Picoclaw Ai Assistant

by reason-machines2384a003145aNo license83 starsListed Oct 8, 2026Updated Oct 8, 2026Repository updated 3 months ago

Ultra-lightweight AI assistant in Go that runs on $10 hardware with <10MB RAM, supporting multiple LLM providers, tools, and single-binary deployment across RISC-V, ARM, MIPS, and x86.

Instructions onlyDevOps & CloudAI & Agents
AI-generated overview

Guides installing, configuring and running PicoClaw, a lightweight Go AI assistant, on small Linux and embedded devices.

What it does
This skill provides instructions for setting up and operating PicoClaw, an ultra-lightweight personal AI assistant written in Go. It covers downloading precompiled binaries, building from source, Docker Compose profiles, Termux usage, and editing the config.json file for models, agent defaults and web search tools. It also includes cross-compilation commands, hardware target references and troubleshooting steps.
When to use it
Use it when deploying or configuring PicoClaw on low-resource hardware such as Raspberry Pi, LicheeRV-Nano or Android via Termux. It is also relevant when adding LLM providers, enabling web search tools, or running PicoClaw in Docker.
Requirements
Requires the PicoClaw binary or Go toolchain and make for source builds, plus Docker and Docker Compose for container use. API keys for LLM providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Volcengine) and optionally Tavily or Brave Search are needed, referenced through environment variables. Network access is required for downloads and API calls; the skill ships no scripts.

PicoClaw AI Assistant

Skill by ara.so — Daily 2026 Skills collection.

PicoClaw is an ultra-lightweight personal AI assistant written in Go. It runs on $10 hardware with under 10MB RAM and boots in under 1 second. It supports multiple LLM providers (OpenAI-compatible, Anthropic, Volcengine), optional web search tools, and deploys as a single self-contained binary on x86_64, ARM64, MIPS, and RISC-V Linux devices.

Installation

Precompiled Binary

Download from the releases page:

bash
# Linux ARM64 (Raspberry Pi, LicheeRV-Nano, etc.)wget https://github.com/sipeed/picoclaw/releases/download/v0.1.1/picoclaw-linux-arm64chmod +x picoclaw-linux-arm64./picoclaw-linux-arm64 onboard

Build from Source

bash
git clone https://github.com/sipeed/picoclaw.gitcd picoclaw
# Install dependenciesmake deps
# Build for current platformmake build
# Build for all platformsmake build-all
# Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W — 32-bitmake build-linux-arm      # → build/picoclaw-linux-arm
# Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W — 64-bitmake build-linux-arm64    # → build/picoclaw-linux-arm64
# Build both Pi Zero variantsmake build-pi-zero
# Build and install to system PATHmake install

Docker Compose

bash
git clone https://github.com/sipeed/picoclaw.gitcd picoclaw
# First run — generates docker/data/config.json then exitsdocker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml --profile gateway up
# Edit configvim docker/data/config.json
# Start in backgrounddocker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml --profile gateway up -d
# View logsdocker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml logs -f picoclaw-gateway
# Stopdocker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml --profile gateway down
Docker: Web Console (Launcher Mode)
bash
docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml --profile launcher up -d# Open http://localhost:18800
Docker: One-shot Agent Mode
bash
# Single questiondocker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml run --rm picoclaw-agent -m "What is 2+2?"
# Interactive sessiondocker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml run --rm picoclaw-agent
Docker: Expose Gateway to Host

If the gateway needs to be reachable from the host, set:

bash
PICOCLAW_GATEWAY_HOST=0.0.0.0 docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml --profile gateway up -d

Or set PICOCLAW_GATEWAY_HOST=0.0.0.0 in docker/data/config.json.

Termux (Android)

bash
pkg install wget prootwget https://github.com/sipeed/picoclaw/releases/download/v0.1.1/picoclaw-linux-arm64chmod +x picoclaw-linux-arm64termux-chroot ./picoclaw-linux-arm64 onboard

Quick Start

1. Initialize

bash
picoclaw onboard

This creates ~/.picoclaw/config.json with a starter configuration.

2. Configure ~/.picoclaw/config.json

json
{  "agents": {    "defaults": {      "workspace": "~/.picoclaw/workspace",      "model_name": "gpt-4o",      "max_tokens": 8192,      "temperature": 0.7,      "max_tool_iterations": 20    }  },  "model_list": [    {      "model_name": "gpt-4o",      "model": "openai/gpt-4o",      "api_key": "$OPENAI_API_KEY",      "request_timeout": 300    },    {      "model_name": "claude-sonnet",      "model": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5",      "api_key": "$ANTHROPIC_API_KEY"    },    {      "model_name": "ark-code",      "model": "volcengine/ark-code-latest",      "api_key": "$VOLCENGINE_API_KEY",      "api_base": "https://ark.cn-beijing.volces.com/api/coding/v3"    }  ],  "tools": {    "web": {      "brave": {        "enabled": false,        "api_key": "$BRAVE_API_KEY"      },      "tavily": {        "enabled": false,        "api_key": "$TAVILY_API_KEY"      }    }  }}

Never hard-code API keys. Reference environment variables using $VAR_NAME notation in config, or set them in your shell environment before launch.

