SwarmClaw
A self-hosted control plane for running, orchestrating, and supervising agent teams with memory, tools, and schedules.
What does this agent do, and when should you use it?
SwarmClaw is a self-hosted AI agent runtime and multi-agent framework with a dashboard, task board, org chart, and chat interface. It runs heartbeats, schedules, background jobs, delegated tasks, and restart-safe orchestration while retaining conversations, memory, and run state. Built-in provider paths include Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenRouter, Ollama, and compatible endpoints. It connects MCP servers, messaging connectors, and OpenClaw gateways, with desktop, global npm, Docker, and hosted-image deployment options. It fits teams that need persistent, multi-role automation under their own control plane rather than a one-off chat integration.
Running swarmclaw starts a server at http://localhost:3456, where operators manage agents, chats, tasks, schedules, and connectors. Agents can use built-in tools and stdio, SSE, or streamable HTTP MCP tools configured from the MCP Servers panel; they can delegate to Claude Code, Codex CLI, OpenCode, Gemini CLI, Cursor Agent CLI, Qwen Code CLI, or native SwarmClaw subagents. Orchestration supports branches, loops, parallel paths, explicit joins, and restart-safe state; outputs can persist as chat history, task outputs, structured-session transcripts, or connector deliveries. Scheduled runs record lastDeliveryStatus and lastDeliveryError, and a failed dead-lettered task can be requeued through POST /api/tasks/:id/retry.
- An operations lead builds an agent org chart and delegates ongoing work to specialized development, research, and operations roles.
- An engineering team has a builder agent invoke Codex CLI, Claude Code, or OpenCode while testing and review agents track work on the task board.
- A research group schedules daily or weekly scans, has several agents investigate independently, and consolidates their findings into a cited report.
- A support team needs agents to receive and send messages through Discord, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, Teams, or email.
- An OpenClaw operator manages several gateways, agent files, skills, and remote runtimes from one control plane.
- An on-chain operations team needs recurring balance checks, transaction simulation, or approval-threshold controls for agent-linked wallets.
What are this agent's strengths and limitations?
- Combines chats, tasks, org structure, schedules, memory, and restart-safe orchestration in one self-hosted control plane.
- Natively spans cloud APIs, CLI backends, local Ollama/LM Studio runtimes, OpenClaw, and compatible custom endpoints.
- Supports stdio, SSE, and streamable HTTP MCP servers, with per-agent configuration, testing, and assignment.
- Provides operational evidence for scheduled work through delivery status, credential preflight, retry backoff, and orphan-task recovery.
- Structured Sessions include templates, participants, durable transcripts, outputs, and a visual flow builder.
- Local and self-hosted operation requires Node.js 22.6+; Docker Desktop is recommended for sandbox browser execution.
- API providers need their own credentials, while delegated CLI backends require the relevant provider CLIs to be installed separately.
- Self-hosted deployments require the operator to manage persistent storage, `ACCESS_KEY`, `CREDENTIAL_SECRET`, network access, and connector configuration.
- The macOS desktop app may need a manual Gatekeeper workaround when signing or notarization is unavailable; the related issue remains open.
- Wallets, messaging connectors, and external tools broaden permission and operational risk, so approval limits and runtime guardrails need configuration.
How do you install or deploy this agent?
Node.js 22.6+ and npm 10+ are required. For a global install: npm i -g @swarmclawai/swarmclaw, then run swarmclaw. From source: git clone https://github.com/swarmclawai/swarmclaw.git, cd swarmclaw, nvm use, and npm run quickstart. For Docker, from the repository run mkdir -p data, touch .env.local, and docker compose up -d --build, then open http://localhost:3456. Hosted deployments need persistent storage mounted at /app/data plus ACCESS_KEY and CREDENTIAL_SECRET; API-based providers also need their corresponding credentials configured in provider settings.
How do you use this agent?
After startup, open http://localhost:3456, create an agent, and select a configured provider and model. Assign tools, memory, runtime skills, or MCP servers, then begin work from chat or the task board; configure delegation or Structured Sessions for collaboration. Create schedules for recurring jobs and inspect their saved delivery status and run records. For OpenClaw, configure a gateway profile and select its runtime from the control plane; to install the OpenClaw skill, run openclaw skills install swarmclaw.
How does this agent compare with similar options?
The project describes itself as a practical alternative to Claude Code and LangChain. Compared with a single coding CLI, it emphasizes multi-agent delegation, tasks, schedules, memory, and connectors; compared with a framework-oriented orchestration library, it supplies a deployable control plane, runtime, and operator UI. It can still use Claude Code and Codex CLI as delegated backends.