MoltBot + OpenClaw: How These Two Tools Work Together for Multi-Platform Automation

Hi there, automation builders — if you've been Googling "MoltBot vs OpenClaw" and getting confused because every search result seems to contradict the last one, you're not alone. I spent a week in that rabbit hole. Let me save you the time.

I'm Hanks — I test AI tools inside real workflows and write up what actually happened, not what the marketing page says. And this particular topic is messier than usual, because the naming situation around MoltBot and OpenClaw is genuinely confusing — and most explainers get it subtly wrong.

Here's the question I kept asking myself: If I'm setting up automation across Telegram, Discord, and WhatsApp, am I setting up "MoltBot", "OpenClaw", or both? The answer matters for how you configure everything.

Let me break it down properly.

What Is MoltBot (ClawdBot)?

MoltBot's Core Purpose

MoltBot is not a separate product from OpenClaw. It's the same project, under a previous name.

Here's the actual timeline: Austrian developer Peter Steinberger released a WhatsApp-to-AI relay in November 2025 called Clawdbot — named as a play on Anthropic's Claude. It blew up in January 2026, hitting 100,000+ GitHub stars in days. Then Anthropic's legal team got involved over the "Clawd" trademark similarity. On January 27, 2026, Steinberger renamed it Moltbot (keeping the lobster theme — lobsters molt to grow). Three days later, on January 30, 2026, it became OpenClaw, with a permanent domain (openclaw.ai), clean trademark status, and a foundation governance model.

The project has gone through three names: Clawdbot (November 2025) → Moltbot (January 27, 2026) → OpenClaw (January 30, 2026). The code, the architecture, and the features are continuous across all three names.

So when people search for "MoltBot + OpenClaw integration," what they're actually asking about — most of the time — is how OpenClaw's internal architecture works. The Gateway component and the channel layer. That's what this article covers.

How It Differs from Standalone OpenClaw

Here's where it does get genuinely interesting. Within the OpenClaw project itself, there's a layered architecture where different components handle different jobs. "MoltBot" as a term now shows up in two places:

1. As a legacy name for the overall OpenClaw project (what most people mean)
2. As a preconfigured agent chip on Emergent — a cloud platform where you can launch a MoltBot instance without self-hosting, handling the VPS provisioning automatically

That second usage is the one where "MoltBot + OpenClaw" makes sense as a phrase describing two things working together: Emergent's managed MoltBot chip running an OpenClaw Gateway underneath. If you've seen documentation referring to "setting up MoltBot on Emergent," that's what it means.

What Is OpenClaw?

Quick Recap for Context

OpenClaw connects to virtually every messaging platform through dedicated protocol integrations — not screen scraping or fragile workarounds. WhatsApp uses the Baileys protocol, Telegram uses the Bot API via grammY, Discord uses discord.js, and Slack uses Bolt.

The core architecture: a self-hosted Gateway process runs permanently on your machine or VPS, connecting to whatever LLM you've configured (Claude, GPT-4, DeepSeek, or others via OpenRouter). That Gateway then bridges to your messaging platforms. You talk to your agent through Telegram or WhatsApp; the agent executes tasks and responds back through the same channel.

OpenClaw operates via message-driven commands rather than interactive sessions. Users communicate with the agent via messaging platforms while execution occurs on the host machine.

What makes it different from just using Claude or ChatGPT: it has persistent memory across sessions, it can initiate conversations proactively (heartbeat engine), and it can execute real tasks — shell commands, file operations, browser automation — not just generate text.

How MoltBot and OpenClaw Work Together

MoltBot as a Channel Layer on Top of OpenClaw

Within the Emergent platform context, MoltBot functions as the managed runtime layer — the part that handles provisioning, authentication, and keeping the agent alive. OpenClaw is the agent software running inside that runtime.

Think of it this way: OpenClaw is the engine. MoltBot (on Emergent) is the car that the engine is installed in. You interact with the car (configure channels, set triggers, adjust memory) but the actual task execution happens in the engine.

MoltBot is a preconfigured autonomous agent chip on Emergent that can be launched in minutes. Traditionally, setting up an autonomous agent required installing dependencies, configuring API keys, provisioning servers, and accepting security risks on a personal machine or paid VPS. Emergent removes these barriers by handling the entire setup automatically in the cloud.

If you're self-hosting, there's no separate MoltBot layer — you're just running OpenClaw directly.

Shared Session Handling

OpenClaw uses session keys to route messages deterministically and maintain isolated conversation contexts. Each session key encodes the agent ID, channel, and peer identifier.

This session architecture is what enables multi-platform use without context bleed. A message from your personal Telegram account and a message from a Discord server both reach the same Gateway, but they're stored and processed under separate session keys. The agent knows who's talking from where, and keeps the memory isolated.

Session history is stored as .jsonl files under ~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/sessions/<sessionKey>.jsonl. This is the same whether you're using Emergent's MoltBot wrapper or a self-hosted VPS install.

Which Component Handles What

Setting Up MoltBot with OpenClaw

Prerequisites

Before you start, you need:

• Node.js 22+ (required — Bun is not supported for WhatsApp and Telegram channels, per the official docs)
• An API key for your chosen LLM provider
• A Telegram Bot Token (from BotFather) if you're using Telegram as your primary channel
• A stable host — local machine for testing, VPS for anything you want always-on

If you're going the Emergent route (managed MoltBot), you need an Emergent account and a Google login. No local setup required.

