Connect your own computer to your Hermes Agent or OpenClaw bot

What My Computer does

Your bot lives in the cloud, so on its own it cannot see the report in your Downloads folder or the notes on your desktop. My Computer runs a small connector on your computer. The bot can then list, read and search files in the folders you allow. If you choose, it can also write and move them, or run terminal commands.

Because the bot is still the one you already chat with, you can ask from your phone, for example on Telegram: “find the invoice from Acme in my Documents folder and tell me the total.” Your computer has to be on and connected. You do not have to be sitting at it.

Connect in three steps

1. Open My Computer on the bot’s card. On your dashboard, press 💻 My Computer next to Files and Desktop, then pick your computer’s system.
2. Run one command. Paste it into Terminal (Mac or Linux) or PowerShell (Windows). If your computer has no suitable Node.js, the command downloads its own checksum-verified copy, so there is no separate Node.js install. While it runs, the connect program keeps itself up to date from the same site (set OPENCLAWLAUNCH_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 to turn that off).

   # Mac or Linux
   curl -fsSL https://openclawlaunch.com/connect.sh | sh
   
   # Windows (PowerShell)
   irm https://openclawlaunch.com/connect.ps1 | iex

3. Type the code and approve. The window shows a code such as 9VVZ-FV4W. Open openclawlaunch.com/dashboard/connect-computer, type the code, choose the bot and the folders, and press Allow. The window then says Connected. Keep it open while you want the bot to have access.

You always type the code yourself. It is never sent in a link, so nobody can get a connection approved just by getting you to click something. Only type a code that your own Terminal window is showing. If the approval page says the request comes from a different network than yours, decline it.

Connect an Android phone

A phone connects the same way as a computer, through the free Termux app, which gives Android a Linux command line. Install Termux from F-Droid or Termux’s GitHub releases, the builds Termux itself recommends; the Google Play version is a separate experimental branch. If you already have it, run pkg upgrade -y in Termux first.

1. Copy the Android command. On the phone, open your dashboard, press 💻 My Computer on the bot’s card and pick Android (it is preselected when you open the dashboard on an Android phone), then press Copy.

   curl -fsSL https://openclawlaunch.com/connect-android.sh | sh

2. Run it in Termux. The first run installs Node.js, npm and ripgrep with Termux’s own package manager, which takes a minute or two. When Android asks whether Termux may use your files, allow it. On Android 11 and later this is a switch called Allow access to manage all files.
3. Approve on the page that opens. Type the code from Termux, keep ~/storage/shared/Download or tick DCIM, Documents or Pictures, and press Allow.

Keep Termux open while you want the bot to have access. Termux holds a wake lock while connected, so the connection survives the screen turning off. On Xiaomi and some other phones, also set Termux’s battery saver to No restrictions, or the system may stop it in the background. Press Ctrl+C or exit Termux to disconnect. If you allowed file access only after connecting, the folder is picked up within a minute on its own. A phone gets files and terminal commands, never mouse & keyboard control.

Choose how much the bot may do

Your whole home folder, the disk root and top-level system folders cannot be shared. Pick the folders you actually work in, such as ~/Documents/Invoices or a single project folder. You can change these settings later under My Computer on the card. Adding folders, editing or terminal commands later also asks you to type y in the computer’s connect window, so a change made from the website alone cannot go beyond what you agreed to there. Mouse & keyboard control is the exception: ticking it on the website is enough, and closing the connect window stops it.

Try it

Start with something read-only:

List the files in my Documents folder
Read meeting-notes.md in my Projects folder and give me the action items
Search my Invoices folder for anything from September and add up the totals

With Read & edit switched on, you can ask for changes, for example: “rename the screenshots in Downloads to the date they were taken.” The bot is told to ask before it overwrites, moves or deletes anything.

In a coding harness

A hosted coding harness connects the same way, from the 💻 My Computer button on its card. Instead of a skill, approval adds a my-computer MCP server to Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and OpenClaude. The entry is kept in the harness’s home folder, so it survives a Reset, and Disconnect removes it again.

Open a new session after you approve, then ask, for example: “Read the README in my local Projects/app folder and compare it with /workspace/README.md.” Run claude mcp list or opencode mcp list in the harness terminal to check that the server shows as connected. A coding harness has no chat channels, so only you can reach it.

How your computer stays protected

• Checked on both ends. Our server refuses any tool you have not allowed, such as edits on a read-only connection or terminal commands when they are off, before the call leaves it. The connector on your computer then checks every path against the real file location, so a shortcut or symlink cannot lead outside a shared folder.
• Start-up files stay closed. While terminal commands are off, the file tools refuse to write files that can make code run later, even with Read & edit on: shell start-up files such as .zshrc, Git hooks and Git config, SSH keys, macOS LaunchAgents and the Windows Startup folder. Turning terminal commands on lifts this, because the bot can then run code anyway.
• An activity log. The My Computer panel lists recent calls: what was read, what was edited, what was blocked, and when.
• Disconnect any time. Once connected, the card button shows your computer’s name. Open it and press Disconnect: access ends at once, and the bot’s connection is cleaned up. Closing the connect window only pauses access; running the command again reconnects.
• Only on a bot just you can message. My Computer refuses to connect, and switches itself off later, if strangers can reach the bot: Discord open to others, open Telegram groups, or any channel that accepts messages from anyone. People you approved yourself, for example through Telegram pairing, can still talk to the bot, so only approve people you would trust with those folders.

Compared with ChatGPT’s Desktop Commander plugin

ChatGPT can reach a computer through the Desktop Commander plugin, which is made by the Desktop Commander project, not by OpenAI. We set it up on a Mac on October 3, 2026, and it works well. My Computer runs the same open-source file tools on your computer. It differs in where your bot lives and in what the defaults allow:

Choose ChatGPT if you mostly work at your desk inside ChatGPT. Choose My Computer if you want a bot that runs around the clock in your chat apps and can reach your files when you message it from your phone.

Limits worth knowing

• Up to five computers per bot. To add one, open My Computer on the bot card and click Connect another computer. The bot can then work on all of them at once and copy any file from one to another, byte for byte, without the file passing through the chat. A copy will not replace a file that already exists unless you agree to it.
• Bots that other people can reach on Discord, or with Telegram groups open to anyone, cannot use it. If Telegram groups or Discord are the only problem, the approval page can close them off for you (on Discord, only the account that created the bot keeps getting replies; OpenClaw bots stop answering in servers); otherwise connect a bot you only use privately.
• Mouse & keyboard control is a separate switch. When it is on, the bot takes a screenshot, decides where to click, and gets a fresh screenshot after each action. Use it for apps that have no other way in; files and terminal commands are faster. On a Mac, allow your terminal app under Privacy & Security → Accessibility and Screen Recording. On Linux it needs an X11 desktop with xdotool and ImageMagick. Closing the connect window stops it at once. For a separate screen the bot can drive in the cloud, use its own Live Desktop.
• Long files are read in parts, so a very large file takes several calls.
• In a coding harness, only Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and OpenClaude get the server. Aider, Zero, Pi and DeepSeek Harness do not.
• The first run downloads the file tools, about 200 MB, once.
• On a phone, only Android works, through Termux, with files and terminal commands. iPhone cannot be connected.

The steps are identical for Hermes Agent and OpenClaw bots. To give a bot new abilities that live in the cloud instead of on your computer, see Hermes Agent skills or OpenClaw skills.

My Computer FAQ

Related guides

• Live Desktop: your bot’s own cloud screen
• Hermes Agent skills
• Install OpenClaw skills
• 中文：让 Hermes / OpenClaw 机器人连接你自己的电脑