Memory Workshop

OpenClaw & personal agents.

Companion page for the workshop. Everything we set up together, in order, with the exact commands. Work at your own pace — each section stands alone.

📲 Don't type any of this — use the connect page
jacobcole.ai/memory-workshop has every command and URL on this page as a copy button, plus one-click "Add to Cursor" / "Add to VS Code" deep links and a QR code. Scan it, tap along, and read this page for the why.

💡 What we're building
A personal agent that lives where you already talk (Telegram, WhatsApp, iMessage), plus connectors that give ChatGPT and Claude access to your own notes and your own social archives. The theme: your data, on your machine, reachable by your agent.

The four parts

Before you start: you need Node.js 22.22.3+, 24.15+, or 25.9+ (Node 26 recommended) and an API key from a model provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, or Google). If you're brand new to the terminal, do The Absolute Basics first.

01 — Install OpenClaw

One agent, all your chats.

OpenClaw runs a local Gateway on your machine. Chat channels connect into it, and the agent runs turns against the model provider you pick. Nothing is hosted for you — it's your machine, your keys.

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash

Windows (PowerShell):

iwr -useb https://openclaw.ai/install.ps1 | iex

Then run onboarding — it walks you through picking a model provider, setting an API key, and configuring the Gateway:

openclaw onboard --install-daemon

Check it came up (the Gateway listens on port 18789), and open the control UI:

openclaw gateway status
openclaw dashboard

➤ Docs: docs.openclaw.ai/start/getting-started

02 — Connect a chat channel

This is the part that makes it feel like magic.

OpenClaw supports Discord, Feishu, iMessage, Matrix, Microsoft Teams, Signal, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, Zalo and more. Telegram is the fastest — it's just a bot token.

Telegram (recommended for the workshop)

1. In Telegram, message @BotFather, run /newbot, follow the prompts, save the token.
2. Put the token in your OpenClaw config (or set TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN):

{
  channels: {
    telegram: {
      enabled: true,
      botToken: "YOUR_TOKEN_HERE",
      dmPolicy: "pairing",
    },
  },
}

3. Start the gateway, then approve yourself:

openclaw gateway
openclaw pairing list telegram
openclaw pairing approve telegram <CODE>

Pairing codes expire after an hour. Now DM your bot — that's your agent.

WhatsApp (QR pairing)

openclaw channels add --channel whatsapp
openclaw channels login --channel whatsapp   # scan the QR with your phone
openclaw gateway
openclaw pairing approve whatsapp <CODE>

Login is QR-only, so you need the phone in hand. A dedicated WhatsApp number is recommended over your personal one.

➤ Channel docs: docs.openclaw.ai/channels

🔒 Read this before you invite anyone else in
dmPolicy: "open" means anyone who finds your bot gets your agent — and your agent has your files and your shell. Keep dmPolicy: "pairing" or "allowlist", and if you add other people, bind them to a sandboxed agent first, then add them to the allowlist — never the other way around. A missing binding silently falls through to the unsandboxed default agent.

03 — Give it something to do

Once you can text it, the interesting question is what it has access to. That's the rest of this workshop:

• Connectors → — your notes, in ChatGPT and Claude
• Birdclaw + Gramclaw → — your X and Instagram archives, local and claw-able
• Group chats → — turning conversations into artifacts

Troubleshooting

openclaw doctor            # health checks + quick fixes
openclaw logs --follow     # watch what's actually happening
openclaw docs "<query>"    # search the live docs from your terminal
openclaw gateway status

openclaw doctor fixes most first-run problems. If a channel won't connect, openclaw logs --follow while you send a message is the fastest way to see why.

➤ FAQ: docs.openclaw.ai/help/faq-first-run

Next: Ideaflow connectors →

Memory Workshop: jacobcole.ai/memory-workshop — every command here as a copy button.