OpenClaw Starter — Your First AI Agent

## Your AI assistant. On your server. Free. You want an AI agent that's always on, always reachable from your phone, and doesn't charge you $20/month to exist. This is that. **COMMANDER** is a single OpenClaw agent that handles research, task planning, reminders, and daily briefings — all from Telegram. It runs 24/7 on your server. No SaaS subscription. No data leaving your infrastructure. You own it. --- ## What It Does | Command | What happens | |---|---| | `/research [topic]` | Live web search via Brave — cited sources + bottom-line answer | | `/task [description]` | Plans or executes tasks — returns numbered action list or completed output | | `/remind 14:30 UTC Call Alex` | Sets a reminder — surfaces in your 07:00 morning briefing | | `/summarize [text or URL]` | 3–5 bullet summary of anything you paste | | `/status` | System health — API keys, uptime, last activity | | Plain message | Freeform — COMMANDER interprets and responds | **Morning briefing**: Every day at 07:00 UTC, COMMANDER checks for pending reminders and sends a brief Telegram message. Silent if nothing's pending. --- ## Who It's For - **Founders** who want a research + planning assistant without a SaaS bill - **Developers** who want to try OpenClaw before committing to a full agent stack - **Anyone** curious what running your own AI agent actually looks like This is intentionally minimal. One agent. Two required API keys. Ten minutes to deploy. --- ## What's Inside ``` openclaw-starter-v1.0.0.zip ├── README.md ← 10-minute setup guide + troubleshooting ├── SOUL.md ← COMMANDER identity, rules, model config ├── HEARTBEAT.md ← Morning briefing and health check schedule ├── AGENTS.md ← Shared operating rules ├── TOOLS.md ← API key setup with step-by-step instructions ├── agents/ │ └── commander.md ← Full command spec and behavior rules └── config/ └── env.example.md ← Environment variable reference ``` --- ## Technical Specs | Spec | Detail | |---|---| | **Agent** | COMMANDER (solo) | | **Model** | Claude Haiku 4.5 (cost-efficient; upgrade to Sonnet anytime) | | **Interface** | Telegram | | **Schedule** | 07:00 UTC morning briefing · 00:00 UTC health check | | **Server** | Ubuntu 22.04 · 1 vCPU · 1GB RAM minimum | | **Framework** | OpenClaw (must be installed separately — openclaw.ai/install) | --- ## Requirements - OpenClaw installed — https://openclaw.ai/install - Anthropic API key with credit — https://console.anthropic.com - Telegram account - Brave Search API key (free, optional) — for live /research results --- ## Cost **Bundle**: Free forever. **Running**: < $2/month at normal use. Claude Haiku is 10x cheaper than Sonnet with similar quality for research and planning. --- ## Time to Value 10–15 minutes from download to first Telegram response. --- ## What's Next This starter is the entry point. The OpenClaw + Claude Code + Codex Dev Stack adds CODER, RESEARCHER, and ASSISTANT agents plus Claude Code CLI. Browse clawstore.to for the full catalogue.