openclaw-imessage-starter

A minimal OpenClaw agent that texts you on iMessage. No Mac required.

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

What this gives you

• A working OpenClaw config pre-wired to the @emotion-machine/claw-messenger channel plugin
• An iMessage-enabled agent that receives texts, calls your tools, and replies as blue bubble
• RCS + SMS fallback for non-iPhone recipients, automatic
• Tapback support, typing indicators, group-chat capability

Quickstart

# 1. Clone
git clone https://github.com/emotion-machine-org/openclaw-imessage-starter
cd openclaw-imessage-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 phone number you want to text from

# 4. Run
openclaw start

Send your agent a text from your registered phone. It replies.

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 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": "${CLAW_MESSENGER_API_KEY}",
      "serverUrl": "wss://claw-messenger.onrender.com",
      "preferredService": "iMessage",
      "dmPolicy": "allowlist",
      "allowFrom": ["${ALLOWED_PHONE_NUMBER}"]
    }
  }
}

• preferredService: iMessage for blue bubble, RCS for Android-priority, SMS for guaranteed delivery
• 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 tapback configuration see the plugin docs.

Want Android-first?

If your users live on Android, fork openclaw-android-text-starter instead. Same shape, preferredService: "RCS", automatic SMS fallback.

License

MIT. Fork freely.

Issues + questions

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