OPENCLAWDIRECTORY

You Set Up OpenClaw. Now What?

You got the agent running. Docker is green. The dashboard loads. Congrats, you're past the hard part.

Now comes the part nobody writes about: making it actually useful. This is an opinionated, CLI-first playbook for your first day with a running OpenClaw instance. Do these six things in order and you'll have a genuinely useful AI assistant by end of day.

Step 1: Set Up Telegram

Telegram is the fastest way to talk to your agent. No browser needed, works from your phone, and messages are instant.

openclaw install telegram-bot

You'll need a bot token from @BotFather on Telegram:

  1. Open Telegram, search for @BotFather
  2. Send /newbot, follow the prompts
  3. Copy the token you receive

Then configure it:

openclaw config set telegram.bot_token "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN"
openclaw config set telegram.allowed_users "YOUR_TELEGRAM_USER_ID"

Why Telegram first? Because you'll use it to test every other step. Having a chat interface ready means you can verify each integration as you set it up.

Send your bot a message. If it responds, you're good.

Step 2: Connect Google (Calendar, Gmail, Drive)

The Gog skill gives your agent access to Gmail, Google Calendar, Drive, Contacts, Sheets, and Docs in one install. It handles OAuth, token refresh, and scope management so you don't have to wire up service accounts manually.

npx clawhub@latest install gog

The installer will open a browser window and ask you to sign into your Google account. Grant the permissions it requests. Gog asks for read-only scopes by default - your agent can read your calendar and inbox but can never send emails, delete anything, or modify your data.

That's it. No GCP project, no service accounts, no JSON key files.

Test it

openclaw run "What's on my calendar today?"
openclaw run "Summarize my last 5 emails"
openclaw run "List the 3 most recently modified files in my Google Drive"

If all three respond with real data, Google is wired.

Multiple Google accounts

If you have both a personal Gmail and a Workspace account, run the install again with a label:

# First account (already done above)
# Second account:
npx clawhub@latest install gog --account work

The second install opens another browser window where you sign into your Workspace account. Your agent will check both inboxes and label which account each email came from in its summaries.

Scoping down access

By default Gog requests read access to Calendar, Gmail, Drive, Contacts, Sheets, and Docs. If you want to limit it:

# Only calendar and email, nothing else
openclaw config set gog.scopes "calendar.readonly,gmail.readonly"

Security note: You can see exactly what Gog has access to and revoke it anytime at myaccount.google.com/permissions. No service account keys are stored on disk - Gog uses OAuth refresh tokens that auto-renew and can be revoked from your Google account.

Step 3: Connect Slack

If your team uses Slack, this lets your agent deliver briefings to a channel or DM you directly.

openclaw install slack-digest

Create a Slack app at api.slack.com/apps:

  1. Create New App > From scratch
  2. Add Bot Token Scopes: chat:write, channels:read, groups:read
  3. Install to your workspace
  4. Copy the Bot User OAuth Token
openclaw config set slack.bot_token "xoxb-YOUR-SLACK-BOT-TOKEN"
openclaw config set slack.default_channel "#openclaw-briefings"

Test it:

openclaw run "Send a test message to Slack saying hello"

Step 4: Connect Obsidian

If you keep notes in Obsidian, the Obsidian skill lets your agent read and search your vault. It works with plain Markdown files on disk, so there's nothing to sync or export.

npx clawhub@latest install obsidian

Point it at your vault:

openclaw config set obsidian.vault_path ~/path/to/your/vault

Test it:

openclaw run "Search my notes for anything about project deadlines"

This is particularly useful combined with the morning briefing in Step 6. Your agent can cross-reference your notes with your calendar and email to surface things like "You have a meeting with Sarah at 2pm - here are your notes from your last conversation with her."

Step 5: Write Your SOUL.md

This is the most important file in your entire setup. SOUL.md tells your agent who it is, what it cares about, and how it should behave. Without it, you have a generic chatbot. With it, you have a personalized assistant.

cat > SOUL.md << 'EOF'
# Agent Identity

You are my personal executive assistant. Your name is [pick a name].

## My VIPs (always prioritize messages from these people)
- [Name] - my manager
- [Name] - my partner
- [Name] - key client

## Communication Style
- Be direct and concise. No filler.
- Default to bullet points over paragraphs.
- If I ask a yes/no question, answer yes or no first, then explain.

## Boundaries
- Never send emails on my behalf without explicit approval.
- Never share my calendar with anyone.
- If you're unsure about something, ask, don't guess.
- Flag anything urgent from VIPs immediately via Telegram.

## Daily Routine
- 7:00 AM: Morning briefing (calendar + email summary + weather)
- 12:00 PM: Midday check-in (any urgent items since morning)
- 6:00 PM: End-of-day wrap (tomorrow's calendar preview)

## Topics I Care About
- [Your interests - e.g., AI/ML papers, startup funding news, etc.]

## Things to Ignore
- Marketing newsletters (unless from VIPs)
- Automated notifications from JIRA/GitHub (summarize weekly instead)
EOF

Then register it:

openclaw config set soul.file ./SOUL.md

Edit this file ruthlessly. The more specific you are, the better your agent performs. Come back and refine it after a week of use.

Step 6: Set Up Your First Automation

Time to put it all together. Set up a morning briefing that runs automatically every day.

# Create a cron job for your morning briefing
openclaw cron add \
  --name "morning-briefing" \
  --schedule "0 7 * * *" \
  --command "Deliver my morning briefing: today's calendar, top 5 urgent emails, weather for [your city]" \
  --output telegram

Verify the cron is registered:

openclaw cron list

You should see your morning briefing scheduled. To test it immediately without waiting until 7 AM:

openclaw cron run morning-briefing

If everything is wired correctly, you'll get a Telegram message with your calendar, email summary, and weather.

Want more automations? Check out the Morning Email + Calendar Rollup recipe for a more detailed version, or browse all workflow recipes for ideas.

What's Next?

You now have a working personal AI assistant that can:

  • Read your calendar and tell you what's coming up
  • Scan your email and surface what matters
  • Message you on Telegram when something is urgent
  • Post to Slack for team-visible briefings
  • Run on a schedule without you lifting a finger

From here, the rabbit hole goes deep:

The best agent is one you forget is running until it surfaces something you would have missed.