nanoclaw
nanocoai/nanoclaw
A lightweight AI assistant in containers for secure agent operation.
Overview
NanoClaw is a lightweight alternative to OpenClaw designed for security. It runs agents in isolated Linux containers and connects to various messaging platforms like Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp, Gmail, etc. The project aims to simplify the complexity of similar solutions by reducing codebase size and ensuring filesystem isolation through containerization.
Categories
Tags
Similar tools
ECC
affaan-m/ECC
The agent harness performance optimization system
hermes-agent
NousResearch/hermes-agent
The self-improving AI agent built by Nous Research
AutoGPT
Significant-Gravitas/AutoGPT
AutoGPT: Build, Deploy, and Run AI Agents
ollama
ollama/ollama
Get up and running with Kimi-K2.6, GLM-5.1, MiniMax, DeepSeek, gpt-oss, Qwen, Gemma and other models.
prompts.chat
f/prompts.chat
The world's largest open-source prompt library for AI
JavaGuide
Snailclimb/JavaGuide
Snailclimb/JavaGuide: 面试 & 后端通用面试指南，覆盖计算机基础、数据库、分布式、高并发、系统设计与 AI 应用开发
Install
npm install nanoclawREADME
An AI assistant that runs agents securely in their own containers. Lightweight, built to be easily understood and completely customized for your needs.
nanoclaw.dev •
docs •
中文 •
日本語 •
한국어 •
Why I Built NanoClaw
OpenClaw is an impressive project, but I wouldn't have been able to sleep if I had given complex software I didn't understand full access to my life. OpenClaw has nearly half a million lines of code, 53 config files, and 70+ dependencies. Its security is at the application level (allowlists, pairing codes) rather than true OS-level isolation. Everything runs in one Node process with shared memory.
NanoClaw provides that same core functionality, but in a codebase small enough to understand: one process and a handful of files. Claude agents run in their own Linux containers with filesystem isolation, not merely behind permission checks.
Quick Start
git clone https://github.com/nanocoai/nanoclaw.git nanoclaw-v2
cd nanoclaw-v2
bash nanoclaw.sh
nanoclaw.sh walks you from a fresh machine to a named agent you can message. It installs Node, pnpm, and Docker if missing, registers your Anthropic credential with OneCLI, builds the agent container, and pairs your first channel (Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp, or a local CLI). If a step fails, Claude Code is invoked automatically to diagnose and resume from where it broke.
Migrating from NanoClaw v1?
Run from a fresh v2 checkout next to your v1 install:
git clone https://github.com/nanocoai/nanoclaw.git nanoclaw-v2
cd nanoclaw-v2
bash migrate-v2.sh
migrate-v2.sh finds your v1 install (sibling directory, or NANOCLAW_V1_PATH=/path/to/nanoclaw), migrates state into the v2 checkout, then execs into Claude Code to finish the parts that need judgment (owner seeding, CLAUDE.local.md cleanup, fork-customisation replay).
Run the script directly, not from inside a Claude session — the deterministic side needs interactive prompts and real shell I/O for Node/pnpm bootstrap, Docker, OneCLI, and the container build.
What it does: merges .env, seeds the v2 DB from registered_groups, copies group folders + session data + scheduled tasks, installs the channel adapters you select, copies channel auth state (including Baileys keystore + LID mappings for WhatsApp), builds the agent container.
What it doesn't: flip the system service. Pick "switch to v2" at the prompt, or do it manually after testing — your v1 install is left untouched.
See docs/v1-to-v2-changes.md for what's different and docs/migration-dev.md for development notes.
Philosophy
Small enough to understand. One process, a few source files and no microservices. If you want to understand the full NanoClaw codebase, just ask Claude Code to walk you through it.
Secure by isolation. Agents run in Linux containers and they can only see what's explicitly mounted. Bash access is safe because commands run inside the container, not on your host.
Built for the individual user. NanoClaw isn't a monolithic framework; it's software that fits each user's exact needs. Instead of becoming bloatware, NanoClaw is designed to be bespoke. You make your own fork and have Claude Code m