00:00:00This is NanoClaw, a very lightweight personal AI assistant
00:00:04coming in at around 500 lines of code
00:00:07and can do things like connect to WhatsApp,
00:00:09read your emails, set recurring tasks and much more
00:00:12using the power of the Clawed Agent SDK
00:00:15and Apple containers if you're on a Mac
00:00:18to keep the whole thing secure.
00:00:19But how does this tiny assistant compare
00:00:21to its bigger, more popular alternative?
00:00:24Hit subscribe and let's get into it.
00:00:25At the time of recording,
00:00:28OpenClaw supports around 15 channels,
00:00:30has more than 45 dependencies and supports many, many skills.
00:00:34NanoClaw, on the other hand, has one channel by default,
00:00:37which is WhatsApp, uses Vercel's agent browser
00:00:40to browse the web and has absolutely no configuration file.
00:00:44Yep, that's right.
00:00:45But its simplicity is what actually makes it so powerful
00:00:49because the code is small and easy enough for agents
00:00:52and even humans to understand.
00:00:53If it doesn't have a feature that you really, really want,
00:00:56you can just ask it to build it
00:00:58and it will do it.
00:00:59I've actually experienced this myself
00:01:00and I'll show you how it works later on in the video.
00:01:03But first, let's go through how to set this up.
00:01:05Actually, let's get the prerequisites out of the way.
00:01:07I highly recommend you get a Clawed subscription
00:01:10if you want to use NanoClaw since it uses the Clawed SDK
00:01:13and that only supports Clawed models by default.
00:01:16This will make more sense in a few seconds.
00:01:18If you're installing this on a Linux machine,
00:01:20make sure you have Docker installed.
00:01:22And if you're using a VPS, do all the standard things
00:01:25like using a non-root user for the installation,
00:01:28disabling public access to SSH
00:01:30and only connecting via tail scale or an equivalent.
00:01:32You'll also need to have Node.js above version 20 installed
00:01:36and have Clawed code
00:01:37because you use a Clawed code slash command
00:01:40to actually set this up.
00:01:41And that's why you need a subscription
00:01:44so you don't waste money burning tokens through API billing.
00:01:47But I'm getting ahead of myself here
00:01:49because you first need to do all these steps
00:01:51before you get to the Clawed code slash command state,
00:01:53which is pretty self-explanatory
00:01:55and connects to WhatsApp using a QR code.
00:01:57From here on, the agent uses Sonnet by default,
00:02:00which you can change of course, but keep that in mind.
00:02:03If you have any issues with the installation,
00:02:05the creator recommends you ask Clawed code directly
00:02:08and it will help you figure out a solution.
00:02:10And also if you want to customise your agent
00:02:12as a slash command to do that,
00:02:14but again, you can also ask it to do so in WhatsApp.
00:02:17You also may need to run the odd NPM command
00:02:20and restart the system a few times.
00:02:22But basically the setup is very simple.
00:02:24And if there's a feature you want
00:02:26that it doesn't say it supports,
00:02:27you can ask it to add that feature.
00:02:30For example, here we can see,
00:02:31I asked the agent if it has the ability to send images
00:02:34and it replies that it doesn't have that ability.
00:02:37So if you scroll down,
00:02:38here I ask it to add the ability to send pictures.
00:02:40It gives me a plan telling me what it's going to change
00:02:43and I give it permission to do so.
00:02:44Now it's added image support by creating a send image tool.
00:02:48So after I restart the service,
00:02:50I ask it to get me a random image from Unsplash.
00:02:53Then after a while, it's able to do that,
00:02:55which we can see over here.
00:02:57And it's able to do that multiple times throughout the day.
00:03:00So I've done it here as well.
00:03:01It's got me an image of an ocean.
00:03:03And I've also done it if we scroll down over here too.
00:03:06Now, if I'm being honest,
00:03:07I wasn't originally sold on NanoClaw.
00:03:10I mean, its setup wasn't as smooth as OpenClaw.
00:03:13It doesn't have a nice dashboard, an identities file,
00:03:16a solve file, and so many things
00:03:18that makes the OpenClaw agent feel so personal.
00:03:22But the bare bones nature of NanoClaw
00:03:25makes it so special
00:03:26because it starts off with a very small feature set
00:03:29and you can ask the agent to add features
00:03:31that are specific to you.
00:03:33Meaning somebody else's NanoClaw
00:03:35will be very different to yours
00:03:36and not just have the features that you want,
00:03:39but the code base will be made to support you
00:03:42as opposed to having something like OpenClaw,
00:03:44which has so many features,
00:03:46but you may only want to have one or two of them.
00:03:48And then you have this code that exists
00:03:49that you'll never use.
00:03:51But its architecture also makes it a bit more secure
00:03:53than OpenClaw.
00:03:54Not just because of its containers
00:03:56that have a five minute timeout,
00:03:57but also because it has a smaller surface area for attacks.
00:04:01A Cisco report revealed that 26% of all agents skills
00:04:05have vulnerabilities.
00:04:06And OpenClaw by default supports a lot of them.
00:04:09Not to mention OpenClaw does not run
00:04:11in a sandboxed environment
00:04:13and has direct access to the system that it's on.
00:04:16Yes, I would have loved Telegram support by default
00:04:19and would love to use models
00:04:21other than the ones from Anthropic.
00:04:23But the creator made this originally for themselves
00:04:26and their own needs, which I completely understand.
00:04:29But the popularity of OpenClaw has introduced a wave
00:04:33of personal AI assistants like Memubot and Nanobot,
00:04:36which is great, but can only lead to one thing.
00:04:40- Skynet has become self-aware.
00:04:41In one hour, it will initiate a massive nuclear attack
00:04:44on its enemy.
00:04:45- What enemy?
00:04:46- Us, humans.