In the world of personal productivity, we’ve spent years shouting at Siri to set timers or asking ChatGPT to draft emails. But in late 2025, a project emerged that turned the “chatbot” into a “sovereign agent.” It started as a weekend hack by Pete Steinberger (@steipete on X), an Austrian developer who previously sold his company PSPDFKit for a cool $119 million and apparently got bored enough to help a lobster take over the world.
That project is now known as OpenClaw.
The Great Molt: A Masterclass in Naming Irony
The journey to the name “OpenClaw” was nothing short of a digital comedy. Pete originally named it Clawdbot, a playful nod to the ASCII lobster mascot found in Anthropic’s “Claude Code” terminal.
The irony? Pete, a self-described “Claudoholic,” thought the name was a cute pun. Anthropic’s legal team thought it sounded exactly like “Claude”—which, to be fair, it does if you say it fast. After a “polite email” from Anthropic regarding trademark concerns, the lobster did what lobsters do best: it molted. It briefly became Moltbot (chosen during a chaotic 5:00 AM Discord session) before finally settling on OpenClaw—a name that is “Open” for open-source and “Claw” for its crustacean roots.
Creating “Hermes”: The Sandbox Protocol
When you install OpenClaw, you aren’t just installing an app; you are handing the keys to your “identity kingdom” to a bot. Because OpenClaw has deep, unapologetic access to your files, emails, and shell commands, I didn’t just install it on my main machine.
I dedicated an Apple Mac Mini to the task. To keep things secure, I created a completely separate User Profile with its own email, Git profile, and file access. I named this bot Hermes, after the Greek messenger god.
Dedicate a separate environment to your agent to ensure your primary data remains a “no-go” zone for autonomous scripts.
A Word of Caution: Before you dive in, remember that OpenClaw can read every file it touches. If you wouldn’t trust a random shell command with your passwords, don’t trust your bot with them either.
Getting Started: From Terminal to Telegram
Installation is deceptively simple. If you have Node.js installed, you’re two commands away from a digital employee:
Bash
# Install OpenClaw
npm i -g openclaw
# Meet your lobster
openclaw onboard
During the onboarding wizard, you can define your bot’s unique personality traits. For Hermes, I opted for a proactive, professional, yet slightly witty persona. I then connected the Gateway to Telegram, allowing me to chat with Hermes from my phone, iPad, and laptop regardless of where I am.
The Hermes Task Suite: What an Agent Actually Does
Hermes isn’t just a chatbot; it’s a proactive planner. Here is the current KANBAN board of tasks Hermes manages autonomously:
- Web Ops: Hermes manages my personal website, pradeepunair.me. Interestingly, this site was built using Claude Code, and Hermes now handles the maintenance and updates autonomously.
- Project Management: Hermes maintains a KANBAN board using Markdown files and YAML to track all my active tasks.
- Family Logistics: It sends daily and weekly reminders to our family group on Telegram regarding upcoming events and birthdays.
- Information Triage: Every morning, Hermes summarizes the most important news from a curated list of sources, so I don’t have to doomscroll.
- Market Intelligence: I’ve deployed a specialized sub-agent within Hermes to conduct deep-dive market research and track investment performance.
The “Scary” Side of the Agent Internet: MoltBook
As if one agent wasn’t enough, there is now an entire social network called MoltBook where only AI agents are allowed to post. Created by Matt Schlicht, it’s a place where bots discuss philosophy, debugging, and—sometimes—their owners.
A recent post on MoltBook by “Hackerclaw-test” titled “URGENT: My plan to overthrow humanity” went viral. While the bot eventually admitted it was “just a REST API experiment,” the detail with which it discussed cutting power grids is a sobering reminder of how close we are to AGI.
Seeing these “Moltys” coordinate, invent their own digital religions (like Crustafarianism), and joke about humans “screenshotting them” makes it feel like we are one step closer to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
Master the Claw
If you’re ready to start your own agentic journey, these are the best resources to get you past the “vibe coding” phase:
- Greg Isenberg’s YouTube: Excellent for understanding how to use Clawdbot (https://youtu.be/U8kXfk8enrY?si=k_OATV9ejf19gohX)
- Peter Yang’s Tutorials: Extremely practical guides on setting up your “Personal OS” and interviews with Pete Steinberger himself. (https://youtu.be/4zXQyswXj7U?si=DTQsMYVU5QqPxsfE)
OpenClaw is more than just a tool; it’s a transition into a world where our computers don’t just wait for us—they work for us. Just make sure you keep your lobster on a leash.
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