Your Openclaw workflows are about to get 10x better.
Over the past three months, I've consumed 100+ pieces of content breaking down OpenClaw (videos, articles, courses, guides - all of it).
Here's every tip worth knowing - compiled into one place. Save this so you don't lose it.
No fluff, pure alpha.
Let's get into it.
Table of Contents
Section l: Foundational Tips
Section ll: Best Practices
Section lll: Tools & Resources
Section IV: Security & Privacy
Section V: Top 10 Tips
Foundational Tips
50. Pre-OpenClaw tip - Before even touching OpenClaw, learn these skills:
• Prompt engineering (learn to communicate with AI)
• AI creativity (learn to use AI creatively, not just as a chatbot)
• Agentic tools - use other agentic tools before touching OpenClaw (n8n, Manus, Zapier), this is how you learn what you can actually automate with OpenClaw
49. Scope > execution - Always explicitly limit directories and editable files to prevent unnecessary scans and risky modifications.
48. Planning > execution - Force it to propose a plan first, then approve before allowing file changes.
47. Think in workflows, not one-off tasks - OpenClaw delivers leverage when you chain repeatable processes, not isolated commands. Think: how can I turn this into a repeatable workflow?
46. Cool prompt to use (iteration):
"Every day, I want you to work on your own to iterate and improve. Surprise me daily [insert time] with a new task/project you completed to improve my pre-existing workflows."
45. Model selection tips:
• Use lighter, faster models for simple refactors or file navigation, and reserve larger reasoning models for architecture decisions, debugging complex logic, or multi-step planning.
• High-capability reasoning models are significantly more expensive than lightweight models, especially when processing large context windows or scanning multiple files, so match model power to task complexity to avoid unnecessary API burn.
Opus 4.6 = heavy coding tasks, warm personality (more expensive)
Mini Max = light daily tasks, good cheaper option
44. Setup tips - the simplest guide on how to use OpenClaw right now (updated as of Feb. 2026):
43. Hardware tips:
Prioritize RAM over raw CPU speed
OpenClaw workflows can spike memory usage when handling large repos or logs, so higher RAM prevents slowdowns and crashes.
Use SSD storage, not HDD
Fast read/write speeds significantly improve file scanning, indexing, and repo-wide operations.
42. Prompt templates - standardize your prompt templates. Create reusable templates for refactoring, debugging, audits, and feature development, so your outputs remain consistent and predictable across projects.
(Notion works well for this - connect your agent to a new Notion database)
41. Optimal prompting structure - Use a 5-part prompting structure:
Structure every serious task as: Objective → Context → Constraints → Plan → Output format
Best Practices
40. Full Autonomy - If you want “fire-and-forget” autonomy, the biggest unlock is treating chat history as a cache, not the source of truth. Make state + artifacts the source of truth, and design the agent loop to always reconstruct “what to do next” from disk (or a tiny structured store) after any compaction/reset.
39. The two-phone setup
38. Give the agent a workspace (AGENTS)
OpenClaw reads operating instructions and “memory” from its workspace directory. By default, OpenClaw uses ~/.openclaw/workspace as the agent workspace, and will create it (plus starter AGENTS. md, SOUL. md, TOOLS. md, IDENTITY. md, USER. md, HEARTBEAT. md) automatically on setup/first agent run.
BOOTSTRAP. md is only created when the workspace is brand new (it should not come back after you delete it). MEMORY. md is optional (not auto-created); when present, it is loaded for normal sessions. Subagent sessions only inject AGENTS. md and TOOLS. md.
Tip: treat this folder like OpenClaw’s “memory” and make it a git repo (ideally private) so your AGENTS. md + memory files are backed up. If git is installed, brand-new workspaces are auto-initialized.
37. Model stack - Combine multiple models for the best outputs (GPT + Opus + Open source)
36. End sessions cleanly - Before closing a session, summarize changes, confirm no pending edits remain, and verify version control status.
35. Document major automated changes - When OpenClaw performs structural updates, generate a summary explaining what changed and why for future maintainability (you can use this to "go back" if an edit doesn't work)
34. Multi-chat - Talk to your agent on WhatsApp, Telegram, and Slack from different devices. imo, the more options, the better.
33. Break large tasks into phases - Complex requests should be split into analysis, refactor, validation, and optimization instead of one massive command.
