MimiClaw: Pocket AI Assistant on a $5 Chip

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The world's first AI assistant(OpenClaw) on a $5 chip. No Linux. No Node.js. Just pure C

MimiClaw turns a tiny ESP32-S3 board into a personal AI assistant. Plug it into USB power, connect to WiFi, and talk to it through Telegram — it handles any task you throw at it and evolves over time with local memory — all on a chip the size of a thumb.

Meet MimiClaw

• Tiny — No Linux, no Node.js, no bloat — just pure C
• Handy — Message it from Telegram, it handles the rest
• Loyal — Learns from memory, remembers across reboots
• Energetic — USB power, 0.5 W, runs 24/7
• Lovable — One ESP32-S3 board, $5, nothing else

How It Works

You send a message on Telegram. The ESP32-S3 picks it up over WiFi, feeds it into an agent loop — the LLM thinks, calls tools, reads memory — and sends the reply back. Supports both Anthropic (Claude) and OpenAI (GPT) as providers, switchable at runtime. Everything runs on a single $5 chip with all your data stored locally on flash.

Quick Start

What You Need

• An ESP32-S3 dev board with 16 MB flash and 8 MB PSRAM (e.g. Xiaozhi AI board, ~$10)
• A USB Type-C cable
• A Telegram bot token — talk to @BotFather on Telegram to create one
• An Anthropic API key — from console.anthropic.com, or an OpenAI API key — from platform.openai.com

Install

# You need ESP-IDF v5.5+ installed first:
# https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/v5.5.2/esp32s3/get-started/

git clone https://github.com/memovai/mimiclaw.git
cd mimiclaw

idf.py set-target esp32s3

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y git wget flex bison gperf python3 python3-pip python3-venv \
  cmake ninja-build ccache libffi-dev libssl-dev dfu-util libusb-1.0-0

./scripts/setup_idf_ubuntu.sh
./scripts/build_ubuntu.sh

xcode-select --install
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

./scripts/setup_idf_macos.sh
./scripts/build_macos.sh

Configure

MimiClaw uses a two-layer config system: build-time defaults in mimi_secrets.h, with runtime overrides via the serial CLI. CLI values are stored in NVS flash and take priority over build-time values.

cp main/mimi_secrets.h.example main/mimi_secrets.h

Edit main/mimi_secrets.h:

#define MIMI_SECRET_WIFI_SSID       "YourWiFiName"
#define MIMI_SECRET_WIFI_PASS       "YourWiFiPassword"
#define MIMI_SECRET_TG_TOKEN        "123456:ABC-DEF1234ghIkl-zyx57W2v1u123ew11"
#define MIMI_SECRET_API_KEY         "sk-ant-api03-xxxxx"
#define MIMI_SECRET_MODEL_PROVIDER  "anthropic"     // "anthropic" or "openai"
#define MIMI_SECRET_SEARCH_KEY      ""              // optional: Brave Search API key
#define MIMI_SECRET_PROXY_HOST      ""              // optional: e.g. "10.0.0.1"
#define MIMI_SECRET_PROXY_PORT      ""              // optional: e.g. "7897"

Then build and flash:

# Clean build (required after any mimi_secrets.h change)
idf.py fullclean && idf.py build

# Find your serial port
ls /dev/cu.usb*          # macOS
ls /dev/ttyACM*          # Linux

# Flash and monitor (replace PORT with your port)
# USB adapter: likely /dev/cu.usbmodem11401 (macOS) or /dev/ttyACM0 (Linux)
idf.py -p PORT flash monitor

> Important: Plug into the correct USB port! Most ESP32-S3 boards have two USB-C ports. You must use the one labeled USB (native USB Serial/JTAG), not the one labeled COM (external UART bridge). Plugging into the wrong port will cause flash/monitor failures.

>

>

CLI Commands (via UART/COM port)

Connect via serial to configure or debug. Config commands let you change settings without recompiling — just plug in a USB cable anywhere.

