Clawdbot is Now OpenClaw: Migration Guide and What Changed

Searching for Clawdbot? You are in the right place. Clawdbot AI has been rebranded and merged into OpenClaw, the unified open-source AI agent framework.

This guide covers the history, what changed, and how to migrate if you were running Clawdbot.

What was Clawdbot?

Clawdbot was a community-maintained fork of the Moltbot project that focused on tighter integration with Anthropic's Claude models. Where Moltbot aimed to be model-agnostic, Clawdbot optimized for Claude — offering better prompt templates, Claude-specific tool use patterns, and tighter integration with the Anthropic API.

Clawdbot gained a dedicated following among developers who preferred Claude models and wanted an agent tool tuned for that experience.

Why did Clawdbot merge into OpenClaw?

Community consolidation

Having multiple forks (Moltbot, Clawdbot, and others) split the community. Bug fixes, features, and documentation were spread across repositories. Contributors had to choose which fork to work on, and users were confused about which version to use.

Technical convergence

As OpenClaw matured, it absorbed the best Claude-specific features from Clawdbot. The model-agnostic architecture now includes Claude-optimized prompt templates and tool use patterns natively, making a separate fork unnecessary.

Sustainability

A single, well-funded open-source project is more sustainable than multiple fragmented forks. The OpenClaw foundation provides governance, funding, and long-term maintenance that a community fork could not guarantee.

Clawdbot vs. OpenClaw: what is different?

If you were a Clawdbot user, here is what changed:

What you gain by moving to OpenClaw

• Model flexibility — Try GPT-4o, Gemini 2.5 Pro, or local models without changing tools
• Larger plugin ecosystem — Access to all OpenClaw community plugins
• Better documentation — Comprehensive guides, API reference, and tutorials
• Active development — More frequent releases and faster bug fixes
• Improved security — Stronger sandboxing and permission controls

What you might miss

• Simplicity — Clawdbot was smaller and easier to understand. OpenClaw has more features, which means more configuration
• Claude defaults — Clawdbot defaulted to Claude for everything. In OpenClaw, you configure your model explicitly

How to migrate from Clawdbot to OpenClaw

Step 1: Uninstall Clawdbot

npm uninstall -g clawdbot

Step 2: Install OpenClaw

npm install -g openclaw

Step 3: Migrate your config

# Copy your config
mkdir -p ~/.openclaw
cp ~/.clawdbot/config.yaml ~/.openclaw/config.yaml

If your Clawdbot config did not specify a model provider (since it defaulted to Claude), add it explicitly:

# ~/.openclaw/config.yaml
model:
  provider: anthropic
  model: claude-sonnet-4-6
  api_key: sk-ant-your-key-here

Step 4: Migrate plugins

If you had Clawdbot-specific plugins, check the OpenClaw plugin registry for equivalents. Most Clawdbot plugins have been ported to OpenClaw or replaced by built-in tools.

For custom plugins you wrote yourself, the API is compatible. Just update the import:

# Before
from clawdbot import ClawdbotTool
 
# After
from openclaw import OpenClawTool

Step 5: Update scripts and aliases

# Before
clawdbot run "Install dependencies and run tests"
 
# After
openclaw run "Install dependencies and run tests"

Step 6: Verify

openclaw --version
openclaw run "Confirm migration is working"

Will Clawdbot continue to work?

The clawdbot npm package has been deprecated with a notice pointing to OpenClaw. The GitHub repository now redirects to the OpenClaw repo. No new releases will ship under the Clawdbot name.

The team recommends migrating within the next few weeks. There is no hard deadline, but you will not receive security updates on the deprecated package.

Clawdbot's legacy in OpenClaw

Clawdbot's contributions live on in OpenClaw:

• Claude-optimized prompts — The prompt engineering from Clawdbot is now part of OpenClaw's default Claude configuration
• Tool use patterns — Clawdbot's approach to Claude tool use is the standard in OpenClaw
• Community members — Most Clawdbot maintainers now contribute to OpenClaw
• Documentation — Clawdbot's Claude-specific guides have been integrated into OpenClaw's docs

When an agent tool is not enough

Whether you used Clawdbot, Moltbot, or are starting fresh with OpenClaw, there is a common pattern: developers start by using an agent tool for themselves, then want to build something for other people.

The jump from "local agent" to "product" requires a completely different set of infrastructure:

• Authentication — Let users sign up and manage their accounts
• Web UI — Not everyone wants to use a terminal
• Payments — Charge for usage with subscriptions or per-use billing
• Database — Store user data, conversation history, and generated content
• API design — Expose your AI features through clean, documented endpoints
• Deployment — Ship to Vercel, AWS, or any cloud platform

These are not things you bolt onto an agent framework. They are the foundation of a product.

From the maker

From agent user to product builder

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Founder, Beatchurn.com

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Further reading

• What is OpenClaw? — Complete framework overview
• How to Install OpenClaw — Fresh installation guide
• Moltbot is now OpenClaw — The other legacy brand migration
• OpenClaw Security & Privacy — Security model deep dive
• OpenClaw Alternatives — All your options compared