GhostClaw

give it a machine. let it roam.

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The OpenClaw alternative that actually works. A bare-metal fork of NanoClaw — containers stripped, full system access, Telegram-first. Give your spare computer its own accounts and let an AI agent run wild. 10 minutes to set up.

Why GhostClaw?

NanoClaw's simplicity. OpenClaw's freedom. None of the mess.

GhostClaw started as a NanoClaw fork with one question: what if you ripped out everything that makes self-hosting painful? No Docker, no container orchestration, no config maze. Agents run as direct Node.js child processes with full machine access — bash, files, web, email. That's the point.

Get started

v0.8.0 is API-direct. From v0.8.0 onwards GhostClaw runs on the Anthropic API (ANTHROPIC_API_KEY) only — Claude Max / OAuth login is no longer supported. Every turn writes a usage_events row and /budget lets you cap daily spend. If you were on a v0.7.x build with CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN, see Migrating from v0.7.

New to AI agents? Read learn.md first — the full picture on personal agents in 2026, how GhostClaw compares to OpenClaw, Hermes, NanoClaw and others, and what you're getting into. Or drop it into Claude Code as a skill and ask it anything.

curl -fsSL https://ghostclaw.io/install.sh | bash

One command. The installer walks you through everything — API key, Telegram bot, personality, auto-start. Done in 5 minutes.

Requirements: Node.js 20+, Anthropic API key, macOS or Linux, Telegram account.

git clone https://github.com/b1rdmania/ghostclaw.git
cd ghostclaw && npm install && npm run build

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-your-key-here
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=your-bot-token
ASSISTANT_NAME=YourName

What's included

Everything below ships with every install.

Channels

• Telegram — DM it like a person. In groups, responds when mentioned. Voice notes supported. This is the primary interface.

Core capabilities

• Full machine access — bash, files, web search, email. No sandbox, no permission prompts.
• Web research — Perplexity-powered search and deep research. Ask anything current, it searches and cites sources.
• Ralph loops — autonomous multi-task engine. Hand it a checklist, it works through tasks one by one overnight.
• Scheduled tasks — "check Hacker News every morning" or cron syntax. Natural language or precise.
• Per-group personality — each chat gets its own CLAUDE.md defining tone, memory, and rules.
• Model selection — switch between Sonnet, Opus, Haiku from Telegram. Just type /model.
• Cost controls — every turn writes a usage_events row. /budget shows today's spend. /budget set 10 caps daily spend at $10 — once hit, GhostClaw falls back to fast-path-only (cheap chat) until UTC midnight.

Mission Control

Built-in dashboard at localhost:3333. Real-time activity feed, task scheduling, soul editing, research runs.

Architecture

You (Telegram) → GhostClaw → Claude (Agent SDK) → Response

One process. SQLite state. Claude runs as a direct child process. No containers, no Docker, no Kubernetes. Full system access — that's the point.

Optional skills

Add capabilities with a command. Each skill is a markdown file — security-scanned before install.

Browse all 46 skills → including marketing, SEO, design, and community-built skills.

Build your own — skills are markdown files. Ask Claude to write one or create it yourself.

Telegram commands

Updating

Send /update in Telegram. No SSH required.

For a full safe update with backup and rollback tag:

/update-ghostclaw

On a version before v0.6.0? Update manually:

cd ghostclaw
git pull origin main
npm install
npm run build
# macOS: launchctl kickstart -k gui/$(id -u)/com.ghostclaw
# Linux: systemctl --user restart ghostclaw

Migrating from v0.7

v0.8.0 is a redesign around the Anthropic API. Claude Max / OAuth login is no longer supported — the keychain read, CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN, and the .env write-back fallback are all removed. Every agent turn now hits the API directly and is billed per-token.

If you're on v0.7.x:

1. Get an API key at console.anthropic.com.
2. In .env, replace CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN=... with ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-....
3. Set a daily cap so the API bill can't surprise you: GHOSTCLAW_DAILY_BUDGET_USD=5 (or /budget set 5 from Telegram). When today's spend hits the cap, GhostClaw falls back to fast-path-only chat until UTC midnight.
4. /update (or pull, build, restart manually).
5. Send /budget in Telegram after a day to sanity-check spend.

Containers and WhatsApp were also removed in this line — if you had TELEGRAM_ONLY=true set, you can drop it (no-op now).

Configuration

All config lives in .env. The setup wizard creates this.

FAQ

What does it cost? Anthropic API usage (pay-as-you-go) and optionally ElevenLabs for voice. No platform fees. Set GHOSTCLAW_DAILY_BUDGET_USD or /budget set N to cap daily spend.

Is this secure? The bot has full access to its machine. That's the design — run it on dedicated hardware with fresh accounts, not your daily driver. Skills are security-scanned before install.

Can I run it on a Raspberry Pi? Untested but should work on any Linux ARM/x64 box with Node.js 20+.

Community

Join the GhostClaw community on Telegram to share problems, suggestions, or see what others are building.

Credits

GhostClaw wouldn't exist without the work of others.

NanoClaw by qwibitai — the foundation. GhostClaw is a fork of NanoClaw. The core architecture, agent runner, skills engine (three-way merge, manifest system, replay/rebase), and the skill-based extensibility model are all their work. We stripped out containers and built on top, but the bones are theirs.

OpenClaw — the inspiration. Heartbeat monitoring, daily briefings, autonomous task loops, the idea of an agent with its own identity and accounts — these came from watching what OpenClaw pioneered.

NanoClaw contributors — Alakazam03, tydev-new, pottertech, rgarcia, AmaxGuan, happydog-intj, bindoon — whose contributions to NanoClaw's codebase carry forward into GhostClaw.

Licence

MIT