.

Channel coverage is broad — WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack, Microsoft Teams, iMessage, Matrix, Google Chat, Webex, Linear, GitHub, WeChat and email via Resend — so the same agent can be reached wherever a conversation happens to start. The runtime is TypeScript and Node with Bun, and the project is MIT-licensed. Containers require Docker on macOS, Linux or WSL2.

// What it does

• OS-level isolation: every agent runs in its own Docker container with explicit filesystem mount controls
• Built on Anthropic's official Agent SDK
• Messaging on WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack, Microsoft Teams, iMessage, Matrix, Google Chat, Webex, Linear, GitHub, WeChat and email
• Persistent conversation memory plus recurring scheduled tasks
• Credentials brokered through OneCLI's Agent Vault, keeping raw API keys out of containers
• Deliberately small codebase with minimal dependencies, meant to be read end to end

// Getting started

One script does the whole setup: it installs Node, pnpm and Docker if they are missing, registers your credentials, builds the containers and connects your first messaging channel.

git clone https://github.com/nanocoai/nanoclaw.git nanoclaw-v2
cd nanoclaw-v2

bash nanoclaw.sh

Commands and code are distilled from the project's own documentation — always check the official repo for the latest.

// When to use it

• Reach for it when you want a personal assistant on WhatsApp or Telegram but are not comfortable giving an agent unsandboxed access to your machine
• Use it when you want the assistant self-hosted so conversation history and credentials never leave your hardware
• Good for recurring jobs — a scheduled digest, a daily triage pass — that should run unattended in an isolated container
• Useful when you want a small enough codebase to audit before trusting it with your accounts

// How NanoClaw compares

NanoClaw alongside other open-source assistants & chatbots tools AI/TLDR tracks, ranked by GitHub stars.