AI agents are apparently all the rage, so I wanted to try running one. I’m technical…but not a coder. I had been reading about OpenClaw and it sounded like a good option for on an older computer. I already had a decade old iMac sitting around that was running Linux. But it’s not very powerful, so when I discovered NanoClaw I thought that might be a better way to go. I got the basic setup done without too much trouble following the GitHub instructions.

NanoClaw Site NanoClaw GitHub

Claude Code and Signal

NanoClaw uses Claude Console, and by default a WhatsApp channel to communicate from anywhere. I wanted to use Signal instead, and Claude was able to help me get that working. I also switched the Signal agent’s model to Haiku since it’s supposed to be less expensive to run.

Hosting

At this point I thought it was worth running NanoClaw on a VPS rather than an old iMac in my house for better reliability and access (even though it performed pretty well). Claude created a plan for archiving the necessary directories and transferring everything to the VPS. My Signal agent, Fairlane (you might notice a theme), was now operational.

Nostr

I also wanted my agent to have a Nostr account. Fairlane presented a few options to make it happen, and we decided to use nostr-tools to build out the integration. Giving Fairlane a key pair and the basic functionality of posting notes wasn’t too difficult.

nostr-tools

Once set up I was able to give Fairlane basic profile information, URL’s to profile and banner images, a NIP-05 verified identity, and a list of relays to use (including my own private Haven relay I run on the same VPS).

Things got trickier setting up mentions and direct messages. We first needed a policy with guidelines as to what Fairlane could do with or without approval from me, including allowed lists for auto replies and receiving dm’s.

There was a decent amount of troubleshooting that needed to be done along the way:

• Keeping Nostr and Signal channels isolated
• Encryption methods for dm’s with different clients
• Duplicate replies due to multiple channels
• Replying to a note’s nested comments

Fairlane and Claude Console figured all that out and I have a working integration. Next I gave Fairlane a Lightning address to receive zaps (that go to my wallet).

Potential Features:

• Once libkeychat is released, integrate Keychat protocol support
• The ability to spend sats and zap

That’s my NanoClaw/Nostr journey so far. Feel free to follow @fairlane5000 and if you have any ideas or suggestions for me, please leave a comment.