openclaw-android-text-starter

A minimal OpenClaw agent that texts you on Android (RCS, with SMS fallback). No Twilio account, no carrier setup, no Mac.

Fork this, drop in a Claw Messenger API key, run openclaw start, and your agent is texting from a dedicated phone number to Android phones in 10 minutes.

What this gives you

• A working OpenClaw config pre-wired to the @emotion-machine/claw-messenger channel plugin
• An agent that receives texts from Android phones and replies via RCS (with automatic SMS fallback when RCS isn't available)
• Same flow works for iPhone recipients (delivers as SMS), so you don't lose any contacts
• Read receipts and typing indicators when the recipient is on RCS

Quickstart

# 1. Clone
git clone https://github.com/emotion-machine-org/openclaw-android-text-starter
cd openclaw-android-text-starter

# 2. Install OpenClaw and the Claw Messenger plugin
npm install -g openclaw
openclaw plugins install @emotion-machine/claw-messenger

# 3. Configure
cp .env.example .env
# edit .env: paste your Claw Messenger API key + the Android phone number you want to text from

# 4. Run
openclaw start

Text your agent from your registered Android phone. It replies via RCS, falls back to SMS if RCS isn't available on either side.

Why RCS over plain SMS

• Read receipts so your agent knows when the user actually saw a message
• Typing indicators for more natural conversation pacing
• Higher character limit (no 160-char SMS wrapping)
• Media support (images, audio, documents) without MMS limits
• Automatic fallback to SMS for carriers/devices that don't support RCS, so delivery is guaranteed

Get a Claw Messenger API key

1. Sign up at clawmessenger.com (7-day free trial, no card required)
2. From the dashboard, copy your API key (cm_live_...)
3. Register the Android phone number(s) that should be able to message your agent
4. Paste the key into .env

Pricing starts at $5/mo for 250 messages. Agencies building multi-tenant products can use the agency tier at $3/mo per active sub-tenant.

Configuration

The full config lives in openclaw.json. The relevant part:

{
  "channels": {
    "claw-messenger": {
      "enabled": true,
      "apiKey": "${CLAW_MESSENGER_API_KEY}",
      "serverUrl": "wss://claw-messenger.onrender.com",
      "preferredService": "RCS",
      "dmPolicy": "allowlist",
      "allowFrom": ["${ALLOWED_PHONE_NUMBER}"]
    }
  }
}

• preferredService: RCS for Android-priority. The plugin automatically falls back to SMS when the recipient doesn't support RCS, and silently upgrades to iMessage when the recipient is on iPhone (so your agent works across both ecosystems with one config).
• dmPolicy: allowlist (only the numbers you list can text your agent) is the safest default.
• allowFrom: phone numbers in E.164 (e.g., +15555551234) that are allowed to message your agent.

For DM security policies, group chat handling, and media support see the plugin docs.

Want iPhone-first?

If your users live on iMessage, fork openclaw-imessage-starter instead. Same shape, preferredService: "iMessage", blue bubble delivery.

License

MIT. Fork freely.

Issues + questions

• Bugs: github.com/emotion-machine-org/openclaw-android-text-starter/issues
• Other: hello@emotionmachine.ai