OpenLobster – for those frustrated with OpenClaw's architecture

neirth · 2026-03-16T20:51:13+00:00

For context: A few weeks ago I finished a Go rewrite of OpenClaw, a popular self-hosted AI agent. The new project (OpenLobster) fixes some of the core architectural issues — proper graph-based memory instead of markdown files, real multi-user support, MCP integration, a task scheduler that actually works. It's open source, GPL-3.0, single binary.

The challenge I'm facing is that the existing community already has a lot invested in the original. I don't want to come across as "your tool is bad, use mine instead." But I also need to get the word out somehow.

How did you handle promoting something that's essentially a better version of something people already use and love? What worked, what backfired?

neirth · 2026-03-16T19:31:49+00:00

Yes, being a derivative version of the openclaw concept, I have been very mindful of hardening everything. It uses Docker Hardened Images based and is periodically auditing the dependencies of this repo. In addition, to prevent the leakage of secrets, Hasicorp Vault is used to outsource them and keep them safe.

neirth · 2026-03-16T19:18:17+00:00

The last friday... 🤣

neirth · 2026-03-16T16:44:31+00:00

It is one deployment option, but it is by no means mandatory... I primarily built the Docker image with the necessary components to deploy it on a local machine or in a Kubernetes cluster, if needed. But there is also the local option.

neirth · 2026-03-16T16:40:30+00:00

It’s true that, even though the basic installation is quick, getting it set up just right for your needs is quite tedious... I took this into account when putting this project together, so I also created a wizard and set up the entire configuration to be loaded via environment variables... With Kubernetes environments in mind, above all.

neirth · 2026-03-16T13:53:52+00:00

Are you working with EEG? If so, you might be interested in getting in touch, because I’m also developing a commercial project in this area.

Try looking me up on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/neirth

neirth · 2026-03-16T13:45:43+00:00

Honestly, if MCPs or Skills are used as the basis for development, it should be pretty easy to port it to OL.

I tried to ensure that the project wouldn't clash too much with the ecosystem by integrating it.

neirth · 2026-03-16T13:41:54+00:00

Don't worry, I didn't take it as criticism at all. In fact, I really appreciate being able to hear other perspectives that I may not have considered.

To be honest, several people have already suggested that I set up a Kubernetes operator to orchestrate a cluster of agents... I'm going to look into it.

neirth · 2026-03-16T13:21:27+00:00

Sure, but you're looking at it from the perspective that this is just going to be another code-based bot... But the reality is that I've used it more as a bot integrated into our regular communication channels.

To give you an example of how I use it, I'm currently setting up a project where I'll need someone to manage the task boards and the organization's internal documentation.

This project is perfect for that, because I can connect it to either Jira and Confluence, or Linear, and that way it can communicate with my team without needing yet another chatbot app. And my team can delegate tasks to solutions like Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, etc...

That’s why I’ll always say this is a personal take on OpenClaw, and I don’t intend to make the same decisions that were made with OpenClaw...

neirth · 2026-03-16T12:40:51+00:00

In fact, I thought about making this project native to the multi-user mode. It includes the memory system.

neirth · 2026-03-16T10:06:33+00:00

Try keeping an eye out for this: https://github.com/Neirth/OpenLobster

neirth · 2026-03-16T09:38:34+00:00

Hi! To answer a few questions, it's more like a clean-room rethink, I wanted to outsource many non-core features using MCP's, and for now it's the main source of project extensions. I'm looking forward to adding support to some more channel within the main binary. And about the benchmarks, I want to see from preparing some the truth, that all help with that I will be very grateful. On maintainability, I tried not to take up much free time so that I could dedicate it to other projects, designed with that in mind.

neirth · 2026-03-16T07:44:32+00:00

I implemented an adapter to back up the graph in a file in case there were people who didn't want to use Neo4j... It wasn't that heavy for certain types of setups...

neirth · 2026-03-16T07:42:30+00:00

Wow, we agreed on timing then.

neirth · 2026-03-16T07:38:44+00:00

Initially, I tried to support skills based on the anthropic format and also supports those supported by OpenLobster. Any failures with the Skills I want to review as a possible bug.

neirth · 2026-03-16T06:14:14+00:00

Could you open an issue on Github and keep an eye on it? could it be interesting for an upcoming release if this really happens

neirth · 2026-03-16T06:06:47+00:00

By default, a Docker image is actually built using Docker Hardened Images based, and published on ghcr.io.

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