Runtime config (saved to NVS, overrides build-time defaults):

mimi> wifi_set MySSID MyPassword   # change WiFi network
mimi> set_tg_token 123456:ABC...   # change Telegram bot token
mimi> set_api_key sk-ant-api03-... # change API key (Anthropic or OpenAI)
mimi> set_model_provider openai    # switch provider (anthropic|openai)
mimi> set_model gpt-4o             # change LLM model
mimi> set_proxy 127.0.0.1 7897  # set HTTP proxy
mimi> clear_proxy                  # remove proxy
mimi> set_search_key BSA...        # set Brave Search API key
mimi> config_show                  # show all config (masked)
mimi> config_reset                 # clear NVS, revert to build-time defaults

Debug & maintenance:

mimi> wifi_status              # am I connected?
mimi> memory_read              # see what the bot remembers
mimi> memory_write "content"   # write to MEMORY.md
mimi> heap_info                # how much RAM is free?
mimi> session_list             # list all chat sessions
mimi> session_clear 12345      # wipe a conversation
mimi> heartbeat_trigger           # manually trigger a heartbeat check
mimi> cron_start                  # start cron scheduler now
mimi> restart                     # reboot

USB (JTAG) vs UART: Which Port for What

Most ESP32-S3 dev boards expose two USB-C ports:

| Port | Use for |

|------|---------|

| USB (JTAG) | idf.py flash, JTAG debugging |

| COM (UART) | REPL CLI, serial console |

> REPL requires the UART (COM) port. The USB (JTAG) port does not support interactive REPL input.

# Flash via USB (JTAG) port
idf.py -p /dev/cu.usbmodem11401 flash

# Open REPL via UART (COM) port
idf.py -p /dev/cu.usbserial-110 monitor
# or use any serial terminal: screen, minicom, PuTTY at 115200 baud

Memory

MimiClaw stores everything as plain text files you can read and edit:

| File | What it is |

|------|------------|

| SOUL.md | The bot's personality — edit this to change how it behaves |

| USER.md | Info about you — name, preferences, language |

| MEMORY.md | Long-term memory — things the bot should always remember |

| HEARTBEAT.md | Task list the bot checks periodically and acts on autonomously |

| cron.json | Scheduled jobs — recurring or one-shot tasks created by the AI |

| 2026-02-05.md | Daily notes — what happened today |

| tg_12345.jsonl | Chat history — your conversation with the bot |

Tools

MimiClaw supports tool calling for both Anthropic and OpenAI — the LLM can call tools during a conversation and loop until the task is done (ReAct pattern).

| Tool | Description |

|------|-------------|

| web_search | Search the web via Brave Search API for current information |

| get_current_time | Fetch current date/time via HTTP and set the system clock |

| cron_add | Schedule a recurring or one-shot task (the LLM creates cron jobs on its own) |

| cron_list | List all scheduled cron jobs |

| cron_remove | Remove a cron job by ID |

To enable web search, set a Brave Search API key via MIMI_SECRET_SEARCH_KEY in mimi_secrets.h.

Cron Tasks

MimiClaw has a built-in cron scheduler that lets the AI schedule its own tasks. The LLM can create recurring jobs ("every N seconds") or one-shot jobs ("at unix timestamp") via the cron_add tool. When a job fires, its message is injected into the agent loop — so the AI wakes up, processes the task, and responds.

Jobs are persisted to SPIFFS (cron.json) and survive reboots. Example use cases: daily summaries, periodic reminders, scheduled check-ins.

Heartbeat

The heartbeat service periodically reads HEARTBEAT.md from SPIFFS and checks for actionable tasks. If uncompleted items are found (anything that isn't an empty line, a header, or a checked - [x] box), it sends a prompt to the agent loop so the AI can act on them autonomously.

This turns MimiClaw into a proactive assistant — write tasks to HEARTBEAT.md and the bot will pick them up on the next heartbeat cycle (default: every 30 minutes).

Also Included

• WebSocket gateway on port 18789 — connect from your LAN with any WebSocket client
• OTA updates — flash new firmware over WiFi, no USB needed
• Dual-core — network I/O and AI processing run on separate CPU cores
• HTTP proxy — CONNECT tunnel support for restricted networks
• Multi-provider — supports both Anthropic (Claude) and OpenAI (GPT), switchable at runtime
• Cron scheduler — the AI can schedule its own recurring and one-shot tasks, persisted across reboots
• Heartbeat — periodically checks a task file and prompts the AI to act autonomously
• Tool use — ReAct agent loop with tool calling for both providers

For Developers

Technical details live in the docs/ folder:

• docs/ARCHITECTURE.md — system design, module map, task layout, memory budget, protocols, flash partitions
• docs/TODO.md — feature gap tracker and roadmap

Contributing

Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening issues or pull requests.

Contributors

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to MimiClaw.

License

MIT

Acknowledgments

Inspired by OpenClaw and Nanobot. MimiClaw reimplements the core AI agent architecture for embedded hardware — no Linux, no server, just a $5 chip.

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