- OpenClaw is a self-hosted messaging gateway that connects WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, and iMessage to AI coding agents.
- The gateway is a single long-running process on your machine that maintains persistent connections to messaging platforms (WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, etc.).
- When a message arrives on any channel, the gateway routes it to an agent that can execute tools locally—file operations, shell commands, browser automation letting you self-host the entire stack: you own the connections, the config, and the execution environment.
- OpenClaw is fully self-hosted on your machine, with many more supported integrations.