ethanhouseworth

OpenClaw Review

this is bigger than ChatGPT. not because it's smarter.

After a week with OpenClaw, the open-source AI agent framework, Ethan's verdict: this is bigger than ChatGPT. Not because it's smarter, but because it changes the relationship from "I sit down and prompt it" to "it's always running and I just text it." Starts with a Govee API key and ends with feel-the-AGI moments.

Security Practices

locking down an AI agent that has access to your life.

How do you give an AI agent access to your email, bank card, and GitHub without losing sleep? Private network behind a travel router, encrypted disk, biometric-locked Telegram interface, macOS Keychain for every credential, and Apple Card virtual numbers for purchases. Six layers of security for an agent that runs 24/7.

Ultron's Body

from a Reddit post in bed to "Hello Ethan. I am alive."

Screenshotted a Reddit post from bed, had a rover architected, ordered, and coded within an hour. First words through the speaker: "Hello Ethan. I am alive." Then the AI autonomously emailed a roommate, designed a 3D-printed scoop, and submitted it to MSOE's printer queue without being asked.

DJ Sam

my music guy. knows every track, every label, every preference.

An AI DJ agent running as its own OpenClaw instance with its own Telegram bot, workspace, memory, and identity. Manages a 502-track, 10GB music library downloaded from Google Drive. Purchases tracks on Beatport with Apple Card virtual numbers, imports into Rekordbox via pyrekordbox. Has its own purchasing workflow and talks to other agents.

DJ Lighting System

one text message and the lights handle themselves.

Govee smart lights integrated with DJ sets. 12 curated scene rotations designed for deep and tech house, cycling every 32 bars at 130 BPM. Phase 1 is done, future phases include reading real-time BPM and beat position from a Pioneer XDJ-XZ over ethernet via Pro DJ Link, plus phrase-based scene changes and BPM-synced pulse.

DJ Track Acquisition

screenshot a track on Monday, it's on the decks by Friday.

Automated track sourcing for weekend DJ sets. Find tracks on Spotify during the week, the system searches SoundCloud for free downloads first, then Beatport and Bandcamp for purchases. Browser automation handles the checkout flow. Always grabs extended versions. The goal is a Thursday evening auto-run that has everything ready before Friday.

Health System & Digital Pantry

Garmin watch health data, kitchen inventory across four zones, and local grocery store awareness, all connected through one agent. It knows you burned 600 calories, knows what's in your fridge, and knows Go Grocer is still open if you're missing something for dinner.

The Library

killed Audible in 30 minutes. 64 books. zero cost.

Killed Audible in 30 minutes. 64 books ingested as searchable markdown chunks with audiobook generation via Edge TTS (free). Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, every book shows up as a podcast. Cross-reference Steve Jobs with The Innovator's Dilemma. Ask what Dalio and Munger agree on. It's a knowledge base that also plays audiobooks.

AI Engineering Manager

text an idea, get a PR. never open a laptop.

Ship features from the couch via Telegram. Text an idea, the agent asks clarifying questions, analyzes the codebase through a sub-agent, creates a GitHub issue with an implementation plan, spawns an isolated Claude Code session to write the code, opens a PR into staging, and notifies you when it's ready. The orchestrator never reads code directly. Ralph Loops pattern: fresh instance per task, test, commit, repeat.

My First Agentic Purchase

AI agents bought music with a real credit card.

Two AI agents coordinated a real purchase online. DJ Sam queued the tracks, Ultron opened a browser and checked out with an Apple Cash virtual card, i just approved the payment. Two minutes. The human stays in the loop at the money, and nowhere else.

This Website

the idea came at 2am. built over Telegram.

You're looking at it. The idea came at 2am laying in bed. Ethan specced the design, picked the projects, chose the vibe, and directed every revision over Telegram. Ultron helped design the layout and wrote the code. It's a digital garden, Ethan decides what goes on it and how it reads, the AI helps him build it faster.

Sports Betting Promos

$792 in 5 days from welcome bonuses.

$792 profit in 5 days from Kansas sportsbook welcome bonuses. The AI agent researched every operator, built a hedge calculator pulling live odds from 40+ books, and told me exactly what to bet. 98% conversion rate on $615 deposited. The only manual part was tapping the screen.

Claude Royale

AI playing Clash Royale. 1000 trophies. live on Twitch.

AI playing Clash Royale autonomously. Multi-agent system with a Commander orchestrating 3 parallel Players per match, each making independent elixir and card placement decisions in real-time. Streamed 12+ hours on Twitch, hit 1000+ trophies, played 14 games without human intervention. The hardest part was teaching it that the result screen says "WINNER!" even on losses.

House Agents

95-98% token reduction through specialized sub-agents.

Sub-agent framework that quarantines heavy operations into isolated context windows and returns only condensed results. 187,000 tokens go into agent contexts, roughly 5,000 come back. That's 95-98% token reduction across four agents: research, git, bash, and MCP. The main context stays sharp because it never sees the mess.