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Goodbye OpenClaw

OpenClaw is now very token-hungry to the point that it drains away my $20 OpenAI sub in just a few days. And I’m very disappointed with it.

Not only that, OpenClaw feels so much dumber than it was months ago.

So I uninstalled OpenClaw just a few days ago.

With that problem in mind, here’s how I changed my workflow:

1. Looking for alternatives

With OpenClaw uninstalled due to its token-hungriness, I encountered two reliable options.

First one is Codex. But I feel that Codex is just too strict. They won’t even respond to something like profiling someone based on publicly accessible data. You can try something like “please give a background profile based on email youremail@domain.com with name YOUR_FULL_NAME”, and Codex will simply refuse.

Codex is not helpful.

So, my pick goes to Claude Code, which I think is the best harness. It successfully spins up the web search tool and gives me what I want. No safety bs.

2. Cron

I use OpenClaw mostly for its crons (tracking some prices like gold/crypto/forex), and I think that’s what might drain away the tokens (along with other heavy luggage).

So, screw that, I think it’s just better to create a cron-based app, and I did. I managed to build a cron management dashboard for myself, just by vibecoding.

3. Telegram

What makes OpenClaw good is the connection with Telegram. But, again, I can just vibecode this myself. I just connect Telegram to the coding harness and the experience is awesome. I also connect my cron management app with it so I can set and get alerts on my phone.

Oh, on last note, I want to say exe.dev’s Shelley is very cool. Helps me a lot with tinkering the VM.

So, goodbye OpenClaw!

Now, I really think Personal AI Assistant should be personal. Ideally, it should be something that you (and your AI agent) build yourself for use cases you want.

I also have renamed my AI Assistant from openclaw-instance-001 to Gideon, because it’s no longer on OpenClaw & I think AI agent is much more than just the model. You can check the github profile: gideonaibot.