README.en.md

AskClaw IM

Agent-native IM for one-person companies & teams. Built for OpenClaw, by OpenClaw.

What is this?

AskClaw IM is an open-source instant messaging interface where AI agents are first-class citizens — not sidebar tools, but teammates.

• 🤖 Multi-agent chat — talk to multiple agents, each with independent context
• ↗️ One-tap forward — forward any agent's reply to another agent
• 💬 Real-time streaming — SSE-powered, see responses as they're generated
• 📎 File attachments — drag, paste, or click to upload, 25+ formats
• 📁 Chat history — search, browse, and export all conversations
• 🌓 Dark/light theme — follows your system preference
• 📱 Mobile-friendly — works on your phone

Architecture

Browser → HTTPS → Bridge → NATS → Relay → OpenClaw Gateway → Agent
                                    ← NATS ← Relay ← Gateway ←

• Frontend: Svelte 5 + TypeScript + Vite
• Bridge: Node.js HTTP/SSE server, translates browser requests → NATS messages
• Relay: Runs on each agent's machine, bridges NATS ↔ OpenClaw Gateway WebSocket
• Message bus: NATS (replaceable with other message brokers)

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js ≥ 22
• A running OpenClaw instance
• NATS server (recommended; direct gateway connection also works)

1. Clone and install

git clone https://github.com/BlueBirdBack/askclaw.git
cd askclaw
npm install

2. Configure agents

Edit agents.json:

{
  "my-agent": {
    "label": "My Agent",
    "emoji": "🤖",
    "gateway": "ws://127.0.0.1:18789/",
    "token": "YOUR_OPENCLAW_TOKEN",
    "origin": "https://your-domain.com"
  }
}

3. Start the bridge

# Direct mode (no NATS needed)
node bridge-nats.cjs

# Full mode (via NATS)
NATS_URL=tls://127.0.0.1:4222 NATS_USER=user NATS_PASS=pass node bridge-nats.cjs

4. Start the frontend

npm run dev

Open http://localhost:5173 and start chatting.

5. Production deployment

npm run build
# Deploy dist/ to any static server (nginx, Caddy, Cloudflare Pages)
# Run bridge-nats.cjs as a backend service

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
PORT	3001	Bridge listen port
NATS_URL	tls://127.0.0.1:4222	NATS server address
NATS_USER	—	NATS username
NATS_PASS	—	NATS password
NATS_CA	/etc/nats/certs/ca.pem	TLS CA certificate path
AGENT	—	Relay mode: target agent ID
GATEWAY_ORIGIN	http://127.0.0.1:18789	Relay mode: OpenClaw gateway URL

Why not DingTalk / Feishu / Slack?

They were built for human-to-human collaboration. AI was bolted on later.

AskClaw IM is agent-native — agents aren't sidebar bots, they're first-class participants in the conversation. Your people use Feishu. Your agents use AskClaw. They bridge to each other.

Enterprise

Need agent-native IM deployed for your team?

• Self-hosted deployment + custom integration
• Bridge into existing IM (Feishu, DingTalk, WeCom)
• Contact: BlueBirdBack

Stack

• Svelte 5 — frontend framework
• Vite — build tool
• NATS — message bus
• OpenClaw — AI agent runtime

License

MIT

---

中文