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NanoClaw

Free productivity

Lightweight alternative to OpenClaw running in Apple containers for enhanced security. Only 500 lines of code.

personal assistantautomationopen sourcesecuritylightweight
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Overview

NanoClaw is a lightweight, security-focused alternative to OpenClaw. It runs in Apple containers (or Docker on Linux) for OS-level isolation, keeping the agent’s activities contained and limiting potential security risks.

Why NanoClaw?

OpenClaw is impressive but complex - 52+ modules, 8 config management files, 45+ dependencies. NanoClaw compresses the core code to just ~500 lines that you can read through in minutes.

Key difference: Security is at the OS level (containers) rather than application level (allowlists, permission checks).

Features

  • Containerized Security: Agents run in actual Linux containers with filesystem isolation
  • WhatsApp Integration: Connect via WhatsApp out of the box
  • Agent Swarms: Spin up teams of agents that collaborate in your chat
  • Memory System: Persistent memory for context
  • Scheduled Jobs: Heartbeat scheduler for proactive tasks
  • Anthropic SDK: Built directly on Claude’s Agent SDK

Quick Start

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

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

Philosophy

Small enough to understand. If it doesn’t have a feature you want, just ask it to build it and it will do it.

Perfect For

  • Developers who want to understand every line of code running on their machine
  • Security-conscious users who need container isolation
  • Teams wanting a simple, customizable AI assistant
  • Anyone intimidated by OpenClaw’s complexity