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🦞 OpenClaw Windows Hub

A Windows companion suite for OpenClaw - the AI-powered personal assistant.

Made with 🦞 love by Scott Hanselman and Molty

Molty - Windows Tray App

Molty - Command Palette

Projects

This monorepo contains four projects:

Project Description
OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI System tray application (WinUI 3) for quick access to OpenClaw
OpenClaw.Shared Shared gateway client library
OpenClaw.Cli CLI validator for WebSocket connect/send/probe using tray settings
OpenClaw.CommandPalette PowerToys Command Palette extension

🚀 Quick Start

End-user installer? See docs/SETUP.md for a step-by-step installation guide (no build required).

Prerequisites

Build

Use the build script to check prerequisites and build:

# Check prerequisites
.\build.ps1 -CheckOnly

# Build all projects
.\build.ps1

# Build specific project
.\build.ps1 -Project WinUI

Or build directly with dotnet:

# Build all (use build.ps1 for best results)
dotnet build

# Build WinUI (requires runtime identifier for WebView2 support)
dotnet build src/OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI/OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI.csproj -r win-arm64  # ARM64
dotnet build src/OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI/OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI.csproj -r win-x64    # x64

# Build MSIX package (for camera/mic consent prompts)
dotnet build src/OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI -r win-arm64 -p:PackageMsix=true  # ARM64 MSIX
dotnet build src/OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI -r win-x64 -p:PackageMsix=true    # x64 MSIX

Run Tray App

# Run the exe directly (path includes runtime identifier)
.\src\OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI\bin\Debug\net10.0-windows10.0.19041.0\win-arm64\OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI.exe  # ARM64
.\src\OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI\bin\Debug\net10.0-windows10.0.19041.0\win-x64\OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI.exe    # x64

Run CLI WebSocket Validator

Use the CLI to validate gateway connectivity and chat.send outside the tray UI.

# Show help
dotnet run --project src/OpenClaw.Cli -- --help

# Use tray settings from %APPDATA%\OpenClawTray\settings.json and send one message
dotnet run --project src/OpenClaw.Cli -- --message "quick send validation"

# Loop sends and also probe sessions/usage/nodes APIs
dotnet run --project src/OpenClaw.Cli -- --repeat 5 --delay-ms 1000 --probe-read --verbose

# Override gateway URL/token for isolated testing
dotnet run --project src/OpenClaw.Cli -- --url ws://127.0.0.1:18789 --token "<token>" --message "override test"

📦 OpenClaw.Tray (Molty)

Modern Windows 11-style system tray companion that connects to your local OpenClaw gateway.

Features

  • 🦞 Lobster branding - Pixel-art lobster tray icon with status colors
  • 🎨 Modern UI - Windows 11 flyout menu with dark/light mode support
  • 💬 Quick Send - Send messages via global hotkey (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+C)
  • 🔄 Auto-updates - Automatic updates from GitHub Releases
  • 🌐 Web Chat - Embedded chat window with WebView2
  • 📊 Live Status - Real-time sessions, channels, and usage display
  • Activity Stream - Dedicated flyout for live session, usage, node, and notification events
  • 🔔 Toast Notifications - Clickable Windows notifications with smart categorization
  • 📡 Channel Control - Start/stop Telegram & WhatsApp from the menu
  • 🖥️ Node Observability - Node inventory with online/offline state and copyable summary
  • Cron Jobs - Quick access to scheduled tasks
  • 🚀 Auto-start - Launch with Windows
  • ⚙️ Settings - Full configuration dialog
  • 🎯 First-run experience - Welcome dialog guides new users

Quick Send scope requirement

Quick Send uses the gateway chat.send method and requires the operator device to have operator.write scope.

If Quick Send fails with missing scope: operator.write, Molty now copies identity + remediation guidance to your clipboard, including:

  • operator role and client.id used by the tray app
  • gateway-reported operator device id (if provided)
  • currently granted scopes (if provided)

For this specific error (missing scope: operator.write), the cause is an operator token scope issue. Update the token used by the tray app so it includes operator.write, then retry Quick Send.

If Quick Send fails with pairing required / NOT_PAIRED, that is a device approval issue. Approve the tray device in gateway pairing approvals, reconnect, and retry.

