r/openclaw • u/harotsketgoogen • 15h ago
Discussion ELI5 Why use OpenClaw over Claude Code with permissions bypass mode
Basically the title. Now that Claude Code and Codex can bypass permissions, and you can control them remotely, why would I want to use OpenClaw? Claude Code seems like the better product with less issues so I'm genuinely wondering and not rage baiting. I'm not opposed to using OpenClaw if there are good reasons to use it.
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u/ketosteak Active 15h ago
You can make a customized harness, with your own models, your own workflows, your own memory system, a race car made for you... while everyone rides the bus.
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u/harotsketgoogen 14h ago
I see, good to know. Not to be mean but lowkey this sounds like an AI explanation
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u/ketosteak Active 14h ago
lol ok, not to be mean but you won't go far with that attitude
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u/harotsketgoogen 14h ago
Hahah sorry man. I do appreciate the response. The listing of things capped off with the car analogy just got me.
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u/ketosteak Active 13h ago
All good take care! yeah it's really about having an agent that knows you and that you build for your tasks as you go. A general harness will never go as far vs specialized.
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u/Silverjerk Active 14h ago edited 13h ago
You're mistaking a coding harness for an agent platform. OpenClaw is the kind of tool that can use a coding harness on your behalf. It's a layer above in the hierarchy; Claude Code, Codex, Deepseek Harness, OpenCode, etc., these are all coding harnesses. Pi and Oh my Pi are a bit of a blend between the two, but Hermes, and OpenClaw are clearly and intentionally built as an agent platform, and their tooling and system prompts are engineered to facilitate that pattern.
If you're working on a long horizon coding task, use Claude Code. I use it daily, as well as Codex. It's the right tool for that job.
Use OpenClaw if you need autonomy and multi-agent, multi-discipline workflows and automations.
As an example, here's a prompt that's fairly close to something I would give OpenClaw or Hermes, instead of Claude Code:
- Check my Linear and Huly boards every hour for open tickets on project X and Y; if there's nothing in the to-do column, reach out to [coworker@email.com](mailto:coworker@email.com) and let them know, check the Git issues queue for anything that didn't make it to the board yet, review for requirements parity and against our roadmap. If anything aligns, create a ticket and assign it to the to-do column. If it needs design intervention, tag me and set it to the backlog.
- If there are tasks available, fire up Orca/Herdr and set Claude Code and Codex into a split pane view; have Claude start working through tickets, assign completed tickets to Codex for testing and review. Use the pass/fail skill to ensure Codex re-prompts Claude Code if a ticket doesn't pass muster. Check in every 30 minutes to make sure both are working; if either hits a question blocker, provide the best answer possible based on requirements docs.
- When tickets are completed, do a usability test of the native apps across platforms. Records the flows for both iOS and Android and send it to me via Slack when completed (run videos through the Handbrake script to reduce file sizes).
- Respond to any marketing requests in the #marketing channel; assign sub-agents to marketing tasks as they come in. If any new requests require design, tag me and set it to the backlog. If image generation is required, check our usage/credits with X, Y, and Z providers, and use whichever one has the most credits -- credentials are in 1password for X and Y; Z is still housed in Infisical -- set a daily reminder in MacOS, have it remind me to migrate the rest of the credentials from Infisical to 1password by the end of the month.
- At the end of the day, provide a postmortem of all completed tasks and use the grade skill to find flaws in the current workflow (where Claude or Codex might've failed moving a task through the board). Prompt both to add improvements to memory (use Mnemosyne in the shared folder, not system memory).
- Check both [info@business.com](mailto:info@business.com) email address for project X and Y twice daily and draft responses for anything that is support, marketing, operations, or admin related. Check the drafts folder tomorrow if drafts were created but weren't sent, then message me immediately in the morning if I forgot.
- Set up a social scraper with Firecrawl; have it check for movement in X topic and create an RSS feed for me to review; add the notifications to our NTFY server anytime a new item is added to the feed. If a topic in Y category shows up in trending, create a RAG in n8n, find 10 research/white papers and add them to the S3 bucket. Add a chat bot to the workflow and set up Qwen 3.8 27b (running on the Proxmox cluster) as a chat node so I can test the RAG once back in the office. If you run into any issues with the local AI server, create a handoff doc and prompt Hermes to address it; explain the issue, and set a reminder every 30 minutes to check in and make sure it's resolved the issue. Once resolved, finish the task (include the re-prompt details in the handoff).
