OpenClaw Agent
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Everything you need to know about setting up and using your AI agent.

Getting Started

Welcome to OpenClaw! An AI Agent is your automated assistant that can handle messages, answer questions, and perform tasks across your favorite platforms.

Core Concepts

Channels

Where your agent talks to people. Think WhatsApp, Telegram, or Discord. Connect one or more channels to let your agent chat anywhere.

Skills

What your agent can do. A skill gives your agent abilities like reading your calendar, searching the web, or managing a CRM.

3 Steps to getting started:

  1. Connect a Channel (so you can talk to your agent)
  2. Enable Skills (so your agent can perform tasks)
  3. Start chatting! (send a message on your connected channel)

WhatsApp Setup

Automatically parse incoming numbers and link them to your agent.

Connect your agent to WhatsApp to provide instant, automated replies to your contacts or customers.

How to connect

  1. Navigate to the Channels page in your dashboard.
  2. Under the WhatsApp section, enter allowed phone numbers that should be able to trigger your agent.
  3. Click Connect WhatsApp. Keep your phone ready.
  4. A QR Code will appear on screen.
  5. Open WhatsApp on your phone, go to Settings > Linked Devices > Link a Device and scan the code.

Important: Allowed Numbers

To prevent strangers from getting AI replies on your personal or business number, you must explicitly allow phone numbers.

Waking up your agent

Once connected, send the command:

/new

This wakes the agent up, making it ready to handle your incoming requests.

Telegram Setup

Connect a Telegram Bot through BotFather.

Connect your agent to Telegram using a Bot token. Anyone who messages your Bot in Telegram will get an automatic response from your agent.

How to connect

  1. Open Telegram and search for the @BotFather.
  2. Message BotFather with the /newbot command.
  3. Follow the prompts to name your bot and choose a username.
  4. BotFather will give you an API Token. Copy it.
  5. Paste the token into the Channels page in your dashboard and click Connect Telegram Bot.

Activating Your Bot

Once connected, your Bot is live. To get started, open the chat with your bot and send:

/start
Open @BotFather on Telegram

Discord Setup

Connect a Discord server to your agent.

Connect your agent to a Discord server. Your agent acts as a bot user that can read messages and reply in channels it has access to.

How to connect

  1. Go to the Discord Developer Portal.
  2. Click New Application and give it a name.
  3. Go to the Bot tab and reset/copy your Bot Token.
  4. Important: Scroll down and toggle "Message Content Intent" ON. Save changes.
  5. Go to OAuth2 > URL Generator. Check "bot" and permissions.
  6. Copy the generated URL and paste it in your browser to invite the bot to your server.
  7. Finally, paste the Bot Token into the Channels page in your dashboard to connect.

Permissions Required

Ensure the Bot has permissions to Read Messages, Send Messages, and Read Message History.

Connecting Skills

Extend your agent's capabilities by connecting tools.

Skills are what make your agent smart. Without skills, your agent is just a friendly chatbot. With skills, your agent becomes a powerful assistant.

How Skills Work

Your agent automatically decides when to use a skill based on your conversation. If you ask "What meetings do I have today?", the agent knows to use the Calendar skill.

Connecting a Skill

Connecting a skill is easy. Just ask your agent to do it!

You:

"Can you connect my Outlook?"

Agent:

"I'll set that up for you. Here is the link to authorize Outlook:"

https://skill.openclaw.com/auth/outlook/xyz123

Browse Available Skills

Examples & Use Cases

Ideas for how to use your new agent.

Once you have connected a Channel and enabled some Skills, your agent can help you in a variety of ways.

Scheduling & Calendar

  • "What's on my agenda for tomorrow?"
  • "Book a 30 min meeting with Sarah on Friday afternoon."

Email & Communication

  • "Check my unread emails from the boss."
  • "Draft an email to the team summarizing the new strategy."

Research & Data

  • "Search the web for the latest news on AI."
  • "Can you summarize this 20 page PDF for me?"

Tasks & Productivity

  • "Add 'buy milk' to my shopping list."
  • "Remind me in 2 hours to call mom."

Try asking your agent questions naturally, as if you were talking to a human assistant.