OpenClaw 2.0 pours glitter on slow-burning security dumpster fire

OpenClaw has unveiled what its makers call its largest ever update – large enough to earn a 2.0 moniker – with usability taking center stage, along with some security updates that critics are suggesting will be insufficient.

The OpenClaw foundation announced the release of version 2.0 of its AI agent harness on Sunday, describing it as something with far more scope than they ever intended it to have.

“This update touches every part of OpenClaw,” Foundation community manager Hannes Rudolph said of the update.

“We started by simplifying installation and rebuilding the browser app as a first-class experience, but doing that properly meant carrying the cleanup through the rest of OpenClaw until it became OpenClaw 2.0.” It's those two features – the rebuilt installation experience and redesigned interface – that Rudolph dedicates most of his announcement to.

OpenClaw is an open-source, self-hosted AI agent harness that allows users to build their own AI agents and connect them to whatever apps and services they want.

OpenClaw went viral shortly after its launch due to its extensive capabilities, and helped launch the AI agent craze.

But, by empowering AI models with agentic capabilities, it exposed numerous security problems with unrestrained automation.

In version 2.0, the new installation process is designed to be simpler, ostensibly to get more people using OpenClaw.

“We cut or simplified a lot of configuration and moved the rest out of initial setup, letting people get to a first conversation faster and finish setting up their Claw by talking to it,” Rudolph explained.

As for the user experience, Rudolph explained that the OpenClaw browser app has been redesigned into “a first-class experience” where users can continue setup and interact with their agent.

“The web-based experience in OpenClaw now feels more familiar to anyone who uses apps like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Perplexity, with conversations in the sidebar and the one you are working in at the centre instead of opening on a separate Overview page,” the patch notes for the release explains.

In other words, OpenClaw’s basic interface now looks just like the chat interface for every other AI service you’ve likely used on the web.

The last major feature update added in OpenClaw 2.0 is shared cloud sessions.

Per the announcement, OpenClaw previously had no way to include multiple team members in a single instance without the Claw involved losing its memory.