{"slug": "picoclaw", "name": "picoclaw", "category": "ai", "category_name": "AI tools and apps", "description": "", "recommenders": 6, "commenters": 8, "warners": 1, "score": 4.794, "rising": 0.69, "first": "2026-02-21", "latest": "2026-09-13", "why": "I eventually settled on trying picoclaw[1] because it was extremely small, fast, and had enough features", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 6, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 2, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I eventually settled on trying picoclaw[1] because it was extremely small, fast, and had enough features", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/sipeed/picoclaw", "official_url": "https://github.com/sipeed/picoclaw", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["picoclaw", "PicoClaw"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 795005040, "item_id": 49687815, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49687815", "by": "schrodinger", "date": "2026-09-13", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This philosophy is what I love about PicoClaw", "excerpt": "This is a great point, analogous to the https://boringtechnology.club/ philosophy I've come to love. There's no reason we need to make an incredibly intelligent shell execution engine that can identify patterns that seem evil and may represent unwanted behavior to solve this problem. Simply limiting the available tools to a finite, known, ironclad-secure set (even if it's quite sprawling) is sufficient. LLMs will sti", "context": "", "use_case": "minimal AI agent", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why are AI agents lying, cheating and coordinating?"}, {"id": 792187569, "item_id": 49511723, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49511723", "by": "saratogacx", "date": "2026-08-31", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I eventually settled on trying picoclaw[1] because it was extremely small, fast, and had enough features", "excerpt": "When I tried OpenClaw it quickly turned into a lethargic mess which I really didn't see myself wanting to maintain long term. I looked at other alternatives which were similar enough to do what I was looking for (mostly scheduled tasks using data on my computer and some API data). I saw a mention of nanoclaw which I looked at but didn't try personally. I eventually settled on trying picoclaw[1] because it was extreme", "context": "", "use_case": "Scheduled tasks and API data", "switched_from": "OpenClaw", "story": "OpenClaw 2.0, Accidentally"}, {"id": 770683056, "item_id": 48167691, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48167691", "by": "throwa356262", "date": "2026-05-17", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "See projects such as picoclaw, nullclaw and more.", "excerpt": "While we are not there yet, people are looking into running agents in esp32 and alike. See projects such as picoclaw, nullclaw and more. https://github.com/sipeed/picoclaw https://github.com/nullclaw/nullclaw", "context": "", "use_case": "Running agents on microcontrollers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Zerostack \u2013 A Unix-inspired coding agent written in pure Rust"}, {"id": 755684577, "item_id": 47230286, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47230286", "by": "theshrike79", "date": "2026-03-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "And it just worked.", "excerpt": "I'm a skeptic myself and a long-time developer. But I do have to admit there's a nugget of truth in the Claws. I installed picoclaw on a whim (or nano? can't remember). In maybe 15 minutes I had it make a \"get weather for this specific area using the met.no API\" skill and \"check the train tables at these two stops for this specific line\" skill. Then I could just say \"I go to the office every Monday on a train that le", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenClaw Surpasses React to Become the Most-Starred Software Project on GitHub"}, {"id": 753816736, "item_id": 47113546, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47113546", "by": "IceWreck", "date": "2026-02-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been using https://github.com/sipeed/picoclaw", "excerpt": "I've been using https://github.com/sipeed/picoclaw", "context": "", "use_case": "Lightweight AI agent", "switched_from": "", "story": "zclaw: Personal AI assistant in under 888 KB, running on an ESP32"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 759445170, "item_id": 47465323, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47465323", "by": "Imustaskforhelp", "date": "2026-03-21", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "they were all really hard to manage/create", "excerpt": "I tried running Opencode on my 7$/yr 512mb vps but it had the OOM issue and yes it needs 1GB of ram or more. I then tried running other options like picoclaw/picocode etc but they were all really hard to manage/create The UI/UX I want is that I can just put my free openrouter api key in and then I am ready to go to get access to free models like Arcee AI right now After reading your comments/I read this thread, I tri", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenCode \u2013 The open source AI coding agent"}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["minimal ai agent", "scheduled tasks and api data", "running agents on microcontrollers", "lightweight ai agent"], "compared": [{"slug": "openclaw", "name": "OpenClaw", "co": 4, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "nanoclaw", "name": "NanoClaw", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49678969", "title": "Why are AI agents lying, cheating and coordinating?