AlphaClaw

What is AlphaClaw?

AlphaClaw is an open source OpenClaw harness and fleet manager to deploy, monitor, and scale OpenClaw agents with self-healing and browser controls.

It wraps the OpenClaw CLI and manages a gateway lifecycle under a self-healing watchdog. The project also provides browser-based tooling (dashboard, terminal, file browsing) and workflow helpers for versioning, prompt hardening, and channel orchestration.

Key Features

• Self-healing watchdog (crash detection and recovery): Detects crashes and recovers from crash loops, including auto-repair using openclaw doctor --fix, with notifications via Telegram, Discord, and Slack.
• Automatic Git backups with hourly commits: Creates automatic hourly commits of each agent workspace to GitHub so agent actions and changes are versioned and auditable.
• Setup UI (browser dashboard): Provides a web interface for onboarding and configuring providers and channels, aiming to reduce reliance on manual configuration files.
• Multi-agent management: Create, rename, and delete agents; view per-agent overview cards; bind channels per agent; and use isolated workspaces.
• Drift Doctor prompt hardening: Injects anti-drift prompt hardening into messages to enforce safe practices and commit discipline.
• Web terminal and file explorer: Offers a live interactive terminal for monitoring gateway output and running commands from the browser, plus a Git-aware file explorer with diff view and sync.
• Webhooks with transform modules and logging: Supports named endpoints, request logging, payload inspection, and OAuth callback handling.
• Cron visibility: Provides an interactive run-history calendar, run drilldowns, trend analytics, and per-run usage breakdowns.

How to Use AlphaClaw

1. Deploy AlphaClaw using one of the supported options described on the site: download for macOS, one-click templates (Railway), deploy to Render, self-host via Docker or CLI, or local setup.
2. Start the local harness (as shown in the example) with the provided command (e.g., npx alphaclaw start) to launch the Setup UI and begin the OpenClaw gateway.
3. Use the Setup UI to onboard and configure providers/channels, then create agents and bind channels to each agent as needed.
4. Operate through the dashboard: use the web terminal and file explorer for monitoring and quick adjustments without SSH.
5. Keep agents running: AlphaClaw’s watchdog stays active to monitor health and perform crash-loop recovery/auto-repair. Git backups and drift hardening apply to help keep work versioned and messages consistent.

Use Cases

• Long-running agent operations without manual intervention: Run multiple OpenClaw agents continuously while the watchdog monitors health, detects crashes, and performs recovery/auto-repair.
• Team workflows that require auditable changes: Use automatic hourly Git commits of agent workspaces to GitHub so changes and actions remain versioned.
• Channel-based agent deployments (Telegram/Discord/Slack): Pair agents with specific channel bindings and use the orchestration wizard (including multi-threaded Telegram topics) to route requests to the right agent.
• Debugging and monitoring from the browser: Use the web terminal to observe gateway output and run commands, and use the file explorer/diff view to make and review updates without SSH.
• API integrations using webhook endpoints: Define named webhook endpoints with transform modules, inspect payloads via request logging, and support OAuth callback flows for compatible integrations.

FAQ

• Is AlphaClaw open source? Yes. The site states “Open source” and describes AlphaClaw as open source.

• Does AlphaClaw require SSH access to manage agents? The feature set emphasizes “No SSH, no config files needed” and provides browser-based terminal/file tools for monitoring and actions.

• How does AlphaClaw keep agents running after failures? It uses a self-healing watchdog for crash detection and crash-loop recovery, including auto-repair via openclaw doctor --fix.

• How are agent workspace changes tracked? AlphaClaw performs automatic hourly commits of the workspace to GitHub so actions and changes are versioned and auditable.

• What is drift hardening in AlphaClaw? The Drift Doctor feature injects anti-drift prompt hardening into messages and enforces safe practices and commit discipline.

Alternatives

• Self-hosted OpenClaw CLI without a fleet manager: You can run OpenClaw directly, but you would need to build your own orchestration, monitoring, and browser-based operations (and would not get the self-healing harness and dashboard features described here).
• Generic process managers (for example, container orchestration + health checks): Container/process tooling can restart services and monitor health, but it typically won’t provide the OpenClaw-specific features like Drift Doctor, Git-aware workspace browsing/diffing, or the Setup UI for providers/channels.
• Custom webhook/orchestration + Git-based logging: You could implement webhooks and use Git for versioning, but you would have to recreate fleet-level agent management, crash recovery automation, and the unified dashboard experience.
• Other agent management dashboards (category: agent ops/monitoring platforms): If you’re looking for centralized views and operational controls, choose an agent ops tool that provides monitoring and routing; compare whether it offers self-healing recovery, workspace versioning, and OpenClaw-specific workflow support.