A Claw-Lite That Runs on Your Claude Code Subscription
OpenClaw got cut off. Here's what I've been running instead.
Anthropic recently cut off OpenClaw from using Claude subscription credits. If you wanted an always-on Claude agent but don’t want to pay for OpenClaw’s token consumption on top of your subscription, here’s what I’ve been running. It’s not a full Claw, but it runs 100% on subscription credits, and a repurposed laptop got me there in about an hour.
The Setup
A spare laptop running Linux, configured to stay on whenever it’s plugged in. On it:
Claude Desktop with Dispatch. Dispatch lets you assign tasks to Claude from the Mobile app. I can kick off work from my phone and Claude executes it on the laptop, with configured access to whatever’s on that machine. There is no official Claude Desktop package for Linux. I’m using Ubuntu and I found this community supported one to work and it is well maintained.
Obsidian with Sync enabled. My vault lives on the laptop. When Claude writes research findings into it, Obsidian Sync pushes them to my MacBook and phone automatically.
Git + gh CLI. Active project checkouts so Claude can work on real codebases. Commits, branches, the real thing.
No local models, no custom infrastructure. Just a machine with my files and a Claude Code subscription.
The Daily Driver
Deep research is what I reach for daily. “Research the current state of X and save your findings to my vault.” I fire off the task, go do something else, and the results are waiting in Obsidian whenever I get to them. From any device.
Andrej Karpathy recently described a pattern where LLMs maintain a persistent, compounding wiki in Obsidian. This setup enables you to implement a form of that accessible from your phone. Each research task adds to the vault, and the knowledge compounds over time rather than disappearing into a chat history.
This could be a Raspberry Pi or any machine that can run Claude Desktop. The hardware doesn’t matter. What matters is that your files are always there when Claude needs them.
What’s Next
The Dispatch mobile experience keeps improving. I’ve been checking in on tasks and kicking off new ones from the Claude Code iPhone app, and it works well enough that I haven’t felt the pull to go further. Channels was released soon after Dispatch, connecting Claude to Telegram, Discord, and other messaging platforms. I still need to find the time to dive into that.
Not a full Claw. Not trying to be. Just an always-on box with my files and a Claude that can reach them.