3. Run

bash
# Interactive chatpicoclaw
# Single messagepicoclaw -m "Summarize the latest Go release notes"
# Use a specific modelpicoclaw -model claude-sonnet -m "Refactor this function for clarity"

Key CLI Commands

CommandDescription
picoclaw onboardInitialize config and workspace
picoclawStart interactive chat session
picoclaw -m "..."Send a single message and exit
picoclaw -model <name>Override the default model
picoclaw -config <path>Use a custom config file

Configuration Reference

Model Entry Fields

json
{  "model_name": "my-model",        // Alias used in -model flag and agent defaults  "model": "provider/model-id",    // Provider-prefixed model identifier  "api_key": "$ENV_VAR",           // API key — use env var reference  "api_base": "https://...",       // Optional: override base URL (for self-hosted or regional endpoints)  "request_timeout": 300           // Optional: seconds before timeout}

Supported Provider Prefixes

PrefixProvider
openai/OpenAI and OpenAI-compatible APIs
anthropic/Anthropic Claude
volcengine/Volcengine (Ark)

Agent Defaults

json
"agents": {  "defaults": {    "workspace": "~/.picoclaw/workspace",  // Working directory for file operations    "model_name": "gpt-4o",                // Default model alias    "max_tokens": 8192,                    // Max response tokens    "temperature": 0.7,                    // Sampling temperature    "max_tool_iterations": 20              // Max agentic tool-call loop iterations  }}

Web Search Tools

Get free API keys:

json
"tools": {  "web": {    "tavily": {      "enabled": true,      "api_key": "$TAVILY_API_KEY"    },    "brave": {      "enabled": false,      "api_key": "$BRAVE_API_KEY"    }  }}

Only enable one search provider at a time unless you want fallback behavior.

Common Patterns

Pattern: Minimal $10 Device Setup

For a LicheeRV-Nano or similar ultra-low-resource board:

bash
# Download the RISC-V or ARM binary from releaseswget https://github.com/sipeed/picoclaw/releases/download/v0.1.1/picoclaw-linux-riscv64chmod +x picoclaw-linux-riscv64
# Initialize./picoclaw-linux-riscv64 onboard
# Edit config — use a lightweight model, low max_tokenscat > ~/.picoclaw/config.json << 'EOF'{  "agents": {    "defaults": {      "workspace": "~/.picoclaw/workspace",      "model_name": "gpt-4o-mini",      "max_tokens": 2048,      "temperature": 0.5,      "max_tool_iterations": 10    }  },  "model_list": [    {      "model_name": "gpt-4o-mini",      "model": "openai/gpt-4o-mini",      "api_key": "$OPENAI_API_KEY",      "request_timeout": 120    }  ]}EOF
./picoclaw-linux-riscv64

Pattern: Full-Stack Dev Assistant with Web Search

json
{  "agents": {    "defaults": {      "workspace": "~/projects",      "model_name": "claude-sonnet",      "max_tokens": 8192,      "temperature": 0.3,      "max_tool_iterations": 30    }  },  "model_list": [    {      "model_name": "claude-sonnet",      "model": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5",      "api_key": "$ANTHROPIC_API_KEY",      "request_timeout": 600    }  ],  "tools": {    "web": {      "tavily": {        "enabled": true,        "api_key": "$TAVILY_API_KEY"      }    }  }}

Pattern: Docker with Environment Variables

yaml
# docker/docker-compose.override.ymlservices:  picoclaw-gateway:    environment:      - OPENAI_API_KEY=${OPENAI_API_KEY}      - ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=${ANTHROPIC_API_KEY}      - TAVILY_API_KEY=${TAVILY_API_KEY}      - PICOCLAW_GATEWAY_HOST=0.0.0.0
bash
export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml -f docker/docker-compose.override.yml --profile gateway up -d

Pattern: Build for a Specific Target in Go

bash
# Cross-compile for MIPS (OpenWRT routers)GOOS=linux GOARCH=mips GOMIPS=softfloat go build -o build/picoclaw-linux-mips ./cmd/picoclaw
# Cross-compile for 32-bit ARM (older Raspberry Pi)GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm GOARM=7 go build -o build/picoclaw-linux-arm ./cmd/picoclaw
# Cross-compile for RISC-V 64-bitGOOS=linux GOARCH=riscv64 go build -o build/picoclaw-linux-riscv64 ./cmd/picoclaw

Troubleshooting

Binary won't execute on device

bash
# Verify the binary matches the device architecturefile picoclaw-linux-arm64uname -m   # Should match: aarch64 = arm64, x86_64 = amd64
# Ensure executable permissionchmod +x picoclaw-linux-arm64

"Permission denied" on Termux

Termux requires proot for some system calls:

bash
pkg install proottermux-chroot ./picoclaw-linux-arm64 onboard

API key not recognized

  • Do not use "api_key": "sk-..." literals in config — set env vars and reference them as "$OPENAI_API_KEY".
  • Verify the env var is exported in your current shell: echo $OPENAI_API_KEY.

Docker gateway not reachable from host

Set PICOCLAW_GATEWAY_HOST=0.0.0.0 in the environment or in config.json before starting the container.

High memory usage in recent versions

The project notes that recent PRs may push RAM usage to 10–20MB. If this is a concern on ultra-low-memory devices, pin to an earlier release tag:

bash
git checkout v0.1.1make build

Config file location

Default: ~/.picoclaw/config.json

Override at runtime:

bash
picoclaw -config /path/to/custom-config.json

Rebuild after dependency changes

bash
cd picoclawmake depsmake build

Hardware Targets Quick Reference

DevicePriceBinary
LicheeRV-Nano (E/W)~$10picoclaw-linux-riscv64
NanoKVM~$30–50picoclaw-linux-riscv64
MaixCAM / MaixCAM2~$50–100picoclaw-linux-arm64
Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W (32-bit OS)~$15picoclaw-linux-arm
Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W (64-bit OS)~$15picoclaw-linux-arm64
Android via Termux—picoclaw-linux-arm64
Standard Linux x86_64—picoclaw-linux-amd64

Source and attribution

Source:reason-machines/trending-skillsinskills/picoclaw-ai-assistantat commit2384a00

License: No license

Content belongs to its original authors. SourceWeft indexes it from a public repository.

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