There's a difference between using AI and living with AI. ChatGPT is a tab I visit. OpenClaw is an assistant that's always on — sitting on a Mac Mini under my desk, connected to my Slack, my WhatsApp, and my GitHub. I talk to it the way I talk to a teammate.

What OpenClaw Actually Is

OpenClaw is an open-source, self-hosted AI assistant. You install it on your own machine, connect it to your messaging apps, and it becomes a persistent digital teammate. It remembers context across conversations. It runs commands on your machine. It reads files, writes code, and interacts with APIs. All data stays local.

I set it up on my laptop first, proved it out, and then moved it to a dedicated Mac Mini for 24/7 availability. The setup is straightforward — install via npm, run the onboarding wizard, scan a QR code for WhatsApp, add tokens for Slack, and you're live.

What I Actually Use It For

This is where it gets interesting. These aren't demos — these are things I do daily:

Giving kudos to team members. In our Slack channel, I type "@OpenClaw give kudos to Ravi for the excellent work on the ride-matching algorithm" and it posts a formatted appreciation message, tags the right person, and logs it. Small thing, but it makes recognition instant and frictionless.

Raising PRs from a conversation. I describe what needs to change — "Create a PR to fix the conversion percentage calculation in the analytics dashboard" — and OpenClaw opens a PR on GitHub with a proper description, the right branch, and relevant code changes. I review and merge. The PR creation that used to be a context switch is now a message.

Resolving PR comments from Slack. When a reviewer leaves comments on a PR, I can ask OpenClaw to address them: "Check the review comments on PR #312 and fix the issues raised." It reads the comments, understands what changes are needed, pushes the fixes, and replies to each comment explaining what was done. I verify and approve.

Summarising Slack threads. Our engineering channel moves fast. When I've been in meetings all morning, I ask "@OpenClaw summarise the key discussions from today" — it reads the threads and gives me a structured summary with action items. Twenty minutes of scrolling compressed into thirty seconds.

Checking code status. "What's the build status of the driver-app service?" or "Are there any failing tests on main?" — the assistant checks CI, reads logs, and gives me a straight answer. No need to open dashboards or dig through GitHub Actions.

The Compound Effect

No single one of these is revolutionary. But together, they remove the friction between intent and action. I think "we should recognise that work" and it's done. I think "that PR comment needs fixing" and it's pushed. The gap between deciding and executing shrinks to zero.

WhatsApp: The Always-On Channel

Slack is for work hours. WhatsApp is for everything else. At midnight, I take a screenshot of an error on my phone, send it to OpenClaw on WhatsApp, and get a structured diagnosis before I've finished reading the error myself.

On weekends, it's my research assistant. "What are the latest benchmarks comparing Gemini 2.5 to Claude Opus 4.6?" — it searches, reads, and summarises. It's like having a really fast, tireless colleague who's always up for a conversation.

The AI Model Layer

OpenClaw supports multiple AI providers. I run it with Google Antigravity, which gives me access to both Claude and Gemini through a single authentication. The model is configurable — I've used Claude Sonnet 4.5 for most tasks (fast, reliable) and Gemini 2.5 Pro for code-heavy work.

When Claude Opus 4.6 dropped, I switched to it within minutes. The ability to swap models without changing any workflows is one of OpenClaw's underrated strengths — your channels, skills, and habits stay the same; only the brain changes.

Running It 24/7

The Mac Mini runs OpenClaw as a system service that starts on boot. A UPS handles power fluctuations. The OS is configured to auto-restart after outages. A Cloudflare tunnel makes the dashboard accessible from anywhere via openclaw.magizhan.work.

It's been running continuously for weeks. The assistant answers messages at 3 AM, runs scheduled tasks, and is ready when I open Slack in the morning. The cost? A Mac Mini that draws about 15 watts. Less than a lightbulb.

The best assistant isn't the smartest one. It's the one that's always available, already knows the context, and acts before you finish asking.

Who Is This For?

If you're comfortable with a terminal and believe your tools should work for you (not the other way around), OpenClaw is worth the setup time. It's not a product you consume — it's infrastructure you own.

For me as a CEO, it's become the bridge between high-level thinking and hands-on execution. I don't need to context-switch to GitHub, don't need to remember CI URLs, don't need to open dashboards. I just tell my assistant what I want, and it happens.

That's not the future. That's Tuesday.

Magizhan is the CEO of Namma Yatri. He runs OpenClaw on a Mac Mini and gives kudos to his team through Slack while running on the treadmill.