Menu Sections

  • Status - Gateway connection status with click-to-view details
  • Sessions - Active agent sessions with preview and per-session controls
  • Usage - Provider/cost summary with quick jump to activity details
  • Channels - Telegram/WhatsApp status with toggle control
  • Nodes - Online/offline node inventory and copyable summary
  • Recent Activity - Timestamped event stream for sessions, usage, nodes, and notifications
  • Actions - Dashboard, Web Chat, Quick Send, Activity Stream, History
  • Settings - Configuration, auto-start, logs

Mac Parity Status

Comparing against openclaw-menubar (macOS Swift menu bar app):

Feature Mac Windows Notes
Menu bar/tray icon Color-coded status
Gateway status display Connected/Disconnected
PID display Mac shows gateway PID
Channel status Mac: Discord / Win: Telegram+WhatsApp
Sessions count
Last check timestamp Shown in tray tooltip
Gateway start/stop/restart Mac controls gateway process
View Logs
Open Web UI
Refresh Auto-refresh on menu open
Launch at Login
Notifications toggle

Windows-Only Features

These features are available in Windows but not in the Mac app:

Feature Description
Quick Send hotkey Ctrl+Alt+Shift+C global hotkey
Embedded Web Chat WebView2-based chat window
Toast notifications Clickable Windows notifications
Channel control Start/stop Telegram & WhatsApp
Modern flyout menu Windows 11-style with dark/light mode
Deep links openclaw:// URL scheme with IPC
First-run welcome Guided onboarding for new users
PowerToys integration Command Palette extension

🔌 Node Mode (Agent Control)

When Node Mode is enabled in Settings, your Windows PC becomes a node that the OpenClaw agent can control - just like the Mac app! The agent can:

Capability Commands Description
System system.notify, system.run, system.run.prepare, system.which, system.execApprovals.get, system.execApprovals.set Show Windows toast notifications, execute commands with policy controls
Canvas canvas.present, canvas.hide, canvas.navigate, canvas.eval, canvas.snapshot, canvas.a2ui.push, canvas.a2ui.reset Display and control a WebView2 window
Screen screen.capture, screen.list Capture screenshots
Camera camera.list, camera.snap Enumerate cameras and capture a still photo

Node Setup

  1. Enable Node Mode in Settings (enabled by default)

  2. First connection creates a pairing request on the gateway

  3. Approve the device on your gateway:

    openclaw devices list          # Find your Windows device
    openclaw devices approve <id>  # Approve it
  4. Configure gateway allowCommands - Add the commands you want to allow under gateway.nodes in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:

    {
      "gateway": {
        "nodes": {
          "allowCommands": [
            "system.notify",
            "system.run",
            "system.run.prepare",
            "system.which",
            "system.execApprovals.get",
            "system.execApprovals.set",
            "canvas.present",
            "canvas.hide",
            "canvas.navigate",
            "canvas.eval",
            "canvas.snapshot",
            "canvas.a2ui.push",
            "canvas.a2ui.reset",
            "screen.capture",
            "screen.list",
            "camera.list",
            "camera.snap"
          ]
        }
      }
    }

    ⚠️ Important: The gateway has a server-side allowlist. Commands must be listed explicitly - wildcards like canvas.* don't work!

  5. Test it from your Mac/gateway:

     # Show a notification
     openclaw nodes notify --node <id> --title "Hello" --body "From Mac!"
     
     # Open a canvas window
     openclaw nodes canvas present --node <id> --url "https://example.com"
     
     # Execute JavaScript (note: CLI sends "javaScript" param)
     openclaw nodes canvas eval --node <id> --javaScript "document.title"
     
     # Render A2UI JSONL in the canvas (pass the file contents as a string)
     openclaw nodes canvas a2ui push --node <id> --jsonl "$(Get-Content -Raw .\\ui.jsonl)"
     
     # Take a screenshot
     openclaw nodes invoke --node <id> --command screen.capture --params '{"screenIndex":0,"format":"png"}'
    
     # List cameras
     openclaw nodes invoke --node <id> --command camera.list
    
     # Take a photo (NV12/MediaCapture fallback)
     openclaw nodes invoke --node <id> --command camera.snap --params '{"deviceId":"<device-id>","format":"jpeg","quality":80}'
    
     # Execute a command on the Windows node
     openclaw nodes invoke --node <id> --command system.run --params '{"command":"Get-Process | Select -First 5","shell":"powershell","timeoutMs":10000}'
    
     # View exec approval policy
     openclaw nodes invoke --node <id> --command system.execApprovals.get
    
     # Update exec approval policy (add custom rules)
     openclaw nodes invoke --node <id> --command system.execApprovals.set --params '{"rules":[{"pattern":"echo *","action":"allow"},{"pattern":"*","action":"deny"}],"defaultAction":"deny"}'

    📷 Camera permission: Desktop builds rely on Windows Privacy settings. Packaged MSIX builds will show the system consent prompt.

