NanoClaw
A lightweight, container-isolated AI assistant that connects to WhatsApp with memory, scheduled jobs, and agent swarms via Anthropic's Agents SDK.
At a Glance
Pricing
MIT-licensed open-source project, free to use and modify
Engagement
Available On
Developer
Updated Mar 2026
About NanoClaw
NanoClaw is a lightweight, open-source personal AI assistant built as a secure alternative to Clawdbot / OpenClaw. It runs inside isolated Linux containers on macOS or Linux, addressing the security concerns of larger agent frameworks by reducing the core logic to roughly 500 lines of TypeScript — making the entire system auditable in minutes rather than days.
NanoClaw connects to WhatsApp via the Baileys library and uses Anthropic's Claude Agent SDK to process messages inside isolated containers. Each chat group gets its own sandboxed environment with separate memory and filesystem access, preventing data leakage between contexts.
- Container Isolation - Agents run inside Apple Container (macOS) or Docker (Linux) with filesystem-level sandboxing, so commands execute in the container rather than on the host machine
- WhatsApp Integration - Send and receive messages through WhatsApp, including a private main channel for admin control and isolated group channels for different contexts
- Agent Swarms - Spin up teams of specialized agents that collaborate on complex tasks within a single chat, with each sub-agent maintaining its own memory context
- Scheduled Tasks - Configure recurring jobs that run Claude and message results back, such as daily pipeline briefings or weekly git history reviews
- Per-Group Memory - Each group maintains its own CLAUDE.md memory file and isolated filesystem, keeping conversations and data separate
- Web Access - Agents can search and fetch web content to incorporate real-time information into responses
- Skills-Based Extension - Instead of adding features to the codebase, contributors create Claude Code skill files that teach the AI how to transform installations, keeping each fork minimal and purpose-built
- AI-Native Setup - No configuration files or installation wizards; Claude Code guides the entire setup process including dependencies, authentication, and container configuration
- Single-Process Architecture - One Node.js process manages a per-group message queue with concurrency control, using SQLite for persistence and filesystem-based IPC
- Optional Integrations - Add Gmail, Telegram, Slack, and other services through community-contributed skills that rewrite the local codebase to fit exact needs
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Pricing
Open Source
MIT-licensed open-source project, free to use and modify
- Full source code access
- Container-isolated agent execution
- WhatsApp integration
- Agent swarms support
- Scheduled tasks
Capabilities
Key Features
- Container-isolated agent execution via Apple Container or Docker
- WhatsApp messaging integration with Baileys library
- Agent swarms with parallel specialized agents
- Scheduled recurring tasks with Claude execution
- Per-group isolated memory and filesystem context
- Web search and content fetching
- Skills-based extensibility via Claude Code skill files
- AI-native setup and configuration through Claude Code
- Single-process Node.js architecture with SQLite persistence
- Per-group message queue with concurrency control
- Filesystem-based IPC for container communication
- Optional Gmail integration via skills
- Main channel admin control for managing groups and tasks
- MIT licensed open-source codebase