{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "ironclaw", "name": "IronClaw", "vendor": "NEAR AI", "vendorUrl": "https://www.ironclaw.com", "kind": "harness", "category": "personal-assistants", "summary": "IronClaw is an open-source personal AI assistant written in Rust by NEAR AI. The owner runs it as a local service with a web interface, Slack and Telegram channels, Google and GitHub extensions, scheduled automations and persistent memory.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ironclaw", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ironclaw.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ironclaw.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ironclaw.json", "repo": "https://github.com/nearai/ironclaw", "license": "MIT OR Apache-2.0", "transports": [ "http" ], "packages": [], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "`ironclaw onboard` writes a bearer token to `~/.ironclaw/reborn/webui-token` and prints a login link that carries it as a `token` query parameter. The same token authorises the web interface and the Responses API with operator rights. Multi-user deployments can add Google or GitHub single sign-on and per-user API tokens with owner, admin or member roles. Connected accounts use OAuth (Google, Slack), a Telegram pairing code, or keys held in the encrypted secret store. The web interface binds to 127.0.0.1:3000 unless `--host` is changed (https://docs.ironclaw.com/using/webui.md).", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "Free to self-host under MIT or Apache-2.0, with model usage billed by whichever provider the owner selects, or nothing with Ollama. NEAR AI sells hosted instances on ironclaw.com as Starter (shown as $5 beside $0 a month, 1 agent, $5 credits), Basic at $20 a month (2 agents, $20 credits) and Pro+ at $200 a month (5 agents, $200 credits). The page does not say whether a card is needed. NEAR AI Cloud inference is priced per million tokens on near.ai/pricing (checked 2026-10-12).", "priceSummary": "$20 / mo", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs or the release notes (checked 2026-10-12).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 12648, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-12" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.ironclaw.com", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.ironclaw.com/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "assistant.proactive", "assistant.messaging", "assistant.accounts", "assistant.memory", "assistant.self-hosted", "agent.mcp-client" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "self-hosted", "rust", "wasm", "telegram", "slack", "gmail", "mcp", "hosted-option", "llms-txt" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-29", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 66.7, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 288, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 986, "categoryRank": 5, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 69, "maintenance": 74, "payments": 60, "reliability": 67, "schema": 74, "security": 66, "transparency": 75 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-12" }, "negative": -2, "negativeNotes": [ "2026-10-12. The ironclaw.com home page lists Discord and Signal among integrations, while the channel docs for the current release say Discord, Signal, WeChat and WeCom are not part of the 1.0 release, which shipped on 27 July 2026. The docs site also says it documents the latest stable release while its heartbeat, cron, shell and WASM pages name settings absent from the 1.4.1 source. A misleading claim, at the minimum, -2. https://www.ironclaw.com/; https://docs.ironclaw.com/channels/overview.md; https://github.com/nearai/ironclaw/blob/ironclaw-v1.4.1/docs/capabilities/routines/heartbeat.mdx" ], "verdict": "Credentials stay in an encrypted store and are injected at the host boundary, and extensions declare per-tool permissions, network targets and OAuth scopes. The global auto-approve setting defaults to on in the 1.4.1 source, so tools marked ask, such as `gmail.send_message`, run unprompted until the owner turns it off.", "bestFor": "One technical owner who wants a self-hosted assistant over Gmail, Calendar, Slack and Telegram with credentials kept out of the model's reach.", "strengths": [ "Dual MIT or Apache-2.0 licence, with installers for seven targets on GitHub releases and no account needed to run it", "Each extension tool declares a default permission, effects, network targets and OAuth scopes in `manifest.toml`. Gmail reads use `gmail.readonly` and sends use `gmail.send`", "Secrets are encrypted with AES-256-GCM per the README, with the master key in the OS keychain, and are injected into requests outside the sandbox", "No analytics library was found in the 1.4.1 source. Trace Commons is opt-in and has no default endpoint", "Six stable releases between 27 July and 29 September 2026, each with dated notes and upgrade steps" ], "weaknesses": [ "Global auto-approve defaults to on in the 1.4.1 source, so tools marked ask (send, trash, delete) run without a prompt. Only financial, approval and budget effects always ask", "The `main` branch has had no commit since 10 September 2026, and open reports filed since mid-September show no replies. 1,363 issues and 183 pull requests are open", "Docs pages for heartbeat, cron, shell and WASM limits name settings such as `HEARTBEAT_ENABLED` and `ALLOW_LOCAL_TOOLS` that do not appear in the 1.4.1 source", "No SECURITY.md, security.txt or published GitHub advisory was found", "The home page lists Discord and Signal integrations, while the channel docs say both are not part of the 1.0 release" ], "agentNotes": [ "Open Settings and turn off global auto-approve, or set send and delete tools to ask each time, before connecting mail or chat accounts", "Install with the release installer and run `ironclaw onboard`. 