OpenClaw 2.0 Brings Smarter AI Agents, Shared Workspaces and Easier Setup in Biggest Update Yet

OpenClaw has released what it describes as the largest update in the project’s history, with the new version touching almost every major part of the AI agent platform, from installation and messaging to memory, models, automations, browser capabilities, native apps, plugins and security.

"This update touches every part of OpenClaw, including installation, messaging, memory, skills, models, automations, the browser and native apps, plugins, security, and a very long tail of fixes," it said.

The OpenClaw 2.0 release was built by 933 contributors, including 569 first-time contributors, and incorporates more than 16,000 pull requests, according to the project.

The project said it had shipped 106 releases in 230 days, often within a day or two of one another, before pausing to address technical and organisational challenges created by its rapid growth.

The extended development cycle resulted in a release containing roughly half of all pull requests ever merged into OpenClaw. Developers used the additional time to test both fresh installations and upgrades, aiming to avoid breaking existing users’ setups.

Installation has been redesigned to reduce configuration requirements and make use of resources users may already have, including ChatGPT or Claude subscriptions, API keys and locally hosted models. Users can also complete additional configuration through conversations with their AI agent.

OpenClaw has also rebuilt its browser interface as a first-class experience, allowing users to start conversations, continue existing work and configure their agents from the same interface.

The update expands OpenClaw’s capabilities beyond individual workflows. Agents can monitor inboxes, identify important information and send notifications through messaging platforms.

The project has also introduced shared cloud sessions, allowing users to collaborate with others on agent tasks while retaining the context accumulated during the work.

OpenClaw said the broader goal is to make AI agents increasingly adaptable to users’ personal and professional workflows, while allowing them to retain greater control over the underlying software and models.

OpenClaw was created by Peter Steinberger, who developed the open-source AI agent project before it rapidly gained traction among developers.

In 2026, OpenAI acquired OpenClaw, bringing Steinberger into the company while the project continues to maintain its open-source roots.