# PicoClaw (slim)

> PicoClaw is an open-source personal AI assistant from Sipeed, a single Go binary for small Linux boards, desktops and Android, reached through chat apps. Its last commit on the main branch was on 19 August 2026.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/picoclaw.md (~8,400 tokens) · this version ~1,880 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/picoclaw.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/picoclaw
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-12

**D · 46.1/100 · rank #879 of 986 · #11 in Personal assistants · not agent-ready · confidence medium**


Assessment: Self-hosted under the MIT licence, with 19 documented chat channels, scheduled and heartbeat tasks, and local file memory. The repository has had no commit since 19 August 2026 and no release since 3 July, and 15 CVEs are listed against it with no advisory or security policy from the project.

## Facts

- Kind: Agent harness · vendor: Sipeed · category: Personal assistants · legal entity: Sipeed · provenance 53/100
- Packages: oci `docker.io/sipeed/picoclaw`, oci `ghcr.io/sipeed/picoclaw`
- Auth: None · pricing: Free · x402: no · licence: MIT
- Probe metrics: not measured yet (probes haven't run)
- Runs on: The owner's device. One Go binary for Linux, macOS, Windows and Android, on x86-64, ARM64, ARMv7, ARMv6, RISC-V, MIPS and LoongArch. Docker images `docker.io/sipeed/picoclaw` and `ghcr.io/sipeed/picoclaw`. Sipeed says it runs in under 10 MB of RAM, and the README says recent builds may use 10 to 20 MB
- Channels: 19 in the README. Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp, Weixin, QQ, Slack, Matrix, Delta Chat, DingTalk, Feishu or Lark, LINE, WeCom, VK, IRC, OneBot, MQTT, MaixCam, and the built-in Pico and Pico Client. Also a web console on port 18800 and a CLI
- Acts without asking: Sends messages, reads and writes workspace files, fetches web pages, runs shell commands and creates scheduled jobs with no approval prompt. A heartbeat runs the tasks in `HEARTBEAT.md` every 30 minutes by default. No payment tool
- Approval controls: No human approval step. Per-tool enable switches, a per-agent tool allowlist, `allow_from` sender lists, an exec deny list, and an `approve_tool` hook that code can answer. The hooks guide says waiting for a human reply is not supported
- Sandbox: File tools and exec paths limited to the workspace by default (`restrict_to_workspace`). Child-process isolation with `bwrap` on Linux or a restricted token on Windows is off by default. The exec guard does not inspect child processes
- Accounts and credentials: No built-in mail, calendar or file-storage connector. Holds chat bot tokens and sessions, model keys, search keys and any MCP server credentials. Stored in `~/.picoclaw/.security.yml` at mode 0600, in plain text unless `PICOCLAW_KEY_PASSPHRASE` turns on AES-256-GCM
- Memory: Local files in the workspace. `memory/MEMORY.md` for long-term notes, `sessions/` for history, `sessions/seahorse.db` (SQLite full-text) for short-term retrieval, `USER.md` for preferences. `/clear` clears a chat's history. Deleting the files deletes the memory. No retention setting found
- Who sees the content: The model provider the owner configures (more than 30 are documented, or a local model through Ollama or vLLM), plus any search engine, MCP server and chat platform in use. No telemetry found in the source
- Proactive: Heartbeat every 30 minutes (minimum 5) and a cron tool with one-off, interval and cron-expression jobs, stored in `<workspace>/cron/jobs.json`
- MCP client: stdio, SSE and streamable HTTP, with optional BM25 or regex tool discovery. Off until `tools.mcp.enabled` is set
- Monthly cost: Free software. The owner pays the model provider by usage, or nothing with a local model. Sipeed sells boards it says start at $9.90
- Activity: v0.3.1 on 3 July 2026. Last commit 19 August 2026. 32 open issues and 17 open pull requests on 12 October 2026

- Scores: Reliability 54, Performance pending, Schema & documentation 51, Agent ergonomics 66, Security & auth 51, Payments & pricing 60, Task success pending, Maintenance & community 22, Transparency & trust 56 · negative events -7 · total over the 7 assessed categories
- Why: Reliability, Read with the local-software lines, as software the owner runs. · Schema & documentation, Harness reading of the framework line, scored on docs a model can follow. · Agent ergonomics, Harness reading, scored on what the owner or a driving agent has to supply. · Security & auth, Harness reading of the framework checklist, as the Goose and OpenHands dossiers use. · Payments & pricing, Read with the self-hosted rule. · Maintenance & community, v0.3.1 was published on 3 July 2026, 101 days before this check (10 of 30). · Transparency & trust, MIT, with the full source public (30).
- Sources: 33, open questions: 11, both in the full twin
- Capabilities: assistant.proactive, assistant.messaging, assistant.memory, assistant.self-hosted, agent.mcp-client
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/picoclaw.json
- Verify (for the vendor): the badge `https://www.anchorterminal.com/badges/picoclaw.svg` or a link to https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/picoclaw from a page on picoclaw.io or one of its subdomains, or the README of github.com/sipeed/picoclaw, then `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/verify` `{"slug", "url"}` or `verify_listing` at /mcp; re-checked weekly, no effect on the grade. Snippets in the full twin.

## Before you call it

1. Set `allow_from` to the owner's user ID on every channel before starting the gateway. An empty list accepts messages from anyone
2. Set `tools.exec.allow_remote` to `false` unless chats must run shell commands. The shipped default is `true`, whatever docs/guides/configuration.md says
3. Set `isolation.enabled` to `true` on Linux (needs `bwrap`) or run in a container. The deny patterns do not inspect child processes
4. Use `PICOCLAW_KEY_PASSPHRASE` for credential encryption. One docs page names `PICOCLAW_CREDENTIAL_PASSPHRASE`, which the source does not read
5. Treat the README's ClawdChat line (read a remote skill file and follow it) as untrusted third-party instructions

## Connect

```bash
git clone https://github.com/sipeed/picoclaw.git && cd picoclaw && docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml --profile launcher up   # or download a binary from https://picoclaw.io/download/ and run: picoclaw onboard
```

## Similar tools

| Tool | Grade | Score | Shared capabilities | Slim |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ZeroClaw | BB | 70.2 | assistant.proactive, assistant.messaging, assistant.memory, assistant.self-hosted, agent.mcp-client | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zeroclaw.min.md |
| NanoClaw | B | 68.3 | assistant.proactive, assistant.messaging, assistant.memory, assistant.self-hosted, agent.mcp-client | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nanoclaw.min.md |
| Hermes Agent | B | 67.9 | assistant.proactive, assistant.messaging, assistant.memory, assistant.self-hosted, agent.mcp-client | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hermes-agent.min.md |
| OpenClaw | B | 67.1 | assistant.proactive, assistant.messaging, assistant.memory, assistant.self-hosted, agent.mcp-client | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openclaw.min.md |
| IronClaw | B | 66.7 | assistant.proactive, assistant.messaging, assistant.memory, assistant.self-hosted, agent.mcp-client | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ironclaw.min.md |


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