1.x does not migrate 0.29 data, so use a fresh home directory", "Call `POST /api/v1/responses` with the bearer token from `~/.ironclaw/reborn/webui-token`. Keep under 30 requests in 60 seconds", "Resolve approval and OAuth gates in the web interface. The Responses API fails the turn instead of surfacing them", "Connect MCP servers over HTTP only. The stdio transport is rejected" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 66.7 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 69, "maintenance": 74, "payments": 60, "reliability": 67, "schema": 74, "security": 66, "transparency": 79 }, "provenanceScore": 71 }, "connect": { "install": "IRONCLAW_RELEASE_TAG=ironclaw-v1.4.1\ncurl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf \"https://github.com/nearai/ironclaw/releases/download/${IRONCLAW_RELEASE_TAG}/ironclaw-installer.sh\" | sh\nironclaw onboard" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/assistant.proactive", "tool": "https://letme.dev/ironclaw" }, "area": "frameworks", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Hosted Basic plan (2 agents, $20 credits)", "unit": "month", "usd": 20, "note": "NEAR AI Cloud, per ironclaw.com" }, { "item": "Hosted Pro+ plan (5 agents, $200 credits)", "unit": "month", "usd": 200, "note": "NEAR AI Cloud, per ironclaw.com" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Jasnah, Inc. d/b/a NEAR AI", "domain": "ironclaw.com", "domainRegistered": "2018-01-04", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "", "privacy": "https://near.ai/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/nearai/ironclaw/releases", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-12", "notes": [ "The NEAR AI terms of service (updated 24 September 2026) name Jasnah, Inc. d/b/a NEAR AI under Delaware law and cover NEAR AI Cloud and its API. They do not mention IronClaw or agent hosting, so no terms link is set and the MIT or Apache-2.0 licence stands in for the self-hosted software.", "The privacy policy (updated 4 September 2026) lists ironclaw.com, agent.near.ai, the IronClaw framework and IronHub among what it covers.", "The ironclaw.com home page says Built by Near Foundation and its footer says by NEAR AI.", "security.txt answered 404 on www.ironclaw.com, docs.ironclaw.com and near.ai.", "RDAP for ironclaw.com gives a registration date of 2018-01-04 and Cloudflare, Inc. as registrar, last changed 2026-04-20.", "A self-hosted instance answers on its owner's own host. Hosted instances answer at \u003cinstance-id\u003e.agents.near.ai per the quickstart." ], "score": 71 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ironclaw.json" }, "answer": "NanoClaw scores 68.3 (B) on agent readiness against IronClaw's 66.7 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. IronClaw leads on transparency \u0026 trust.", "b": { "slug": "nanoclaw", "name": "NanoClaw", "vendor": "NanoCo, Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://nanoclaw.dev", "kind": "harness", "category": "personal-assistants", "summary": "Open-source personal assistant that the owner runs on their own machine. It answers on messaging apps, runs each agent session in a Docker container, keeps Markdown memory on disk and runs scheduled tasks.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nanoclaw", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nanoclaw.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nanoclaw.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/nanoclaw.json", "repo": "https://github.com/nanocoai/nanoclaw", "license": "MIT", "transports": [], "packages": [], "auth": "none", "authNotes": "No account is needed to run it. Owners and admins are rows in a local `user_roles` table, and strangers are handled by each chat's `unknown_sender_policy` (https://docs.nanoclaw.dev/concepts/security). Model and service credentials are registered with a credential gateway on the host, OneCLI Agent Vault by default, which adds them to outbound HTTPS requests. Containers receive placeholders such as `onecli-managed` (https://docs.nanoclaw.dev/operate/credentials). Channel tokens stay in the host's `.env`. An optional free NanoClaw account, used for a prebuilt agent image and a managed Slack app, keeps its token in `~/.config/nanoclaw/account.json` with mode 0600 (https://github.com/nanocoai/nanoclaw/blob/main/README.md).", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "Free under the MIT licence, with nothing on sale. The optional NanoClaw account, the Echo image and the managed Slack app are free of charge per the terms of 31 July 2026 (https://nanoclaw.dev/terms). The owner pays the model provider through a Claude subscription, an API key or another provider, and any service a channel or tool uses, such as Dial. Since 2.4.0 Claude groups default to Opus 5.5 (checked 2026-10-12).", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs or the source (checked 2026-10-12).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 30929, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-12" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.nanoclaw.dev", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.nanoclaw.dev/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "assistant.proactive", "assistant.messaging", "assistant.memory", "assistant.self-hosted", "agent.mcp-client", "assistant.accounts" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "local", "free", "no-card", "docker", "llms-txt" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-09", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 68.3, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 229, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 986, "categoryRank": 2, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 70, "maintenance": 78, "payments": 60, "reliability": 78, "schema": 82, "security": 74, "transparency": 65 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-12" }, "negative": -5, "negativeNotes": [ "2026-10-09. Release 2026.10.0 fixed four symlink flaws through which a manipulated agent could make the host read, write or delete files outside its folders, plus an admin-command bypass, a cross-group read through `ncl` and a command injection in Mattermost setup. Fixed and described in the changelog within the week, but the advisories it links (GHSA-frvf-5rf5-89fq and seven others) were not public on 12 October 2026. -5. https://github.com/nanocoai/nanoclaw/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md" ], "verdict": "Each