Question 1

What is ZeroClaw?

Accepted Answer

ZeroClaw is a runtime operating system for agentic workflows — a lightweight, trait-driven infrastructure for building and deploying autonomous AI agents. Written entirely in Rust, it abstracts models, tools, memory, and execution so agents can be deployed anywhere with minimal overhead. It runs on hardware as small as $10 boards with less than 5MB RAM.

Question 2

How do I install ZeroClaw?

Accepted Answer

There are multiple ways to install ZeroClaw: (1) Homebrew: `brew install zeroclaw` (macOS/Linux), (2) One-click bootstrap: clone the repo and run `./bootstrap.sh`, (3) Pre-built binaries for Linux (x86_64, aarch64, armv7), macOS (x86_64, aarch64), and Windows (x86_64) from GitHub Releases, or (4) Build from source with `cargo build --release --locked`.

Question 3

What is the difference between ZeroClaw and OpenClaw?

Accepted Answer

ZeroClaw and OpenClaw are both AI agent frameworks, but they differ fundamentally. ZeroClaw is a Rust-based runtime OS using less than 5MB RAM with sub-10ms cold starts, while OpenClaw is TypeScript-based using over 1GB RAM with 500s+ startup times. ZeroClaw uses a trait-driven architecture where every subsystem (providers, channels, tools, memory, tunnels) is swappable. It is designed for edge hardware and low-cost deployment.

Question 4

What AI models and providers does ZeroClaw support?

Accepted Answer

ZeroClaw supports multiple AI providers out of the box with no vendor lock-in. It is compatible with OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude), OpenRouter, Ollama (for local models), and any custom OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Providers are implemented as swappable traits, so you can easily switch between cloud APIs and self-hosted models like Llama, Mistral, or Qwen without changing your agent code.

Question 5

Is ZeroClaw free to use?

Accepted Answer

Yes, ZeroClaw is completely free and open-source under a dual Apache-2.0 OR MIT license. You can use it for personal, commercial, or enterprise projects without any licensing fees.

Question 6

How secure is ZeroClaw? What security features does it have?

Accepted Answer

ZeroClaw is built with a security-first architecture. It features gateway pairing with device codes, deny-by-default channel allowlists, filesystem sandboxing with workspace scoping, rate limiting, and encrypted credential storage. For Docker deployments, it runs in a fully sandboxed environment. Every external access requires explicit allowlisting, making it suitable for production and enterprise use cases.

Question 7

Can I run ZeroClaw with Docker?

Accepted Answer

Yes, ZeroClaw supports Docker as a sandboxed runtime environment. You can run the agent, gateway, or daemon inside Docker containers for isolation and easy deployment. Docker is one of the two supported runtimes (Native and Docker). This makes it straightforward to deploy ZeroClaw in cloud environments, Kubernetes clusters, or any containerized infrastructure.

Question 8

What messaging channels does ZeroClaw support?

Accepted Answer

ZeroClaw supports 15+ messaging channels including CLI, Telegram, Discord, Slack, Mattermost, Matrix, Signal, iMessage, WhatsApp, Lark, DingTalk, Nostr, Email, IRC, Webhook, QQ, and Linq. Each channel implements a common trait for easy integration.

Question 9

How do I build and deploy an AI agent with ZeroClaw?

Accepted Answer

After installing ZeroClaw, you can start an interactive agent session with `zeroclaw agent`, or send a single message with `zeroclaw agent -m "your message"`. For always-on deployment, use `zeroclaw daemon` to run in the background and `zeroclaw gateway` to expose it via a secure gateway. ZeroClaw's trait-driven architecture lets you configure providers, channels, tools, memory backends to build agents tailored to your specific use case.

Question 10

What is ZeroClaw's memory system?

Accepted Answer

ZeroClaw includes a custom full-stack search engine with zero external dependencies — no Pinecone or Elasticsearch required. It uses a hybrid approach combining vector storage (embeddings as SQLite BLOB with cosine similarity), keyword search (FTS5 with BM25 scoring), and weighted merge of both. It also supports PostgreSQL, Markdown files, or no memory backend.

Question 11

Can ZeroClaw run on Raspberry Pi or edge devices?

Accepted Answer

Yes, ZeroClaw is specifically designed for edge and embedded deployment. With less than 5MB runtime RAM, an 8.8MB single binary, and sub-10ms cold starts, it runs efficiently on Raspberry Pi, ARM-based SBCs, and other low-cost hardware starting from $10. Supported architectures include x86_64, aarch64, and armv7 on Linux, macOS (including Apple Silicon), and Windows.

Question 12

Is ZeroClaw a good alternative to LangChain or AutoGPT?

Accepted Answer

ZeroClaw takes a different approach compared to Python-based frameworks like LangChain or AutoGPT. As a Rust-based runtime OS, it focuses on performance (sub-10ms startup, <5MB RAM), security (sandboxing, allowlists), and portability (runs on edge devices to cloud). If you need a lightweight, production-ready agent infrastructure with built-in multi-channel support and no vendor lock-in, ZeroClaw is a compelling alternative.

Question 13

Where can I get help with ZeroClaw?

Accepted Answer

The best places to get help are the official GitHub Discussions page, the ZeroClaw community on Telegram (@zeroclawlabs), X/Twitter (@zeroclawlabs), Reddit (r/zeroclawlabs), and the documentation at zeroclawlabs.ai. You can also check our guides section for common setup and troubleshooting topics.

Question 14

I searched for "zerclaw" — did you mean ZeroClaw?

Accepted Answer

Yes! "Zerclaw" is a common misspelling of ZeroClaw. You are in the right place. ZeroClaw (sometimes misspelled as ZerClaw or Zerclaw) is the runtime operating system for agentic workflows. Check out our guides and release notes to get started.

Question 15

Is this site affiliated with ZeroClaw?

Accepted Answer

No. ZeroClawGuide is an independent community site. We aggregate release information, write guides, and track community activity to help users stay informed. We are not affiliated with the official ZeroClaw project or zeroclaw-labs. The project is also not affiliated with openagen/zeroclaw, zeroclaw.org, or zeroclaw.net.

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