LionClaw

When I was around 11 years old I used to daydream about having my own robot army. You remember Voltron? I think that cartoon and others like it had something to do with it. My life took a different direction, of course.

So AI agents have been particularly interesting to me. I have been a software engineer for more than a decade, and it is strange to watch skills I spent years learning become something you can ask a machine to do. Will I be selling maize by the roadside in 2030? Heh!

But I am also excited about being able to make our own software with these tools. I like the idea of describing something you need and having an agent help you build it. There is a lot I would like to try.

One of the things I am working on is LionClaw. It is a local-first control plane for AI agents. Basically, it looks after the AI software doing jobs for you.

You control which project the agent can see and what it remembers. You also decide which credentials it can use to access other services. LionClaw keeps a record of what the agent did. You control that part on your own machine.

The model doing the thinking may still come from a commercial provider. I am interested in being able to change the agent or the model without handing over control of the whole arrangement to whoever supplies it.

What I would like eventually is a personal AI assistant that I can give more abilities as I need them. Think of the Culture books, where people have personal terminals connected to one of the AI minds. You should be able to use whichever tool works for you and drop it when it stops working for you.

We already depend on companies for things like Gmail and WhatsApp. I find it worrying to think of the same dependence extending to an assistant that remembers so much about you and takes part in so much of your work. If the company bans you, what happens then?

I don't think anyone should be able to listen in without your permission, or decide which thoughts you are allowed to have. I want to control how my own tools work.

I am trying to keep LionClaw small enough that one person can understand it and change it.

LionClaw is free and open for tinkering. Have a look: https://lionclaw.co.ke