OpenClaw 101: A Detailed Guide for New Users

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## OpenClaw 101: A Detailed Guide for New Users
*By u/adamb0mbNZ on r/clawdbot*

### Hardware & Setup
- Dedicated Mini PC (16GB RAM, N97) ~$200 — more cost-effective long-term than VPS ($20/mo)
- Windows or Linux, Python required
- Install Tailscale for secure remote access between machines

### API & Model Strategy ("Brain & Muscles" Analogy)
Different models for different jobs — like gym exercises for specific muscles.

| Use Case | Model | Cost |
|----------|-------|------|
| Initial Setup/Onboarding | Claude Opus | ~$30-50 one-time |
| Daily Use ("Brain") | Kimi 2.5 (via Nvidia) | Free / ~10% of Sonnet |
| Heartbeat | Claude Haiku | <$1/month |
| Coding | DeepSeek Coder v2 | ~$20/month |
| Voice Recognition | OpenAI Whisper | ~$3/month |
| Image Generation | Gemini / Nano Banana Pro | ~$10/month |
| TTS (optional) | ElevenLabs | $22/month |

**Total monthly: ~$60** (including optional services)

### Essential Services
- **Memory backup:** Supermemory.ai (free)
- **Email:** Nylas (free) — connects Google + Microsoft 365
- **Web Search:** Brave + Tavily (both free)
- **Messaging:** Signal with dedicated SIM ($2/mo via Sonetel)

### Onboarding (Critical!)
- Use Opus for initial setup — it creates the best personality and tone
- Do an in-depth Q&A: work habits, interests, food preferences, sports, content consumption
- Think of AI agents as "extremely cheap labor at 10c/hour for basic tasks"
- Basic tasks chained together = powerful workflows

### Memory Management
**The #1 frustration:** Context compaction causes forgetting mid-conversation.

**Fix:** Run this config prompt:
```
Enable memory flush before compaction and session memory search.
Set compaction.memoryFlush.enabled to true
Set memorySearch.experimental.sessionMemory to true with sources including both memory and sessions.
```

**Key rules:**
1. Run `/compact` BEFORE any new task discussion
2. After each task setup, ask bot to commit to memory
3. Ask bot to repeat back what it committed — verify correctness
4. Daily cron: bot checks memory and summarizes all workflows
5. Weekly: manual backup + audit with Claude Desktop
6. Commit to Supermemory for cloud backup

**Heartbeat schedule:**
- Daily: Review recent memories
- Every 6h: Supermemory backup (automated cron)
- Weekly (Monday): Verify backups, review MEMORY.md, store key decisions
- Monthly: Full memory audit, update TOOLS.md

### Cron Jobs & Sub-Agents
- Don't expect cron jobs to handle complex tasks directly — they timeout
- **Solution:** Create sub-agents for routine tasks, heartbeat cron just spawns them
- This was the single biggest reliability improvement

### Security Checklist
- [ ] API keys in `.env`, not config file
- [ ] Rotate keys every 30 days
- [ ] `.gitignore` for sensitive files
- [ ] Input validation for email scripts (no sending without approval)
- [ ] Rate limit external API calls
- [ ] Encrypt memory files
- [ ] Tailscale for remote access

### Real-World Use Cases
1. **Email Scanning** — 6 accounts, hourly scan, filters marketing, drafts responses
2. **Task Monitoring** — DartAI boards via API, daily briefing on slipping tasks
3. **Morning Brief** — Tasks + weather + news + calendar → ElevenLabs audio (3-5 min)
4. **Lead Scraping + CRM** — Brave Search → Apify scraper → Pipedrive CRM
5. **Health Dashboard** — Garmin + Withings + Oura Ring consolidated view
6. **Web Testing** — Browser integration + Playwright scripts, runs overnight
7. **Constant Improvement** — Scans Reddit/forums, suggests improvements twice daily