session runs in an unprivileged Docker container and API keys stay in a credential gateway on the host, so a manipulated agent cannot read them. Inside the container the agent runs with permission prompts off, network egress is open by default, and it can message any chat it is wired to without approval.", "bestFor": "A technical owner who wants an assistant on their own machine, reachable from chat apps, with container isolation and scheduled tasks, and who is willing to keep a fork.", "strengths": [ "Each session runs in a non-root Docker container with all capabilities dropped, and the project root and `.env` are never mounted", "API keys sit in a credential gateway on the host, which adds them to outbound requests, so the container holds only placeholders", "Installing packages, adding an MCP server and admitting a new chat each wait for an admin's approval, and no reachable approver means denial", "Memory is plain Markdown under `groups/\u003cfolder\u003e/memory/`, which the owner can read, edit or delete on the host", "The security page states what the design does not stop, including messages to wired chats and spending through granted credentials" ], "weaknesses": [ "The Claude provider runs with `permissionMode: 'bypassPermissions'`, so shell, file and web tools run inside the container with no prompt", "Egress lockdown is off by default, so a container can reach the internet directly unless `NANOCLAW_EGRESS_LOCKDOWN=true` is set", "The 2026.10.0 changelog links eight advisories on the repository, and on 12 October 2026 the advisories page listed none and one linked advisory returned 404", "Setup sends events to PostHog unless `NANOCLAW_NO_DIAGNOSTICS=1` is set, and the privacy policy does not mention them", "The docs say trunk has no Gmail or Google Calendar integration, while the GitHub repository description still names Gmail", "294 open issues and 750 open pull requests on 12 October 2026, and 10 of the 12 newest open issues had no reply" ], "agentNotes": [ "Install with `git clone` and `bash nanoclaw.sh`. There is no registry package, and setup needs Docker, Node 22 or later and a Claude or Codex credential", "Set `NANOCLAW_EGRESS_LOCKDOWN=true` before giving an agent credentials or an audience of strangers. The default leaves egress open", "Put chats with different audiences in separate agent groups. Every session of a group shares one read-write workspace and memory tree", "Turn on per-request approval for a secret in the gateway when its use should wait for a person. It is off unless configured", "On OneCLI installs, move the gateway to 1.42.0 by the upgrade guide before updating to 2026.10.0. The updater stops until that is done" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 68.3 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 70, "maintenance": 78, "payments": 60, "reliability": 78, "schema": 82, "security": 74, "transparency": 77 }, "provenanceScore": 53 }, "connect": { "install": "git clone https://github.com/nanocoai/nanoclaw.git nanoclaw-v2 \u0026\u0026 cd nanoclaw-v2 \u0026\u0026 bash nanoclaw.sh" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/assistant.proactive", "tool": "https://letme.dev/nanoclaw" }, "area": "frameworks", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "NanoCo, Inc.", "domain": "nanoclaw.dev", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "", "privacy": "", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/nanocoai/nanoclaw/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-12", "notes": [ "The terms and privacy policy at nanoclaw.dev name NanoCo, Inc. and Delaware law. Both say they cover the website and the optional account, not the software, so neither is linked and the MIT licence stands in.", "nanoclaw.dev/.well-known/security.txt returned 404 on 12 October 2026. The repository's SECURITY.md points to GitHub private vulnerability reporting.", "There is no hosted endpoint. The assistant runs on the owner's machine, and the optional account service is at portal.nanoclaw.dev, which we did not open.", "The registration date of nanoclaw.dev was not checked." ], "score": 53 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nanoclaw.json" }, "facts": [ { "a": "Agent harness", "b": "Agent harness", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "NEAR AI", "b": "NanoCo, Inc.", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP", "b": "", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth or key", "b": "None", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Freemium", "b": "Free", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "MIT OR Apache-2.0", "b": "MIT", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-09-29", "b": "2026-10-09", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "no document linked", "b": "no document linked", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "no date given", "b": "no document linked", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "13k stars", "b": "31k stars", "name": "Popularity" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "NanoClaw scores 68.3 (B) on agent readiness against IronClaw's 66.7 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. IronClaw leads on transparency \u0026 trust.