Configuration Steps

Self-hosted OpenClaw (no MoltBot wrapper):

# Install the CLI
npm install -g openclaw
# Run the interactive onboarding wizard
openclaw onboard
# The wizard will prompt for:
# - Your LLM provider and API key
# - Gateway auth mode (choose token or password — never "none")
# - Which channels to enable

For Telegram, configure the channel in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:

"channels": {
  "telegram": {
    "dmPolicy": "pairing",
    "groupPolicy": {
      "requireMention": true
    }
  }
}

With dmPolicy: "pairing", the bot sends a pairing code to unknown senders who must be approved via openclaw pairing approve before their messages are processed. This is the recommended starting configuration.

For WhatsApp:

"channels": {
  "whatsapp": {
    "selfChatMode": true,
    "dmPolicy": "allowlist",
    "allowFrom": ["+15551234567"]
  }
}

Emergent MoltBot (managed cloud):

1. Go to emergent.sh, sign in with Google
2. Launch the MoltBot agent chip
3. Publish the agent (required for persistent operation — unpublished agents stop when the session ends)
4. Connect Telegram via the agent chat interface: type "Help me connect Telegram" and follow the pairing steps
5. Connect WhatsApp the same way, or via Settings → Channels in the Control UI

Testing the Integration End-to-End

Self-hosted:

# Start the gateway
openclaw start
# In a separate terminal, check health
openclaw health
# Send a test message from your configured Telegram bot
# The bot should respond within a few seconds
# Check the gateway logs for the incoming message
openclaw logs --tail 50

Emergent / MoltBot:

Send a message to your connected Telegram bot. You should see a response in Telegram within 10–30 seconds (cloud latency is higher than self-hosted). If the bot doesn't respond, check that the agent is published — that's the most common issue.

When to Use MoltBot vs. OpenClaw Native Channels

This is where the decision actually matters in practice. Here's an honest breakdown:

The honest answer: MoltBot on Emergent is the right entry point if you're not sure whether you'll actually use this long-term. It's the lowest-friction path to a working agent. The moment you need persistent browser skills, heavier compute, or you care about where your data lives, move to a self-hosted OpenClaw install on a VPS.

Common Issues with the MoltBot + OpenClaw Stack

Bot pairs in Telegram but doesn't respond to messages

Check dmPolicy. If it's set to "pairing", the sender needs to be explicitly approved after the pairing code exchange. Run openclaw pairing list to see pending approvals, and openclaw pairing approve <code> to allow them.

Telegram connection fails in containerized environments

This affects image versions 2026.2.17 and later. Add OPENCLAW_TELEGRAM_DISABLE_AUTO_SELECT_FAMILY=true to your environment variables. This disables Node.js's automatic address family selection, which conflicts with container networking in some Docker setups.

WhatsApp session drops and doesn't reconnect

WhatsApp via Baileys is inherently less stable than Telegram's Bot API integration. If you're seeing frequent drops, set up a process monitor (PM2 or systemd) to restart the Gateway automatically on crash. The docker compose setup handles this via container restart policies.

Agent runs are queuing but not executing

OpenClaw serializes runs per session and rate-limits concurrent global executions. If you have multiple channels active and one session is stuck on a long-running task, other sessions queue behind it. Check openclaw status for stuck runs and use openclaw abort <runId> if needed.

"auth: none" config breaks on startup

This mode was permanently removed in v2026.1.29. If you're running a legacy Clawdbot or Moltbot config, update auth to "token" or "password" in openclaw.json. This is not optional — the Gateway will refuse to start without valid auth.

// Old config — no longer works
"auth": "none"
// New config — pick one
"auth": "token"
// or
"auth": "password"

Need help setting up the full stack? Our OpenClaw Setup Hub on macaron.im covers every component — from initial install through channel configuration, VPS deployment, and security hardening — so you don't have to piece it together from six different sources.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Are MoltBot and OpenClaw the same thing?

Yes, in almost every context. MoltBot was the name from January 27–30, 2026, before the project settled on OpenClaw. If you're reading documentation that says "MoltBot," the commands and config structure are identical to OpenClaw. The exception is Emergent's "MoltBot" agent chip, which is a managed cloud wrapper around OpenClaw — that's a separate product by a different company.

Q: Do I need to install anything separately to use MoltBot features?

No. If you're self-hosting OpenClaw, all the channel connection features that were present under the MoltBot name are still there under OpenClaw. The rename didn't remove functionality.

Q: Can I run OpenClaw without a messaging platform?

Yes. OpenClaw has a built-in Web UI accessible at http://localhost:18789 (or through your reverse proxy) that works independently of any messaging channel. You can interact with your agent directly through the Web UI. Channels like Telegram and WhatsApp are optional extensions, not requirements.

Q: What's the difference between Emergent's MoltBot and self-hosted OpenClaw in terms of data privacy?

With self-hosted OpenClaw, your session history, persistent memory, and agent config live entirely on your own machine or VPS — nothing is shared with third parties beyond the LLM API calls you configure. With Emergent's MoltBot, your data lives on Emergent's infrastructure. If data residency or privacy matters to your use case, self-hosted is the appropriate choice.

Q: Can I use DeepSeek or other non-OpenAI models?

Yes. OpenClaw is model-agnostic. You can configure any provider with an OpenAI-compatible API endpoint. OpenClaw supports model fallbacks: if the primary model is unavailable, it will try fallback models in order, providing an additional layer of reliability. For Chinese models like DeepSeek or Kimi, community configs exist and are actively maintained.

Q: Is the "skills" ecosystem (Molthub) the same across both MoltBot and OpenClaw?

Yes. Molthub is OpenClaw's skill repository, and it was called the same thing throughout the Moltbot period. Any skill that worked under MoltBot works under OpenClaw. The legacy name just reflects when the skill was published.