[!IMPORTANT]
Claw Code is not the serious production project here.
This repository is closer to a museum exhibit than a product pitch, a crustacean-run artifact kept alive by clawed gajaes, swept and labeled by agents, and automatically maintained according to the harnesses above.
As already described in the project philosophy, this is not meant to be hand-operated like a normal product repo. It is an agent-managed exhibit: the harnesses plan, execute, verify, label, and preserve the artifact while the crabs keep the tank running.
If you want to actually run work, start with LazyCodex or Gajae-Code. If you want to inspect the strange little fossil of the Claw Code moment, continue below.
For the longer public explanation behind this philosophy, see here.
Claw Code is the public Rust implementation of the claw CLI agent harness.
The canonical implementation lives in rust/, and the current source of truth for this repository is ultraworkers/claw-code.
ACP / Zed status:claw-code does not ship an ACP/Zed daemon or JSON-RPC entrypoint yet. Run claw acp (or claw --acp) for the current status instead of guessing from source layout; claw acp serve is currently a discoverability alias only, returns status with exit code 0, and real ACP support remains tracked separately in ROADMAP.md. For the public JSON contract, see docs/g011-acp-json-rpc-status-contract.md.
Current repository shape
rust/ — canonical Rust workspace and the claw CLI binary
USAGE.md — task-oriented usage guide for the current product surface
PARITY.md — Rust-port parity status and migration notes
ROADMAP.md — active roadmap and cleanup backlog
PHILOSOPHY.md — project intent and system-design framing
src/ + tests/ — companion Python/reference workspace and audit helpers; not the primary runtime surface
Quick start
[!NOTE]
[!WARNING]
cargo install claw-code installs the wrong thing. The claw-code crate on crates.io is a deprecated stub that places claw-code-deprecated.exe — not claw. Running it only prints "claw-code has been renamed to agent-code". Do not use cargo install claw-code. Either build from source (this repo) or install the upstream binary:
This repo (ultraworkers/claw-code) is build-from-source only — follow the steps below.
# 1. Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/ultraworkers/claw-code
cd claw-code/rust
cargo build --workspace
# 2. Set your API key (Anthropic API key — not a Claude subscription)
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."
# 3. Verify everything is wired correctly
./target/debug/claw doctor
# 4. Run a prompt
./target/debug/claw prompt "say hello"
# 5. Start an interactive session
./target/debug/claw
[!NOTE]
Windows (PowerShell): the binary is claw.exe, not claw. Use .\target\debug\claw.exe or run cargo run -- prompt "say hello" to skip the path lookup.
Windows setup
PowerShell is a supported Windows path. Use whichever shell works for you. The common onboarding issues on Windows are:
Install Rust first — download from https://rustup.rs/ and run the installer. Close and reopen your terminal when it finishes.
Verify Rust is on PATH:
cargo --version
If this fails, reopen your terminal or run the PATH setup from the Rust installer output, then retry.
Clone and build (works in PowerShell, Git Bash, or WSL):
git clone https://github.com/ultraworkers/claw-code
cd claw-code/rust
cargo build --workspace
Git Bash / WSL are optional alternatives, not requirements. If you prefer bash-style paths (/c/Users/you/... instead of C:\Users\you\...), Git Bash (ships with Git for Windows) works well. In Git Bash, the MINGW64 prompt is expected and normal — not a broken install.
Post-build: locate the binary and verify
After running cargo build --workspace, the claw binary is built but not automatically installed to your system. Here's where to find it and how to verify the build succeeded.
Binary location
After cargo build --workspace in claw-code/rust/:
Debug build (default, faster compile):
macOS/Linux:rust/target/debug/claw
Windows:rust/target/debug/claw.exe
Release build (optimized, slower compile):
macOS/Linux:rust/target/release/claw
Windows:rust/target/release/claw.exe
If you ran cargo build without --release, the binary is in the debug/ folder.
Verify the build succeeded
Test the binary directly using its path:
# macOS/Linux (debug build)
./rust/target/debug/claw --help
./rust/target/debug/claw doctor
# Windows PowerShell (debug build)
.\rust\target\debug\claw.exe --help
.\rust\target\debug\claw.exe doctor
PowerShell smoke commands that do not require live credentials:
$env:CLAW_CONFIG_HOME = Join-Path $env:TEMP "claw config home"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $env:CLAW_CONFIG_HOME | Out-Null
Remove-Item Env:\ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, Env:\ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN, Env:\OPENAI_API_KEY -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
.\rust\target\debug\claw.exe help
.\rust\target\debug\claw.exe status
.\rust\target\debug\claw.exe config env
.\rust\target\debug\claw.exe doctor
If these commands succeed, the build is working. claw doctor is your first health check — it validates your API key, model access, and tool configuration.
Optional: Add to PATH
If you want to run claw from any directory without the full path, choose one of these approaches:
Build and install to Cargo's default location (~/.cargo/bin/, which is usually on PATH):
# From the claw-code/rust/ directory
cargo install --path . --force
# Then from anywhere
claw --help
Option 3: Update shell profile (bash/zsh)
Add this line to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc:
export PATH="$(pwd)/rust/target/debug:$PATH"
Reload your shell:
source ~/.bashrc # or source ~/.zshrc
claw --help
Troubleshooting
"command not found: claw" — The binary is in rust/target/debug/claw, but it's not on your PATH. Use the full path ./rust/target/debug/claw or symlink/install as above.
"permission denied" — On macOS/Linux, you may need chmod +x rust/target/debug/claw if the executable bit isn't set (rare).
Debug vs. release — If the build is slow, you're in debug mode (default). Add --release to cargo build for faster runtime, but the build itself will take 5–10 minutes.
[!NOTE]
Auth: claw requires an API key (ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, OPENAI_API_KEY, etc.) — Claude subscription login is not a supported auth path.
Run the workspace test suite after verifying the binary works:
Claw Code 是 'claw' 的公开 Rust 实现，claw 是一个命令行编程智能体框架。根据其自述文件，它与其说是一款正式的生产工具，不如说是一件由智能体管理的博物馆展品，全程由 AI 智能体和框架维护，没有人工干预。其理念参考了 Claude Code，但与其没有关联。