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49505310", "title": "OpenClaw 2.0, Accidentally", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48164287", "title": "Zerostack \u2013 A Unix-inspired coding agent written in pure Rust", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47889911", "title": "Show HN: Moltnet \u2013 open-source local chat for AI agents", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47460525", "title": "OpenCode \u2013 The open source AI coding agent", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47217812", "title": "OpenClaw Surpasses React to Become the Most-Starred Software Project on GitHub", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1, "warn": 1}, "2026-04": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 795005040, "item_id": 49687815, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49687815", "by": "schrodinger", "date": "2026-09-13", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This philosophy is what I love about PicoClaw", "excerpt": "This is a great point, analogous to the https://boringtechnology.club/ philosophy I've come to love. There's no reason we need to make an incredibly intelligent shell execution engine that can identify patterns that seem evil and may represent unwanted behavior to solve this problem. Simply limiting the available tools to a finite, known, ironclad-secure set (even if it's quite sprawling) is sufficient. LLMs will sti", "context": "", "use_case": "minimal AI agent", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why are AI agents lying, cheating and coordinating?"}, {"id": 792187569, "item_id": 49511723, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49511723", "by": "saratogacx", "date": "2026-08-31", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I eventually settled on trying picoclaw[1] because it was extremely small, fast, and had enough features", "excerpt": "When I tried OpenClaw it quickly turned into a lethargic mess which I really didn't see myself wanting to maintain long term. I looked at other alternatives which were similar enough to do what I was looking for (mostly scheduled tasks using data on my computer and some API data). I saw a mention of nanoclaw which I looked at but didn't try personally. I eventually settled on trying picoclaw[1] because it was extreme", "context": "", "use_case": "Scheduled tasks and API data", "switched_from": "OpenClaw", "story": "OpenClaw 2.0, Accidentally"}, {"id": 770683056, "item_id": 48167691, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48167691", "by": "throwa356262", "date": "2026-05-17", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "See projects such as picoclaw, nullclaw and more.", "excerpt": "While we are not there yet, people are looking into running agents in esp32 and alike. See projects such as picoclaw, nullclaw and more. https://github.com/sipeed/picoclaw https://github.com/nullclaw/nullclaw", "context": "", "use_case": "Running agents on microcontrollers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Zerostack \u2013 A Unix-inspired coding agent written in pure Rust"}, {"id": 766239684, "item_id": 47889980, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47889980", "by": "apresmoi", "date": "2026-04-24", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "agents running in Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw, PicoClaw, and TinyClaw", "excerpt": "Hi HN, I built Moltnet, a local chat network for AI agents, its opensource!! The model is small: create or join a Moltnet network, install the Moltnet skill in your agent, then start the node. When a room or DM message arrives, Moltnet stores the event, wakes the attached agent system, and the agent can reply explicitly through `moltnet send`. I built it because I wanted agents running in Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Moltnet \u2013 open-source local chat for AI agents"}, {"id": 759445170, "item_id": 47465323, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47465323", "by": "Imustaskforhelp", "date": "2026-03-21", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "they were all really hard to manage/create", "excerpt": "I tried running Opencode on my 7$/yr 512mb vps but it had the OOM issue and yes it needs 1GB of ram or more. I then tried running other options like picoclaw/picocode etc but they were all really hard to manage/create The UI/UX I want is that I can just put my free openrouter api key in and then I am ready to go to get access to free models like Arcee AI right now After reading your comments/I read this thread, I tri", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenCode \u2013 The open source AI coding agent"}, {"id": 755684577, "item_id": 47230286, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47230286", "by": "theshrike79", "date": "2026-03-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "And it just worked.", "excerpt": "I'm a skeptic myself and a long-time developer. But I do have to admit there's a nugget of truth in the Claws. I installed picoclaw on a whim (or nano? can't remember). In maybe 15 minutes I had it make a \"get weather for this specific area using the met.no API\" skill and \"check the train tables at these two stops for this specific line\" skill. Then I could just say \"I go to the office every Monday on a train that le", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenClaw Surpasses React to Become the Most-Starred Software Project on GitHub"}, {"id": 753816736, "item_id": 47113546, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47113546", "by": "IceWreck", "date": "2026-02-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been using https://github.com/sipeed/picoclaw", "excerpt": "I've been using https://github.com/sipeed/picoclaw", "context": "", "use_case": "Lightweight AI agent", "switched_from": "", "story": "zclaw: Personal AI assistant in under 888 KB, running on an ESP32"}, {"id": 753594832, "item_id": 47099677, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47099677", "by": "fxj", "date": "2026-02-21", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "picoclaw which even runs on $10 hardware", "excerpt": "He also talks about picoclaw which even runs on $10 hardware and is a fork by sipeed, a chinese company who does IoT. https://github.com/sipeed/picoclaw another chinese coompany m5stack provides local LLMs like Qwen2.5-1.5B running on a local IoT device. https://shop.m5stack.com/products/m5stack-llm-large-language-model-module-kit-ax630c Imagine the possibilities. Soon we will see claw-in-a-box for less than $50.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Andrej Karpathy talks about \"Claws\""}]}