The team behind what was previously known as Clawdbot and briefly as Moltbot has announced its permanent identity as OpenClaw, marking the conclusion of a rapid rebranding cycle driven by trademark compliance, community input, and a commitment to long-term stability. Effective immediately, the project's official web presence has migrated to https://openclaw.my, with users encouraged to update their bookmarks and command-line interface tools accordingly.
The path to OpenClaw involved three names in just 72 hours, reflecting the project's agility in responding to legal and community concerns. Originally launched in late 2025 as Clawd—a playful nod to the lobster mascot seen during Anthropic's Claude loading screens—the project received a "friendly suggestion" from Anthropic's legal team regarding trademark similarities. This prompted an immediate pivot to respect intellectual property boundaries, leading to the temporary name Moltbot, chosen during a 5:00 AM brainstorm on Discord on January 27, 2026. While "molt" symbolized growth through shedding a shell, the name proved technically complex and led to domain squatting and fraudulent cryptocurrency tokens attempting to capitalize on the confusion.
Learning from this chaos, the team conducted rigorous trademark searches and secured infrastructure before launching OpenClaw. The name combines "Open," reflecting the open-source mission, with "Claw," honoring the project's roots, creating a clear, legally sound identity. As the OpenClaw team stated, "In biology, 'molting' is a transitional phase—a vulnerable process of shedding a shell to allow for growth. Moltbot was exactly that: a necessary transition state. But one does not stay in the molting phase forever. You molt to emerge stronger, harder, and more capable. OpenClaw represents that final, hardened form."
For those new to the project, OpenClaw is the direct evolution of Clawdbot, the tool that redefined local AI automation upon its release in late 2025. Originally designed to run autonomous tasks locally, Clawdbot became an overnight viral sensation, celebrated for empowering developers to run sophisticated AI agents on their own hardware without relying on gated cloud APIs. It famously sparked a surge in Mac Mini purchases as enthusiasts built dedicated "home labs" for their agents. By adopting the name OpenClaw, the project honors this explosive heritage while explicitly signaling a future built on open standards and transparency.
The decision to rebrand twice in 72 hours and migrate domains quickly reflects a radical commitment to agility, driven by community consensus and global compliance. Following the shift to Moltbot, developer feedback indicated a desire for a name that sounded less like a biological process and more like enterprise-grade infrastructure. To ensure the project can scale without future legal friction, OpenClaw has been vetted to coexist peacefully with major industry players, ensuring the repository remains safe for corporate adoption. Peter Steinberger, founder of OpenClaw, addressed the community regarding the rapid changes, stating, "I will be the first to admit: changing a brand name three times in three days is not standard operating procedure. I apologize for the whiplash this has caused our contributors and users. However, in open source, we fix bugs fast—whether they are in the code or in the brand. We realized 'Moltbot' was a patch, not a platform. OpenClaw is the platform."
With the identity crisis resolved, OpenClaw is refocusing on its technical roadmap to democratize local AI automation, allowing developers to run powerful, self-improving agents on consumer hardware. The project is available at its new address, and its codebase can be accessed via https://github.com/openclaw. This rebranding underscores the importance of legal diligence and community engagement in the fast-paced open-source ecosystem, potentially setting a precedent for how projects navigate trademark issues while maintaining momentum. For the AI industry, OpenClaw's stabilization could accelerate adoption of local AI agents, reducing dependency on cloud services and fostering innovation in decentralized automation.
