OpenClaw, a personal AI assistant that runs on your own computer, has become far more approachable with the arrival of Ollama 0.17. It can clear your inbox, send emails, and manage your calendar, and you interact with it through messaging apps you already use, such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and iMessage[1]. A setup that used to involve several steps now comes down to typing a single command in the terminal[1].
What Kind of Assistant Is OpenClaw
OpenClaw is positioned as a personal AI assistant. According to Ollama's official blog, it takes over tasks such as clearing your inbox, sending emails, and managing your calendar, and you communicate with it through chat apps you already use, like WhatsApp, Telegram, and iMessage[1].
Its most notable feature is that all of the processing runs on your own hardware[1]. Unlike assistants that rely entirely on the cloud, OpenClaw runs in your local environment, which makes it easier to decide for yourself what data the assistant can touch and how far that access goes. And from Ollama 0.17 onward, getting started takes just a single command[1].
What You Need and the Three Steps
You do not need much to get going. Ollama lists the requirements as Ollama 0.17 or later, Node.js (including npm, which is used to install OpenClaw), and a Mac or Linux system[1]. Windows users can install OpenClaw via WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)[1].
The process has three steps. First, open a terminal and enter the following command[1].
ollama launch openclaw --model kimi-k2.5:cloud
You can switch to a different model here. To check the recommended models, run the command with no arguments to see a list[1].
ollama launch openclaw
The second step is installing OpenClaw itself. If OpenClaw is not yet on your system, Ollama detects this, asks whether you want to install it, and then automatically handles the installation and initial configuration[1]. In the final step, OpenClaw launches in the terminal, and you can begin chatting with your AI assistant from there[1]. Not having to assemble detailed settings by hand makes this an approachable design for anyone who wants to try it casually.
How Web Search and Model Selection Work
What OpenClaw can do depends on the model you choose. If you select a model provided through Ollama's cloud, the web search plugin is installed automatically, allowing OpenClaw to look up the latest information online before responding[1]. Local models that run on your own machine, on the other hand, work out of the box without any additional plugins[1].
When selecting a model, a selector appears that shows both recommended and available models[1]. For use as an agent, a model with at least 64k of context length is considered suitable, and cloud models that offer the full context length are described as the most comfortable choice when paired with an agent like OpenClaw[1]. You can choose between cloud and local depending on your needs and the performance of your machine.
Connecting Messaging Apps
A big part of what makes OpenClaw practical is its ability to connect with messaging apps. It can link to platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, and iMessage, letting you chat with your models from anywhere[1].
You set up the connection with the following command[1].
openclaw configure --section channels
Once you finish configuring, you need to select "Finished" to save your settings[1]. Because the chat apps you already use become the interface, there is no need to launch a separate dedicated app, which is a practical advantage.
Security Points to Keep in Mind
As a counterpart to that convenience, Ollama is clear about the security considerations. When tools are enabled, OpenClaw gains the ability to read files and carry out various actions[1]. That also means it holds broader permissions over your system, so Ollama recommends running it in an isolated environment and using it only after understanding the risks of granting OpenClaw access to your system[1]. For details, it advises checking OpenClaw's security documentation[1].
Precisely because this is an assistant that can send emails and operate on files on its own, it is worth being conscious of just how much authority you hand it.
Summary
OpenClaw is a personal AI assistant that runs on your own hardware, and its appeal is that you can delegate work such as email and calendar management through the chat apps you use every day[1]. Ollama 0.17 condenses the setup into a single command, making web search and messaging-app integration easy to try as well[1]. At the same time, because it comes with permissions to access your system, it is a tool to use with care for security, including running it in an isolated environment[1].
