If you've been following the AI assistant space, you've probably seen three different names for the same project. Here's the full story.

The Timeline

Clawdbot (Original Name → Jan 27, 2026)

Peter Steinberger created Clawdbot as an open-source personal AI assistant. The name was a playful combination of "Claude" (the AI model) and "bot." It went viral almost immediately.

Moltbot (Jan 27 → Jan 30, 2026)

Anthropic sent a trademark request — "Clawdbot" was too close to "Claude." The project was renamed to Moltbot (referencing a lobster's molting process). This name lasted exactly 3 days.

OpenClaw (Jan 30, 2026 → Present)

The community and Steinberger settled on "OpenClaw" as the permanent name. It emphasizes the open-source nature and keeps the claw/lobster theme without trademark issues.

What Actually Changed?

Nothing technical. The code, architecture, features, and configuration are identical across all three names. It's the same project with a new label.

Same GitHub repository (just renamed)
Same Docker image (updated tags)
Same configuration format
Same skills and plugins
Same community

If you followed a "Clawdbot tutorial" or "Moltbot guide," the instructions still work — just replace the old name with openclaw in commands.

Why Does This Matter?

For Search

Old tutorials and guides still reference "Clawdbot" or "Moltbot." If you're searching for help, try all three names:

"clawdbot telegram setup" → same as "openclaw telegram setup"
"moltbot docker" → same as "openclaw docker"

For Skills

Some older skills on ClawHub may still use the old naming. The registry handles aliasing automatically — skills published under "moltbot" or "clawdbot" work with OpenClaw.

For Hosting

Hosting providers updated their offerings:

"Clawdbot hosting" → now "OpenClaw hosting"
Docker images: openclaw/openclaw:latest (old images redirected)

The Name Confusion Problem

The double rename caused real confusion:

Blog posts from week 1 say "Clawdbot"
Posts from days 4-6 say "Moltbot"
Everything after Jan 30 says "OpenClaw"
Some posts still mix names

This means when you search for help, you need to mentally translate between all three names. They're all the same thing.

What's Current

As of February 2026:

Official name: OpenClaw
Website: openclaw.ai
Docs: docs.openclaw.ai
GitHub: github.com/openclaw/openclaw
Docker: openclaw/openclaw
CLI: openclaw (was clawdbot, then moltbot)

Deploy OpenClaw

Whatever name brought you here, the fastest way to get running is ClawTank — deploy OpenClaw in under 1 minute with Telegram integration. No name confusion, no Docker, no SSH.