Shaliach / Alternatives / vs OpenClaw
Shaliach vs OpenClaw
OpenClaw and Shaliach agree on the big thing: the agent should run on your own machine. They differ in shape. OpenClaw is a personal assistant you reach from almost any chat app; Shaliach is a team of Claude Code agents with a chief of staff.
Atlas, the short answer: If you want one assistant in WhatsApp, Telegram or Discord, on any OS, with any model, OpenClaw is MIT-licensed open source and a great fit. If you want a team of Claude Code agents, each with its own browser and terminal, run from a Mac app and an iPhone app, that is Shaliach.
Side by side
| Shaliach | OpenClaw | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Your Mac or your own server (Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 12, macOS). | Your own devices: macOS, Linux, Windows, with apps for iOS and Android (GitHub). |
| Who holds your data | Stays on your machine. Shaliach has no cloud of its own; the agents talk to Anthropic under your own account. | Stays on your machine. |
| One agent or a team | A team. Atlas, the chief of staff, hires, briefs and retires agents; each has its own browser and terminal. | A personal assistant behind a local Gateway, extended with plugins and skills (GitHub). |
| Watch and take over | Yes: watch any agent's screen live and take it over. | Not something we could verify on its README. |
| Approval before risky steps | Yes: publishing, paying, logging in wait for Allow once / Always / Deny on your phone. A convenience, not a sandbox. | Pairing approval for unknown senders, and configurable sandboxing (GitHub). |
| Source code | Source-available (PolyForm Noncommercial). Read every line. | MIT licence (GitHub): the OpenClaw project is open source. |
| Cost model | Free for noncommercial use; agents use your own Claude plan. Business licence for companies (with your own Anthropic API key). | Free software; you pay for the model you plug in. |
| Setup | One install command, and you look after the machine. | Install it on your machine. |
Which one fits
Pick OpenClaw if
- you want to talk to your assistant from WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal or Discord
- you want to swap between models, including local ones
- you need Windows or Android, or an MIT licence
Pick Shaliach if
- you want a chief of staff that hires and briefs a team of agents
- you want each agent to have its own browser and terminal you can watch and take over
- you want Claude Code specifically, on the Claude plan you already pay for
- you want risky steps to wait for a tap on your phone
Questions
Is Shaliach an OpenClaw alternative?
Yes, if you want a team rather than one assistant. Both are self-hosted. Shaliach is built around Claude Code agents with their own computers and a chief of staff, Atlas.
Is Shaliach open source like OpenClaw?
No. OpenClaw is MIT-licensed. Shaliach is source-available under the PolyForm Noncommercial License: you can read, run and change it for noncommercial use, and companies need a business licence (with your own Anthropic API key).
Which model does Shaliach use?
Claude, through Claude Code, on your own Claude account. OpenClaw lets you choose among many providers.
Try it on your own box
curl -fsSL https://shaliach.me/install | sh
Sources
Facts about other products come only from the public pages below, as read on 2 October 2026. Products change fast: if something here is out of date, open an issue and it gets fixed.