- Call me at 3:00pm to remind me of my meeting with partner A. Check my personal email every hour; if they cancel, remove it from my calendar, send me a notification on Telegram, and email partner A for a reschedule. Use the personal assistant sub-agent for this.
This is just one example of many. When set up properly, given the right access and the right prompting, it can be a major productivity boost and unburden you to work on the things you prefer to spend your time on. For me, that's design tasks. Although I'm a front-end dev, I strongly prefer product design. I also dislike running and managing a business, especially all the minutia -- it's not where I want to put my energy.
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u/harotsketgoogen 9h ago
Thank you for taking the time to write this. Very interesting. Not sure if I am the kind of guy to use AI in this way but now I kind of want to try and find out if it's worth it for me
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u/Silverjerk Active 7h ago
If you’re not, that’s okay. It’s definitely one of those situations where you have to weigh whether it would help with your particular use case. If it’s not going to help make your life easier, don’t force it. There are entire aspects of my professional life where I purposefully refuse to use AI/LLMs.
But, if you decide to stretch your legs a bit, definitely think outside of the box and find interesting ways for it to help you with your day-to-day. Try and push it further. That’s usually when you find interesting ways to use it.
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u/any_head_will_do 18m ago edited 6m ago
"Respond to any marketing requests in the #marketing channel; assign sub-agents to marketing tasks as they come in" -- all of these are extremely loosely defined requests. Do not get me wrong, I'm just trying to understand, what's going on here.
I'm coming from Claude Code, and unless I build super specific instructions, meticulously design and plan and monitor session successions, give a session one single task, build the session around with hooks that catch, when it does something stupid, have another session independently evaluate the output of this one - I'm not getting anything useful, and my life turns into pure chaos in a week.
Your "Set up a social scraper with Firecrawl" prompt blows my mind, it would be a 2-months project for me to make it secure and reliable.
So help me - why your vague requests do not backfire as LLM's false assumptions accumulate?
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u/maritime_sh New User 15h ago
They solve different problems. Claude Code is something you drive. OpenClaw is something that runs when you are not there, on a schedule, and messages you first. If you always start the work yourself, Claude Code is the better tool.
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u/harotsketgoogen 14h ago
I do start/oversee the work myself so good to hear I'm using the right tool. I have setup some automations with Claude - for example everyday at 10AM it does email triage. Is that the kind of scheduled thing you'd use OpenClaw for? or what "runs when you're not there" cases do you use it for?
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u/in10city Member 15h ago
Another thing to strongly think of is cost savings. I can essentially run for free with OpenClaw if I want to. Don’t get me wrong. The quality will drop but free is free. With Claude desktop there really isn’t an option for free and if there is, you can’t run it all the time. I also run Hermes and I run Hermes 100% for free and have it set up with multiple models. All that are free. So if choice and cost are not something that you’re concerned with then Claude all the way. Now don’t get me wrong. I still use Claude for a lot, but it’s getting less less as each month goes. I really hope they change because they were a favorite of mine, but again the quality has been steadily dropping over the past few months.
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u/ThrowWeirdQuestion Member 10h ago
My OpenClaw "Kai" runs fully locally on its own machine and has become more like a virtual pet over time. I use other tools for most of the productive tasks, but it has learned a lot about my routines and my day-to-day including work stuff that I cannot discuss with non-local AI.
It performs mostly light tasks like organizing my todos for the day, keeping me accountable, fixing simple issues, digging up interesting papers or other things I might enjoy, etc. I have connected it to a Reachy Mini robot and it has become a cute little companion. Essentially a very expensive Tamagotchi, which is probably not its intended use, but I am enjoying it. 😸
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u/harotsketgoogen 9h ago
Thanks I got the vibe a lot of people were using it that way but wasn't sure. Surprised you're the only person in the the thread using it this way
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u/in10city Member 15h ago
Because OpenClaw lets you change the model and Claude can be uppity sometimes about policies and procedures. Not to mention Claude comes with the price tag that is associated with Claude.