{"slug": "zeroclaw", "name": "ZeroClaw", "category": "ai", "category_name": "AI models and assistants", "description": "", "recommenders": 2, "commenters": 5, "warners": 0, "score": 2.556, "rising": -0.65, "first": "2026-02-25", "latest": "2026-10-06", "why": "I switched to ZeroClaw as the project is much smaller in terms of features and lines of code so I felt it was much more manageable.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 3, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": false, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I switched to ZeroClaw as the project is much smaller in terms of features and lines of code so I felt it was much more manageable.", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["ZeroClaw", "Zeroclaw", "zeroclaw"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 764638176, "item_id": 47789886, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47789886", "by": "jusasiiv", "date": "2026-04-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to ZeroClaw as the project is much smaller in terms of features and lines of code so I felt it was much more manageable.", "excerpt": "I see some creative usage from other people for OpenClaw. My usage basically boiled down to commanding it via WhatsApp. What I mostly used the agent was mundane tasks like fetching information, creating documents for my work etc. Being able to schedule something is great, although OpenClaw quickly got confused about the cron tasks it had. I switched to ZeroClaw as the project is much smaller in terms of features and ", "context": "", "use_case": "AI agent for scheduled tasks", "switched_from": "OpenClaw", "story": "Is anyone actually using OpenClaw?"}, {"id": 754955136, "item_id": 47184696, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47184696", "by": "Frannky", "date": "2026-02-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recently installed Zeroclaw instead of OpenClaw on a new VPS(It seems a little safer).", "excerpt": "I recently installed Zeroclaw instead of OpenClaw on a new VPS(It seems a little safer). It wasn\u2019t as straightforward as OpenClaw, but it was easy to setup. I added skills that call endpoints and also cron jobs to trigger recurrent skills. The endpoints are hosted on a separate VPS running FastAPI (Hetzner, ~$12/month for two vps). I\u2019m assuming the claw might eventually be compromised. If that happens, the damage is ", "context": "", "use_case": "running an AI agent on a VPS", "switched_from": "OpenClaw", "story": "Don't run OpenClaw on your main machine"}, {"id": 754516944, "item_id": 47157309, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47157309", "by": "Frannky", "date": "2026-02-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recently installed Zeroclaw instead of OpenClaw on a new VPS(It seems a little safer).", "excerpt": "I recently installed Zeroclaw instead of OpenClaw on a new VPS(It seems a little safer). It wasn\u2019t as straightforward as OpenClaw, but it was easy to setup. I added skills that call endpoints and also cron jobs to trigger recurrent skills. The endpoints are hosted on a separate VPS running FastAPI (Hetzner, ~$12/month for two vps). I\u2019m assuming the claw might eventually be compromised. If that happens, the damage is ", "context": "", "use_case": "agent on a VPS", "switched_from": "OpenClaw", "story": "Sandboxes won't save you from OpenClaw"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "lrvick", "context": "runs open models locally, QubesOS user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49985305", "date": "2026-10-06"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["persistent automation like home assistant", "agent assistant", "ai agent for scheduled tasks", "running agent with local model", "running an ai agent on a vps", "agent on a vps"], "compared": [{"slug": "openclaw", "name": "OpenClaw", "co": 5, "switched_from": 3, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "glm", "name": "GLM", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "fastapi", "name": "FastAPI", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47783940", "title": "Is anyone actually using OpenClaw?", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49977588", "title": "Meta\u2019s Muse is an adorable privacy and security dumpster fire", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47292522", "title": "How to run Qwen 3.5 locally", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47183503", "title": "Don't run OpenClaw on your main machine", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47154803", "title": "Sandboxes won't save you from OpenClaw", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 799764881, "item_id": 49985305, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49985305", "by": "lrvick", "date": "2026-10-06", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I