If your techie friend is texting a lobster, here’s why.
Clawdbot is an open-source AI agent that works around the clock and can connect to many common consumer apps. Users have asked their Clawdbots to organize their schedules, monitor vibe-coding sessions, and build new AI employees.
(Also, it’s not called Clawdbot anymore. After Anthropic reached out over similarities in the name and logo, its creator Peter Steinberger gave the agent a new name: Moltbot.)
It’s scored some high-profile fans, from Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan to multiple Andreessen Horowitz partners. Many have praised it, others have meme’d it, and some have warned people about potential security concerns.
What is it?
You can spot Clawdbot/Moltbot by its friendly lobster mascot.
Founded by Steinberger, it’s an AI agent that manages “digital life,” from emails to home automation. Steinberger previously founded PSPDFKit.
In a key distinction from ChatGPT and many other popular AI products, the agent is open source and runs locally on your computer. Users then connect the agent to a messaging app like WhatsApp or Telegram, where they can give it instructions via text.
The AI agent was initially named after the “little monster” that appears when you restart Claude Code, Steinberger said on the “Insecure Agents” podcast. He formed the tool around the question: “Why don’t I have an agent that can look over my agents?”
“I already did the whole startup thing,” Steinberger said. “I’m just here to have fun.”
It runs locally on your computer 24/7. That’s led some people to brush off their old laptops. “Installed it experimentally on my old dusty Intel MacBook Pro,” one product designer wrote. “That machine finally has a purpose again.”
Others are buying up Mac Minis, Apple’s 5″-by-5″ computer, to run the AI. Logan Kilpatrick, a product manager for Google DeepMind, posted: “Mac mini ordered.” It could give a sales boost to Apple, some X users have pointed out — and online searches for “Mac Mini” jumped in the last 4 days in the US, per Google Trends.
Search interest in the term “Mac Mini” has increased over the last 4 days.
Screenshot via Google Trends
But Steinberger said buying a new computer just to run the AI isn’t necessary.
“Please don’t buy a Mac Mini,” he wrote. “You can deploy this on Amazon’s Free Tier.”
Engineers and AI heads seem to love it
The Mac Mini buy-ups have spawned dozens of memes.
One founder wrote that his “meal prep” was a fridge full of Mac Minis and Monster energy drinks. An engineer joked that his Mac Mini had quit his job and divorced his wife. Another founder prophesied a wave of Mac Mini returns in two weeks.
Many techies are excited by the agent’s capabilities.
One founder asked it to make him a dinner reservation; when it couldn’t complete the task via OpenTable, it used its ElevenLabs skill to call the restaurant. “AGI is here and 99% of people have no clue,” he wrote.
Others were less impressed. One founder called it a “generational psyop,” joking that it took him 6 texts to get a calendar invite.
The AI seems to be at least moderately popular. Steinberger posted on X that he had 89 GitHub pull requests — and that venture capitalists were flooding his inbox.
What’s the worry?
Is Moltbot the future of agents? Some onlookers seem skeptical.
First, the setup process can be technical. A16z partner Olivia Moore described the process, from terminal commands to API keys. “For most consumers (or even prosumers), the learning curve is likely too steep,” she wrote.
Then there’s the security question. You are giving an AI agent almost unlimited access to your digital life and passwords, after all.
Rahul Sood, a former Microsoft exec who founded its investment arm, wrote that it turned text messages into “attack surfaces” and had “zero guardrails by design.” He advised using it carefully.
Gave Clawdbot access to my portfolio.
“Trade this to $1M. Don’t make mistakes”
25 strategies. 3,000+ reports. 12 new algos.
It scanned every X post. Charted every technical. Traded 24/7.
It lost everything.
But boy was it beautiful. pic.twitter.com/wYpEZ3kB67
— Kevin Xu (@kevinxu) January 26, 2026
One hacker described the AI as hiring a “brilliant” butler who later opened your home to the public, allowing a stranger to read your diary.
Steinberger responded to these security concerns by outlining some guardrails users could employ, including reading the security document and avoiding adding the AI to group chats.
How much should we hand over our digital lives to AI? A16z partner Justine Moore warned against being the “guy who automated his entire life with ClawdBot.”