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, IronClaw or NanoClaw?" }, { "answer": "Yes. IronClaw is open source (MIT OR Apache-2.0). NanoClaw is open source (MIT).", "question": "Are IronClaw and NanoClaw open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Transparency \u0026 trust, 75 against 65" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "One technical owner who wants a self-hosted assistant over Gmail, Calendar, Slack and Telegram with credentials kept out of the model's reach.", "slug": "ironclaw", "watchFor": "Global auto-approve defaults to on in the 1.4.1 source, so tools marked ask (send, trash, delete) run without a prompt. Only financial, approval and budget effects always ask" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 78 against 67", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 82 against 74", "Security \u0026 auth, 74 against 66" ], "also": [ "No key needed to call it", "Free to start without a card" ], "goodFor": "A technical owner who wants an assistant on their own machine, reachable from chat apps, with container isolation and scheduled tasks, and who is willing to keep a fork.", "slug": "nanoclaw", "watchFor": "The Claude provider runs with `permissionMode: 'bypassPermissions'`, so shell, file and web tools run inside the container with no prompt" } ], "job": { "capability": "assistant.proactive", "name": "Assistant proactive" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-ironclaw.json", "title": "AstrBot vs IronClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-ironclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-nanoclaw.json", "title": "AstrBot vs NanoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-nanoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-ironclaw.json", "title": "CowAgent vs IronClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-ironclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-nanoclaw.json", "title": "CowAgent vs NanoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-nanoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-ironclaw.json", "title": "GAIA vs IronClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-ironclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-nanoclaw.json", "title": "GAIA vs NanoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-nanoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-ironclaw.json", "title": "Gemini Spark vs IronClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-ironclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-nanoclaw.json", "title": "Gemini Spark vs NanoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-nanoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-ironclaw.json", "title": "Grok Bot vs IronClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-ironclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-nanoclaw.json", "title": "Grok Bot vs NanoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-nanoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-ironclaw.json", "title": "Haven vs IronClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-ironclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-nanoclaw.json", "title": "Haven vs NanoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-nanoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-ironclaw.json", "title": "Hermes Agent vs IronClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-ironclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-nanoclaw.json", "title": "Hermes Agent vs NanoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-nanoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-ironclaw.json", "title": "Instinct vs IronClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-ironclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-nanoclaw.json", "title": "Instinct vs NanoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-nanoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-leon.json", "title": "IronClaw vs Leon", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-leon" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-lindy.json", "title": "IronClaw vs Lindy", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-lindy" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanobot.json", "title": "IronClaw vs nanobot", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanobot" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openai-dots.json", "title": "IronClaw vs Dots", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openai-dots" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "IronClaw vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-picoclaw.json", "title": "IronClaw vs PicoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-picoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-poke.json", "title": "IronClaw vs Poke", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-poke" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-qwenpaw.json", "title": "IronClaw vs QwenPaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-qwenpaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-zeroclaw.json", "title": "IronClaw vs ZeroClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-zeroclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-zo-computer.json", "title": "IronClaw vs Zo Computer", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-zo-computer" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-nanoclaw.json", "title": "Leon vs NanoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-nanoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-nanoclaw.json", "title": "Lindy vs NanoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-nanoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-nanoclaw.json", "title": "nanobot vs NanoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-nanoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-openai-dots.json", "title": "NanoClaw vs Dots", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-openai-dots" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-openclaw.json", "title": "NanoClaw vs OpenClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-openclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-picoclaw.json", "title": "NanoClaw vs PicoClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-picoclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-poke.json", "title": "NanoClaw vs Poke", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-poke" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-qwenpaw.json", "title": "NanoClaw vs QwenPaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-qwenpaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-zeroclaw.json", "title": "NanoClaw vs ZeroClaw", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-zeroclaw" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-zo-computer.json", "title": "NanoClaw vs Zo Computer", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-zo-computer" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 11, "edge": "nanoclaw", "ironclaw": 67, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "nanoclaw": 78, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 8, "edge": "nanoclaw", "ironclaw": 74, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "nanoclaw": 82, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 1, "edge": "nanoclaw", "ironclaw": 69, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "nanoclaw": 70, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 8, "edge": "nanoclaw", "ironclaw": 66, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "nanoclaw": 74, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 0, "edge": "", "ironclaw": 60, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "nanoclaw": 60, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 4, "edge": "nanoclaw", "ironclaw": 74, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "nanoclaw": 78, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 10, "edge": "ironclaw", "ironclaw": 75, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "nanoclaw": 65, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "NanoClaw scores 68.3 (B) on agent readiness against IronClaw's 66.7 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. IronClaw leads on transparency \u0026 trust. Both do assistant proactive.", "verdicts": { "ironclaw": "Credentials stay in an encrypted store and are injected at the host boundary, and extensions declare per-tool permissions, network targets and OAuth scopes. The global auto-approve setting defaults to on in the 1.4.1 source, so tools marked ask, such as `gmail.send_message`, run unprompted until the owner turns it off.", "nanoclaw": "Each session runs in an unprivileged Docker container and API keys stay in a credential gateway on the host, so a manipulated agent cannot read them. Inside the container the agent runs with permission prompts off, network egress is open by default, and it can message any chat it is wired to without approval." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanoclaw", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanoclaw.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanoclaw.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanoclaw.min.md" }, "markdown": "NanoClaw scores 68.3 (B) on agent readiness against IronClaw's 66.7 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. IronClaw leads on transparency \u0026 trust. Both do assistant proactive.\n\n- IronClaw: grade B, 66.7/100, rank #288 of 986. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ironclaw.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ironclaw.json\n- NanoClaw: grade B, 68.3/100, rank #229 of 986. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nanoclaw.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/nanoclaw.json\n- Best AI personal assistants that act for one person: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/personal-assistants/index.md\n- All 190 assistants comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/personal-assistants/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### IronClaw (B)\n\nGood for: One technical owner who wants a self-hosted assistant over Gmail, Calendar, Slack and Telegram with credentials kept out of the model's reach.\n\nAhead on:\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 75 against 65\n\nWatch for: Global auto-approve defaults to on in the 1.4.1 source, so tools marked ask (send, trash, delete) run without a prompt. Only financial, approval and budget effects always ask\n\n### NanoClaw (B)\n\nGood for: A technical owner who wants an assistant on their own machine, reachable from chat apps, with container isolation and scheduled tasks, and who is willing to keep a fork.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 78 against 67\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 82 against 74\n- Security \u0026 auth, 74 against 66\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- No key needed to call it\n- Free to start without a card\n\nWatch for: The Claude provider runs with `permissionMode: 'bypassPermissions'`, so shell, file and web tools run inside the container with no prompt\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | IronClaw | NanoClaw | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 67 | 78 | NanoClaw +11 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 82 | NanoClaw +8 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 70 | NanoClaw +1 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 66 | 74 | NanoClaw +8 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 74 | 78 | NanoClaw +4 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 65 | IronClaw +10 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | -2 | -5 | |\n| **Total** | | **66.7 · B** | **68.3 · B** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | IronClaw | NanoClaw |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |\n| Vendor | NEAR AI | NanoCo, Inc. |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | HTTP | |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | None |\n| Pricing | Freemium | Free |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | MIT OR Apache-2.0 | MIT |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-09-29 | 2026-10-09 |\n| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |\n| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no document linked |\n| Customer content may train models | | |\n| Terms restrict automated access | | |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | | |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | | |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | | |\n| Popularity | 13k stars | 31k stars |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**IronClaw.** Credentials stay in an encrypted store and are injected at the host boundary, and extensions declare per-tool permissions, network targets and OAuth scopes. The global auto-approve setting defaults to on in the 1.4.1 source, so tools marked ask, such as `gmail.send_message`, run unprompted until the owner turns it off.\n\n**NanoClaw.** Each session runs in an unprivileged Docker container and API keys stay in a credential gateway on the host, so a manipulated agent cannot read them. Inside the container the agent runs with permission prompts off, network egress is open by default, and it can message any chat it is wired to without approval.