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.

   # 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.

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. Giving the bot more access than you have already confirmed on that computer also asks you to type y in its connect window. That way a change made from the website alone cannot go beyond what you agreed to there.

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.

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 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

• One computer per bot. Connecting a second computer replaces the first.
• Bots on Discord, or with Telegram groups open to anyone, cannot use it. If Telegram groups are the only problem, the approval page can turn them off for you; otherwise connect a bot you only use privately.
• The bot works with files and, if allowed, the terminal. It has no built-in tools for seeing your screen or moving your mouse. For a screen the bot can drive, use its own Live Desktop.
• Long files are read in parts, so a very large file takes several calls.
• The first run downloads the file tools, about 200 MB, once.

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