    🔒 Exec Policy: system.run is gated by an approval policy on the Windows node at %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenClawTray\exec-policy.json (schema: { "defaultAction": "...", "rules": [...] }). This is separate from gateway-side ~/.openclaw/exec-approvals.json.

    Rules are matched against the command token (argv[0]). If your call runs powershell.exe -File script.ps1, allow powershell.exe/pwsh.exe (not just the script path), or you'll get No matching rule; default policy applied.

    openclaw nodes invoke --node <id> --command system.execApprovals.set --params '{"rules":[{"pattern":"powershell.exe","action":"allow"},{"pattern":"pwsh.exe","action":"allow"},{"pattern":"echo *","action":"allow"},{"pattern":"*","action":"deny"}],"defaultAction":"deny"}'

    🔐 Web Chat secure context: Remote web chat requires https:// (or localhost). If using a self-signed cert, trust it in Windows (Trusted Root Certification Authorities) or use an SSH tunnel to localhost.

Node Status in Tray Menu

The tray menu shows node connection status:

  • 🔌 Node Mode section appears when enabled
  • ⏳ Waiting for approval... - Device needs approval on gateway
  • ✅ Paired & Connected - Ready to receive commands
  • Click the device ID to copy it for the approval command

Deep Links

OpenClaw registers the openclaw:// URL scheme for automation and integration:

Link Description
openclaw://settings Open Settings dialog
openclaw://chat Open Web Chat window
openclaw://dashboard Open Dashboard in browser
openclaw://dashboard/sessions Open specific dashboard page
openclaw://send?message=Hello Open Quick Send with pre-filled text
openclaw://agent?message=Hello Send message directly (with confirmation)

Deep links work even when Molty is already running - they're forwarded via IPC.

📦 OpenClaw.CommandPalette

PowerToys Command Palette extension for quick OpenClaw access.

Commands

  • 🦞 Open Dashboard - Launch the OpenClaw web dashboard
  • 💬 Web Chat - Open the embedded Web Chat window
  • 📝 Quick Send - Open the Quick Send dialog to compose a message
  • ⚙️ Settings - Open the OpenClaw Tray Settings dialog

Installation

  1. Run the OpenClaw Tray installer and tick "Install PowerToys Command Palette extension", or
  2. Register manually: Add-AppxPackage -Register "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\OpenClawTray\CommandPalette\AppxManifest.xml" -ForceApplicationShutdown
  3. Open Command Palette (Win+Alt+Space) and type "OpenClaw" to see commands

See docs/POWERTOYS.md for detailed setup and troubleshooting.

📦 OpenClaw.Shared

Shared library containing:

  • OpenClawGatewayClient - WebSocket client for gateway protocol
  • IOpenClawLogger - Logging interface
  • Data models (SessionInfo, ChannelHealth, etc.)
  • Channel control (start/stop channels via gateway)

Development

Project Structure

openclaw-windows-node/
├── src/
│   ├── OpenClaw.Shared/           # Shared gateway library
│   ├── OpenClaw.Tray.WinUI/       # System tray app (WinUI 3)
│   └── OpenClaw.CommandPalette/   # PowerToys extension
├── tests/
│   ├── OpenClaw.Shared.Tests/     # Shared library tests
│   └── OpenClaw.Tray.Tests/       # Tray app helper tests
├── docs/
│   └── molty1.png                 # Screenshot
├── moltbot-windows-hub.slnx       # Solution file (historical name)
├── README.md
├── LICENSE
└── .gitignore

Configuration

Settings are stored in:

  • Settings: %APPDATA%\OpenClawTray\settings.json
  • Logs: %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenClawTray\openclaw-tray.log

Default gateway: ws://localhost:18789

First Run

On first run without a token, Molty displays a welcome dialog that:

  1. Explains what's needed to get started
  2. Links to documentation for token setup
  3. Opens Settings to configure the connection

License

MIT License - see LICENSE


Formerly known as Moltbot, formerly known as Clawdbot

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Windows companion suite for OpenClaw - System Tray app, Shared library, Node, and PowerToys Command Palette extension

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