32. Slash commands - Learn / commands (and create your own for easy navigation)
/New, /Help, /Reset, etc.
31. Anthropic TOS - Anthropic just "banned" OpenClaw usage through their OAuth. I recommend just skipping connecting your Anthropic account and using ChatGPT instead.
Tools & Resources
(spaces included to avoid "spam" on X - just take the link and delete it)
30. Official OpenClaw Docs:
https://docs.openclaw. ai/start/openclaw
29. Clawhub - OpenClaw skills hub
https://clawhub. ai/
28. Learn OpenClaw - A free course for learning OpenClaw
https://learnopenclaw. com/
27. Skills collection - Github with OpenClaw skills
https://github. com/VoltAgent/awesome-openclaw-skills
26. Supermemory for Openclaw - plug-in
https:// github. com/supermemoryai /clawdbot-supermemory
25. OpenClaw full tutorial for beginners - how to set up and use OpenClaw
https://www.classcentral .com/course/freecodecamp-openclaw-full-tutorial-for-beginners-how-to-set-up-and-use-openclaw-clawdbot-moltbot-527349
24. QMD Skill
A skill that reduces OpenClaw token usage by 95%+
https://github. com/levineam/qmd-skill
23. Claude Code skill - Control CC via MCP
https://github. com/Enderfga/openclaw-claude-code-skill
22. OpenClaw X research skill
https://github. com/rohunvora/x-research-skill
21. Reddit - visit r/OpenClaw for daily tips, advice, and more
Security & Privacy
20. Private by default - Keep OpenClaw private by default to prevent unnecessary exposure and reduce the risk of turning your AI agent into an attack surface.
Start by limiting how OpenClaw can be reached. Bind it to localhost to ensure that only your own system can communicate with it.
Second, expand access only when there is a defined operational need. Only allow connections you understand and expect, and expand access gradually when you have a clear reason to do so.
19. Separate device - Keep OpenClaw on a sandboxed device that doesn't contain your sensitive data (I recommend buying a separate Mac Mini)
18. Security tips:
17. Security tips (from the creator)
16. Treat skills as malicious by default - Treat every third-party or community skill as untrusted until you verify its behavior.
15. Non-admin user - Run OpenClaw under a dedicated non-admin user to prevent system-wide damage
14. Official Security Docs
https://docs. molt. bot /gateway/security
13. Local > VPS - Run locally versus a third-party service (better for model capabilities as well)
12. Security tip:
11. Limit access - ONLY connect to necessary services/tools on your sandbox device (no access to bank, crypto wallets, etc.)
Top 10 Tips
10. Command cheatsheet:
9. Memory tip:
8. AWS setup tips:
7. Set Persona - Explicitly tell your agent how you want it to speak, act, write, etc. (tone, style)
Tip: use ElevenLabs text-to-speech (TTS)
6. Web search tip - Brave and Tavily
These are both free. Brave is great for general searching, and Tavily is great for more specific use cases like scraping contacts, etc.
5. Memory tip - Openclaw forgets what you are talking about mid-sentence. Unlike ChatGPT, which tells you it's out of context, Clawdbot will just automatically compact and forget as you go along - this can be hugely frustrating for the uninitiated.
Run this prompt - it sets you on the right path outside of the defaults to help with your memory management:
"Enable memory flush before compaction and session memory search in my Clawdbot config. Set compaction.memoryFlush.enabled to true and set memorySearch.experimental.sessionMemory to true with sources including both memory and sessions. Apply the config changes."
4. Real use-cases for OpenClaw (for anyone):
Morning brief
Personal research assistant
Email/calendar manager
Vibe coder (build any app you want)
Connect to Notion for easy database access
Second brain
3. Heartbeat . MD - Keep HEARTBEAT. md lean
The Heartbeat. md file in OpenClaw is a crucial config file that defines a recurring checklist of tasks for an AI agent to perform autonomously (runs every 30M)
Keep it small to minimize token burn. Rotate through checks rather than running everything every time.
2. Voice prompting - Instead of constantly texting your agent, send voice notes, brain dumps, etc. -
1. Time audit - Conduct a full time audit of your life - daily tasks, manual processes, etc.
Create a spreadsheet with the data, share it with your OpenClaw agent, and prompt it to consult you on where it can help you automate.
Outro
I hope you've found this article helpful.
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If you have any OpenClaw tips, leave them in the comment below - I'm sure others will find them helpful.
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