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### IronClaw\n\n1. Open Settings and turn off global auto-approve, or set send and delete tools to ask each time, before connecting mail or chat accounts\n2. Install with the release installer and run `ironclaw onboard`. 1.x does not migrate 0.29 data, so use a fresh home directory\n3. Call `POST /api/v1/responses` with the bearer token from `~/.ironclaw/reborn/webui-token`. Keep under 30 requests in 60 seconds\n4. Resolve approval and OAuth gates in the web interface. The Responses API fails the turn instead of surfacing them\n5. Connect MCP servers over HTTP only. The stdio transport is rejected\n\n### NanoClaw\n\n1. Install with `git clone` and `bash nanoclaw.sh`. There is no registry package, and setup needs Docker, Node 22 or later and a Claude or Codex credential\n2. Set `NANOCLAW_EGRESS_LOCKDOWN=true` before giving an agent credentials or an audience of strangers. The default leaves egress open\n3. Put chats with different audiences in separate agent groups. Every session of a group shares one read-write workspace and memory tree\n4. Turn on per-request approval for a secret in the gateway when its use should wait for a person. It is off unless configured\n5. On OneCLI installs, move the gateway to 1.42.0 by the upgrade guide before updating to 2026.10.0. The updater stops until that is done\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, IronClaw or NanoClaw?\n\nNanoClaw scores 68.3 (B) on agent readiness against IronClaw's 66.7 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. IronClaw leads on transparency \u0026 trust.\n\n### Are IronClaw and NanoClaw open source?\n\nYes. IronClaw is open source (MIT OR Apache-2.0). NanoClaw is open source (MIT).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanoclaw.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanoclaw.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"ironclaw\", \"b\": \"nanoclaw\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare ironclaw nanoclaw`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ironclaw.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/nanoclaw.json\n\n## Other comparisons with IronClaw or NanoClaw\n\n- [AstrBot vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [AstrBot vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/astrbot-vs-nanoclaw.md)\n- [CowAgent vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [CowAgent vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cowagent-vs-nanoclaw.md)\n- [GAIA vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [GAIA vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gaia-vs-nanoclaw.md)\n- [Gemini Spark vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [Gemini Spark vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-spark-vs-nanoclaw.md)\n- [Grok Bot vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [Grok Bot vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grok-bot-vs-nanoclaw.md)\n- [Haven vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [Haven vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/haven-vs-nanoclaw.md)\n- [Hermes Agent vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [Hermes Agent vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hermes-agent-vs-nanoclaw.md)\n- [Instinct vs IronClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-ironclaw.md)\n- [Instinct vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instinct-vs-nanoclaw.md)\n- [IronClaw vs Leon](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-leon.md)\n- [IronClaw vs Lindy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-lindy.md)\n- [IronClaw vs nanobot](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanobot.md)\n- [IronClaw vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openai-dots.md)\n- [IronClaw vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [IronClaw vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-picoclaw.md)\n- [IronClaw vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-poke.md)\n- [IronClaw vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-qwenpaw.md)\n- [IronClaw vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-zeroclaw.md)\n- [IronClaw vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-zo-computer.md)\n- [Leon vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leon-vs-nanoclaw.md)\n- [Lindy vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lindy-vs-nanoclaw.md)\n- [nanobot vs NanoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanobot-vs-nanoclaw.md)\n- [NanoClaw vs Dots](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-openai-dots.md)\n- [NanoClaw vs OpenClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-openclaw.md)\n- [NanoClaw vs PicoClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-picoclaw.md)\n- [NanoClaw vs Poke](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-poke.md)\n- [NanoClaw vs QwenPaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-qwenpaw.md)\n- [NanoClaw vs ZeroClaw](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-zeroclaw.md)\n- [NanoClaw vs Zo Computer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanoclaw-vs-zo-computer.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-12", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "IronClaw vs NanoClaw", "url": "" } ], "description": "NanoClaw scores 68.3 (B) to IronClaw's 66.7 (B) for assistant proactive. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "IronClaw B 66.7", "NanoClaw B 68.3", "scores" ], "h1": "IronClaw vs NanoClaw", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-ironclaw-vs-nanoclaw.png", "path": "/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanoclaw", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "IronClaw vs NanoClaw for AI agents in 2026: scores and prices", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-12", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ironclaw-vs-nanoclaw" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2550, "slim": 530 }, "version": 1 }