The open-source AI assistant formerly known as Clawdbot — now renamed Moltbot — has become one of the fastest-growing repositories in GitHub history, crossing 180,000 stars and drawing 2 million visitors in a single week.
Created by Peter Steinberger (founder of PSPDFKit), Moltbot is a 24/7 AI assistant that runs on your own hardware:
Hardware: Mac Mini, Raspberry Pi, VPS, or any always-on computer
Messaging: Connects to WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack, Signal, iMessage
AI Backend: Claude, ChatGPT, DeepSeek, or local models
Capabilities: Full system access — files, shell commands, browser control, plugin creation
The Name Change
On January 27, Anthropic requested a name change over trademark concerns related to “Clawd.” Steinberger’s response: “‘Molt’ fits perfectly — it’s what lobsters do to grow.”
Why People Are Calling It “What Siri Should Have Been”
The viral adoption reveals deep frustration with existing smart assistants:
Persistent memory across conversations (Siri forgets everything)
The M4 Mac Mini is selling partly because of Moltbot — people spending $599+ on hardware to run a third-party AI assistant. Apple captures the hardware revenue but cedes the high-value, relationship-building AI layer to Anthropic and the open-source community.
Architecture Details
Moltbot runs a local “gateway” that connects messaging platforms to AI models. It has full system access by default — reading and writing files, executing shell commands, controlling browsers. Settings and memory are stored as local Markdown files.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
