VISION.md
OpenClaw is the AI that actually does things. It runs on your devices, in your channels, with your rules.
This document explains the current state and direction of the project.
We are still early, so iteration is fast.
Project overview and developer docs: README.md
Contribution guide: CONTRIBUTING.md
OpenClaw started as a personal playground to learn AI and build something genuinely useful: an assistant that can run real tasks on a real computer. It evolved through several names and shells: Warelay -> Clawdbot -> Moltbot -> OpenClaw.
The goal: a personal assistant that is easy to use, supports a wide range of platforms, and respects privacy and security.
The current focus is:
Priority:
Next priorities:
Contribution rules:
Security in OpenClaw is a deliberate tradeoff: strong defaults without killing capability. The goal is to stay powerful for real work while making risky paths explicit and operator-controlled.
Canonical security policy and reporting:
We prioritize secure defaults, but also expose clear knobs for trusted high-power workflows.
OpenClaw has an extensive plugin API. Core stays lean; optional capability should usually ship as plugins. We are generally slimming down core while expanding what plugins can do. If a useful feature cannot be built as a plugin yet, we welcome PRs and design discussions that extend the plugin API instead of adding one-off core behavior.
There are two broad plugin styles:
Prefer bundle-style plugins when they can express the capability. They have a smaller, more stable interface and better security boundaries. Use code plugins when the capability needs runtime hooks, providers, channels, tools, or other in-process extension points.
Preferred plugin path is npm package distribution plus local extension loading for development.
If you build a plugin, host and maintain it in your own repository.
The bar for adding optional plugins to core is intentionally high.
Plugin docs: docs/tools/plugin.md
Plugin discovery, official publisher status, provenance, and security review live in ClawHub.
OpenClaw docs should document core extension points; plugin promotion belongs in ClawHub, preferably under vetted org publishers for official plugins.
Memory is a special plugin slot where only one memory plugin can be active at a time. Today we ship multiple memory options; over time we plan to converge on one recommended default path.
We still ship some bundled skills for baseline UX. New skills should be published through ClawHub first, not added to core by default. Official or bundled promotion should require a clear product, security, or maintainer-ownership reason.
OpenClaw supports MCP as both a server and a runtime integration surface.
MCP details live in docs/cli/mcp.md.
The project goal is pragmatic MCP support without duplicating existing agent, tool, ACPX, plugin, or ClawHub paths.
OpenClaw is currently terminal-first by design. This keeps setup explicit: users see docs, auth, permissions, and security posture up front.
Long term, we want easier onboarding flows as hardening matures. We do not want convenience wrappers that hide critical security decisions from users.
OpenClaw is primarily an orchestration system: prompts, tools, protocols, and integrations. TypeScript was chosen to keep OpenClaw hackable by default. It is widely known, fast to iterate in, and easy to read, modify, and extend.
This list is a roadmap guardrail, not a law of physics. Strong user demand and strong technical rationale can change it.