NanoClaw

A personal Claude assistant. Lightweight, secure, and built to be understood and customized for your own needs.

Why This Exists

OpenClaw is an impressive project with a great vision - they built something genuinely useful that many people rely on. But from the moment I installed it, I haven't slept well at night. I have no idea how it works, and no realistic chance of ever understanding the codebase. Multiple processes, endless configuration, layers of abstraction - it's a black box I'm trusting with access to my life.

NanoClaw gives you the same core functionality in a codebase you can understand in 8 minutes (with Claude Code explaining it). One Node.js process. A handful of files. Agents run in actual containers, not behind application-level permissions.

Philosophy

Small enough to understand. One process, a few source files. No microservices, no message queues, no abstraction layers. Have Claude Code walk you through it.

Secure by isolation. Agents run in Linux containers (Apple Container). They can only see what's explicitly mounted. Bash access is safe because commands run inside the container, not on your Mac.

Built for one user. This isn't a framework. It's working software for my needs - WhatsApp and Email. You fork it and make it yours.

Customization = code changes. No configuration sprawl. Want different behavior? Modify the code. The codebase is small enough that this is safe.

AI-native. No installation wizard - Claude Code guides setup. No monitoring dashboard - ask Claude what's happening. No debugging tools - describe the problem, Claude fixes it.

Skills over features. Contributors don't add "Telegram alongside WhatsApp." They contribute skills like /add-telegram that transform your fork. You end up with clean code that does exactly what you need.

Best harness, best model. This runs on Claude Agent SDK, which means you're running Claude Code directly. The harness matters - a bad harness makes even smart models seem dumb, a good harness gives them superpowers. Claude Code is the best harness available.

No ToS gray areas. Because it uses Claude Agent SDK natively with no hacks or workarounds, using your subscription with your auth token is completely legitimate. No risk of being shut down for terms of service violations (I am not a lawyer).

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/anthropics/nanoclaw.git
cd nanoclaw
claude

Then run /setup. Claude Code handles everything: dependencies, authentication, container setup, service configuration.

That's it. No manual configuration files to edit.

What You Get

• WhatsApp I/O - Message Claude from your phone
• Isolated group context - Each group has its own CLAUDE.md memory, isolated filesystem, and runs in its own container sandbox with only that filesystem mounted
• Main channel - Your private channel (self-chat) for admin control; every other group is completely isolated
• Email - Read and send via Gmail (optional)
• Scheduled tasks - Recurring jobs that run Claude and can message you back
• Web access - Search and fetch content
• Container isolation - Agents sandboxed in Linux VMs

Usage

Talk to your assistant with the trigger word (default: @Andy):

@Andy give me an overview of the sales pipeline
@Andy review the git history for the past week and update CLAUDE.md with anything notable
@Andy research recent developments in AI agents and write a summary to research/ai-agents.md
@Andy every Monday at 8am, compile news from Hacker News and TechCrunch and message me a briefing

Clear conversation context:

/clear

From the main channel (your self-chat), you can manage groups and tasks:

@Andy list all scheduled tasks across groups
@Andy pause the Monday briefing task

Customization

There are no configuration files to learn. Just tell Claude Code what you want:

• "Change the trigger word to @Bot"
• "Make responses shorter and more direct"
• "Add a custom greeting when I say good morning"
• "Store conversation summaries weekly"

Or run /customize for guided changes.

The codebase is small enough that Claude can safely modify it. You're not configuring a black box - you're shaping code you can read.

Contributing

Don't add features. Add skills.

If you want to add Telegram support, don't create a PR that adds Telegram alongside WhatsApp. Instead, contribute a skill file (.claude/skills/add-telegram/SKILL.md) that teaches Claude Code how to transform a NanoClaw installation to use Telegram.

Users then run /add-telegram on their fork and get clean code that does exactly what they need - not a bloated system trying to support every use case.

RFS (Request for Skills)

Skills we'd love to see:

Communication Channels

• /add-telegram - Add Telegram as input
• /add-slack - Add Slack as input
• /add-discord - Add Discord as input
• /convert-to-telegram - Replace WhatsApp entirely

Container Runtime

• /convert-to-docker - Replace Apple Container with Docker (unlocks Linux)

Platform Support

• /setup-linux - Full Linux support (depends on Docker)
• /setup-windows - Windows via WSL2 + Docker

Requirements

• macOS Tahoe (26) or later - runs great on Mac Mini
• Node.js 20+
• Claude Code
• Apple Container

Architecture

WhatsApp (baileys) --> SQLite --> Polling loop --> Container (Claude Agent SDK) --> Response

Single Node.js process. Agents execute in isolated Linux containers with mounted directories. IPC via filesystem. No daemons, no queues, no complexity.

Key files:

• src/index.ts - Main app: WhatsApp connection, routing, IPC
• src/container-runner.ts - Spawns agent containers
• src/scheduler.ts - Runs scheduled tasks
• src/db.ts - SQLite operations
• groups/*/CLAUDE.md - Per-group memory

FAQ

Why WhatsApp and not Telegram/Signal/etc?

Because I use WhatsApp. Fork it and run a skill to change it. That's the whole point.

Why Apple Container instead of Docker?

Lightweight, fast, and built into macOS. Requires macOS Tahoe - runs great on a Mac Mini. Contribute a skill to convert to Docker if you want Docker.

Can I run this on Linux?

Yes. Run Claude Code and say "make this run on Linux." Half an hour of back-and-forth and it'll work. When you're done, ask Claude to create a skill explaining how to make it work on Linux, then contribute the skill back to the project.

Is this secure?

Agents run in actual Linux VMs, not behind application-level permission checks. They can only access explicitly mounted directories. You should still review what you're running - but the codebase is small enough that you actually can.

Why no configuration files?

We don't want configuration sprawl. It's a small codebase - make it match your exact needs. Every user should customize it to what they want rather than configuring a generic system. If you like having config files, tell Claude to add them.

How do I debug issues?

Ask Claude Code. "Why isn't the scheduler running?" "What's in the recent logs?" "Why did this message not get a response?" That's the AI-native approach.

License

MIT