Deploying OpenClaw (Formerly ClawdBot) Without Exposing Your Infrastructure

OpenClaw is an open-source AI assistant that gained significant attention in January 2026 for its potential to perform practical tasks such as managing emails, smart homes, and calendars, marking a shift from merely suggestive AI capabilities to more autonomous ones. The excitement surrounding OpenClaw was further fueled by its creator, Peter Steinberger, joining OpenAI and spinning OpenClaw into an independent foundation. However, alongside its promising functionalities, OpenClaw presents notable security challenges due to its need for deep system access, which has led many users to deploy it on separate Mac minis or isolated cloud instances to mitigate risks. With 21,000 instances reported to have been exposed due to misconfigurations, the importance of secure deployment has become evident. Twingate offers a solution to this by providing a zero trust access platform that enables secure and controlled access to OpenClaw deployments without exposing ports or compromising security. The emergence of OpenClaw highlights the broader trend of developing AI agents that require robust security measures from the outset to prevent vulnerabilities and ensure safe experimentation.