openclaw-rs is built by Neul Labs.

The project

openclaw-rs is a Rust implementation of OpenClaw, the open-source AI agent framework. It's not a fork of the TypeScript code — it's a separate workspace, written in Rust from the ground up, that preserves compatibility at the right surfaces:

• Same ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json JSON5 config schema.
• Same Markdown-with-YAML-frontmatter skill format.
• Same TypeScript plugin contract (8 lifecycle hooks), via an nng IPC bridge.
• Same append-only event log format on disk.

What differs is the runtime: a single statically-linked Rust binary instead of a Node.js process; sled for the event store; AES-256-GCM for credentials; platform-native sandboxing for tool execution; axum for the HTTP + WebSocket gateway.

The organisation

Neul Labs (https://neullabs.com) is building agent infrastructure. We maintain a small portfolio of open-source projects under the neullabs.com umbrella:

• openclaw-rs (this) — Rust agent runtime.
• agentlib (agentlib.neullabs.com) — mobile-native agent SDK for Flutter and Dart.
• agentmatic (agentmatic.neullabs.com) — agent orchestration product.

The projects share design principles (event sourcing, defence-in-depth, honest defaults) but solve different parts of the agent-infrastructure space.

The license

openclaw-rs is MIT-licensed throughout. Workspace crates, Node bindings, dashboard — all MIT. You can use it in commercial products without obligation; we'd appreciate a link back, but it's not a license condition.

Attribution and trademarks

This is an independent implementation by Neul Labs.

• "OpenClaw" refers to the original open-source project at github.com/openclaw/openclaw.
• "Claude" and "Anthropic" are trademarks of Anthropic, PBC.
• "GPT" and "OpenAI" are trademarks of OpenAI, Inc.

All trademarks belong to their respective owners. Provider integrations use official public APIs.

Contact

• General: openclaw@neullabs.com.
• Bugs: GitHub Issues.
• Discussion: GitHub Discussions.
• Security: see docs/SECURITY.md in the repository for the disclosure address.

Thank you

This project owes the original OpenClaw team a real debt. The architecture is theirs. The Rust implementation is ours. We're grateful for the design work that made it sensible to build on, and for the community that contributes back.