am playing with zeroclaw", "excerpt": "My go to right now is jcode, and doing a lot of one-shot experiments. Like I have a session being my MPD DJ as my local spotify right now. That said for persistent things like interfacing with homeassistant etc I am playing with zeroclaw. I run the same model as you for coding. For more sane automation tasks i recommend doing everything possible with MPCs so you can tell it to only use existing tools. ymmv By no mean", "context": "runs open models locally, QubesOS user", "use_case": "persistent automation like Home Assistant", "switched_from": "", "story": "Meta\u2019s Muse is an adorable privacy and security dumpster fire"}, {"id": 764723233, "item_id": 47795202, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47795202", "by": "devashish86", "date": "2026-04-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I'm running a few instances of OpenClaw(and Zeroclaw).", "excerpt": "I'm running a few instances of OpenClaw(and Zeroclaw). I use it for a few things 1. Experimenting with local models. OpenClaw uses local inference on a DGX Spark machine. Helps me understand how different, newer models work and behave 2. Bot 1 helps me maintain a personal project. It sits in discord channel and I throw ideas at it, ask it to log issues, give me priorities, update docs etc. Basically maintenance work ", "context": "", "use_case": "agent assistant", "switched_from": "", "story": "Is anyone actually using OpenClaw?"}, {"id": 764638176, "item_id": 47789886, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47789886", "by": "jusasiiv", "date": "2026-04-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched to ZeroClaw as the project is much smaller in terms of features and lines of code so I felt it was much more manageable.", "excerpt": "I see some creative usage from other people for OpenClaw. My usage basically boiled down to commanding it via WhatsApp. What I mostly used the agent was mundane tasks like fetching information, creating documents for my work etc. Being able to schedule something is great, although OpenClaw quickly got confused about the cron tasks it had. I switched to ZeroClaw as the project is much smaller in terms of features and ", "context": "", "use_case": "AI agent for scheduled tasks", "switched_from": "OpenClaw", "story": "Is anyone actually using OpenClaw?"}, {"id": 756758770, "item_id": 47297423, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47297423", "by": "benbojangles", "date": "2026-03-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "qwen3.5:2b locally on a meta quest 3 with zeroclaw", "excerpt": "I'm running Qwen3.5:0.8b locally on an Orangepi Zero 2w using llama.cpp, runs just fine on cpu only. If I want vulkan GPU I have run qwen3.5:2b locally on a meta quest 3 with zeroclaw and saved myself hundreds of $$$ buying a low power computer. I recommend people stop shopping around for inflated mac minis and look at getting a used android phone to load local models on.", "context": "", "use_case": "running agent with local model", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to run Qwen 3.5 locally"}, {"id": 754955136, "item_id": 47184696, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47184696", "by": "Frannky", "date": "2026-02-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recently installed Zeroclaw instead of OpenClaw on a new VPS(It seems a little safer).", "excerpt": "I recently installed Zeroclaw instead of OpenClaw on a new VPS(It seems a little safer). It wasn\u2019t as straightforward as OpenClaw, but it was easy to setup. I added skills that call endpoints and also cron jobs to trigger recurrent skills. The endpoints are hosted on a separate VPS running FastAPI (Hetzner, ~$12/month for two vps). I\u2019m assuming the claw might eventually be compromised. If that happens, the damage is ", "context": "", "use_case": "running an AI agent on a VPS", "switched_from": "OpenClaw", "story": "Don't run OpenClaw on your main machine"}, {"id": 754516944, "item_id": 47157309, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47157309", "by": "Frannky", "date": "2026-02-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recently installed Zeroclaw instead of OpenClaw on a new VPS(It seems a little safer).", "excerpt": "I recently installed Zeroclaw instead of OpenClaw on a new VPS(It seems a little safer). It wasn\u2019t as straightforward as OpenClaw, but it was easy to setup. I added skills that call endpoints and also cron jobs to trigger recurrent skills. The endpoints are hosted on a separate VPS running FastAPI (Hetzner, ~$12/month for two vps). I\u2019m assuming the claw might eventually be compromised. If that happens, the damage is ", "context": "", "use_case": "agent on a VPS", "switched_from": "OpenClaw", "story": "Sandboxes won't save you from OpenClaw"}]}