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Clawdbot: The AI revolution reviving Mac Mini interest
A revolutionary AI agent is boosting Mac Mini sales
Silicon Valley is buzzing over Clawdbot, an open-source AI assistant working nonstop and capable of integrating with popular apps.
Users have tasked their Clawdbots with organising their calendars, overseeing vibe-coding meetings, and creating new AI co-workers.
It's garnered attention from notable fans, including the CEO of Y Combinator, Garry Tan, and several partners from Andreessen Horowitz.
It's been lauded by some, turned into a meme by others, and some have issued warnings about possible security risks.
Peter Steinberger is the creator of Clawdbot, an AI agent managing everything from emails to smart home devices. Steinberger previously launched PSPDFKit.
Unlike ChatGPT and several other well-known AI tools, this agent is open-source and operates locally on your device.
Users can link the agent to messaging platforms like WhatsApp or Telegram to send it text commands.
Clawdbot was named after the "tiny creature" seen when restarting Claude Code, Steinberger mentioned on the "Insecure Agents" podcast.
He designed the tool with the question in mind: "Why isn’t there an agent that monitors my agents?"
"I've already done the whole startup journey," Steinberger shared. "I'm just here to enjoy myself."
Clawdbot continually runs on your computer. This has prompted some individuals to revive their old laptops. "I installed it as an experiment on my old dusty Intel MacBook Pro," remarked one product designer. "That computer finally has a role again."
Others are acquiring Mac Minis, Apple's 5"-by-5" computer, to host Clawdbot. Logan Kilpatrick, a product manager at Google DeepMind, announced: "Mac mini ordered."
Some X users noted that this might boost Apple's sales — and searches for "Mac Mini" have surged in the US over the past four days, according to Google Trends.
However, Steinberger mentioned that purchasing a new computer solely for the AI isn't mandatory.
"Please don't buy a Mac Mini," he posted. "You can set this up on Amazon’s Free Tier."