Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's Anthropic. Codex is OpenAI.
For what it's worth, codex doesn't yet seem to be aggressively terminating accounts or invalidating auth tokens if they detect usage in a non-first party tool. Whether that will continue to be the case or not a gamble though.
Ask HN: Who is using OpenClaw?
211–220 of 428 posts
Re: Ask HN: Who is using OpenClaw?
#212I find OpenClaw and (more so) Hermes Agent useful for software development, research, and writing - but I refuse to run them anywhere that is not deeply-sandboxed and has no access to most of my digital life data.
OK, everyone makes their own decisions re: privacy and security. Personally, I am comfortable running OpenClaw and Hermes Agent on a rented VPS (preferably in a docker container on a VPS) and allow limited access to (some of) my GitHub repos. Both tools are useful, even in such a limited mode of operation. I just don't see value vs. risk allowing access to email, messaging apps, access to my personal computer, etc.
It is close to zero overhead to SSH/Mosh to a VPS, get inside a container to work. Why risk infecting your personal or corporate computer?
Re: Ask HN: Who is using OpenClaw?
#213Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could this be a bit of a Dropbox moment? What it adds is making this kind of thing easy for normies , even if it's neither the best way to do things nor very difficult for hobbyists to do using existing tech. Maybe it's the wrong approach, maybe what people really want is more deterministic software that they use agents to help write. But this kind of thing can maybe serve as a prototyping phase for that. Perhaps in…
No, Dropbox had a defined use case and solved a particular problem. I was a fan of Dropbox when it game out because of that fact. OpenClaw does not serve a particular problem. When/if it does, I will happily use it. But no, the two couldn't be more different. You'll notice, yet again, in your very message you failed to mention one specific use case of OpenClaw. If you asked me the same about dropbox when it first cam…
It gives me a pleasant interface to talk to my desktop from my phone. I can just send my computer a discord message and have it execute some arbitrarily complex task for me.
Re: Ask HN: Who is using OpenClaw?
#214Earlier quoted context omitted.
I actually have a /loop running scheduled tasks like syncing customer data from routeboard (my job scheduler) and a flat file (MD and JSON) agentic CRM I have created that keeps tabs on the status of all the jobs, invoicing etc. This happens at 2am every day. The great things about NanoClaw is that its actually Claude running in an Apple Container on my Mac. I gave up on OpenClaw fairly quickly because it seems like…
Just be careful. By all accounts I don't believe that the subscription plans cover 3rd party harness support. You may be at risk of all of this being shut down. That's one of the reasons I haven't explored other harnesses. The main one being, I can accomplish everything they can from within CC with some extra steps I know how to do compliant with a CC Max Plan Terms of Service.
Yeah I know, I have experimented locally with CC channels - but it's brittle and buggy at the moment. I will give it another go in a few weeks once they iron out the kinks.
Re: Ask HN: Who is using OpenClaw?
#215I still use it and find it helpful. My OpenClaw instance uses an Obsidian project as its memory. Mainly, it's just my main day-to-day LLM that I access via WhatsApp, but instead of the memory being locked away with a specific vendor, it's stored in version control that I can read and edit. That reason alone makes it compelling to me. When a better LLM comes along, I can just switch, and my memory and system prompts c…
I used it very similarly to you, but found it to be about $3.50 per day, or $100 a month. It wasn't worth that.
Try opencode go using kimi - its more than enough for most usecases unless you try something really stupid that you shouldn't be getting openclaw to do directly, like coding.
Re: Ask HN: Who is using OpenClaw?
#216Nobody. Just another flash in the pan.
Re: Ask HN: Who is using OpenClaw?
#217I tinkered with Hermes yesterday but it still seems like a solution to a problem I don't have as a programmer.
Re: Ask HN: Who is using OpenClaw?
#218The main function of OpenClaw was for people to signal how advanced and cutting edge and thought-leader-y they were. All those Mac minis are sitting idle now.
I bought a Mac mini m4 before openclaw to use as a music production machine, when it turned out not to work out I tried setting up openclaw on it after hearing all the noise, but that turned out not to work out either. I’ve found a much better use for it now. I use it as a Tailscale + ssh + tmux + Claude code machine, which gives me an always on Claude code environment with persistent sessions. I ssh from my phone us…
That sounds like a complete waste tbh lol. Your mac mini m4 is now doing something any computer with 16GB of RAM can do
Re: Ask HN: Who is using OpenClaw?
#219Well i built an equivalent of OpenClaw using Claude Code and hooking it up with WhatsApp. For mew I'm currently using it for following things
1. Morning brief + meeting preps 2. Managing client work and action items (tracking status, deliverables, etc) 3. Executing our AI workflows on my laptop. We have built several AI workflows for our agency and this setup gives the ability to seamlessly execute and control them through both mobile and desktop
Next on my to-do list is to build additional workfows for me and my wife around family logistics (travel, childcare, etc)
Re: Ask HN: Who is using OpenClaw?
#220Yes. I had a spare M1 Mini so I decided to set it up. YOLOed the entire thing and connected all the integrations, though I only ever use Opus/Sonnet. I have a dedicated Discord server I use to communicate with it. It really is eye-opening how powerful it is once you connect your life to it. The biggest improvement is actually the trivial stuff — emailing contractors, accountants, etc. I no longer need to open another…
The email use case is interesting, though I feel like dictating via intermediary AI sounds more tedious to me than just using the email app on my phone.
I love the idea of AI agents writing emails that will only ever be read by AI agents.