Clawbot, the open source AI assistant, has been renamed to Moltbot. The change was announced by the project’s creator after a trademark concern from Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI model. To avoid confusion and legal issues, the project moved to a new name while keeping everything else the same.
Moltbot is a personal AI assistant that runs on your own device. It can run locally on a Mac, Linux system, Raspberry Pi, or Windows using WSL. Unlike regular chatbots, Moltbot can perform real actions. It can manage calendars, send messages, automate tasks, control browsers, and handle workflows across apps and services.
One of Moltbot’s key features is that it works directly inside popular messaging apps. It supports platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack, Signal, and iMessage. This means users can talk to their AI assistant from the same apps they already use every day. Moltbot can also message users first, which makes it different from most AI assistants that only respond when asked.
The project was created by developer Peter Steinberger and became popular very quickly. Many users liked the idea of running an AI agent locally instead of relying fully on cloud services. This also gives users more control over their data and privacy. Moltbot now has more than 30,000 stars on GitHub, over 8,000 members on Discord, and contributions from more than 130 developers. It is fully open source and community driven, which allows users to build custom skills and extend what the assistant can do.
Moltbot supports advanced features like multi-agent workflows. This allows different AI agents to work together on tasks such as monitoring emails, managing schedules, or fixing software issues. It can also automate browser actions, handle files, connect with APIs, and even control smart home devices.
The original name, Clawbot, was inspired by a lobster theme and was also a playful reference to Claude. Anthropic raised concerns that the name could create confusion with its own brand. To avoid legal issues, the developer decided to change the name instead of fighting the request.
The new name, Moltbot, keeps the lobster theme. Molting refers to how lobsters shed their shell to grow. The mascot name was also changed to match the new branding. Apart from the name and branding, nothing else has changed. The features, code, and purpose of the project remain the same.
After the rename, some fake accounts and scam tokens appeared online using the old name. The creator clearly stated that Moltbot has no crypto token and will not launch one. Users were advised to stay cautious.
