Peter Steinberger: OpenClaw Creator's Journey
Quick Answer: OpenClaw was created by Peter Steinberger, an Austrian developer who previously founded PSPDFKit. He started the project in November 2025 under the name "warelay," which went through five name changes before becoming OpenClaw on January 29, 2026 (after Anthropic filed trademark complaints about the name "Clawdbot"). The project has 200,000+ GitHub stars and 35,000+ forks. Steinberger received offers from both Meta and OpenAI, ultimately joining OpenAI on February 14, 2026 to work on multi-agent technologies.
The OpenClaw project is transitioning to an open-source foundation for community governance, ensuring its future is independent of any single company.
200K+
GitHub Stars
One of the fastest-growing open-source projects in history, reaching 200,000+ stars in approximately three months.
35K+
Forks
Over 35,000 developers have forked the repository, contributing features, bug fixes, and skill integrations.
5
Name Changes
From warelay to clawdis to Clawdbot to Moltbot to OpenClaw — each name change reflects a chapter in the project's rapid evolution.
Who is Peter Steinberger?
Austrian Developer
Peter Steinberger is an Austrian software developer and entrepreneur known for building developer tools. He is based in Vienna and has been active in the Apple and open-source developer communities for over a decade.
Founded PSPDFKit
Before OpenClaw, Steinberger founded PSPDFKit — a PDF software development kit used by thousands of companies for PDF viewing, annotation, and editing on iOS, Android, web, and other platforms. This gave him deep experience in developer tools and developer ecosystems.
Open-Source Advocate
Steinberger has a long history of contributing to open-source projects. He is a respected speaker at developer conferences and has consistently advocated for open tools that give developers control over their own infrastructure.
Community Builder
His approach to building OpenClaw reflected his community-first philosophy: MIT-licensed from day one, local-first architecture for user privacy, and ClawHub as an open skill marketplace. These decisions drove the project's explosive adoption.
How Did OpenClaw Get Its Name?
OpenClaw's naming history reflects the rapid pace of its development and the trademark realities of the AI industry.
warelay
November 2025Peter Steinberger publishes the initial project on GitHub as 'warelay.' It is a local-first AI agent framework that can connect to multiple LLM providers. Early adoption begins in developer communities.
clawdis
December 2025The project is renamed to 'clawdis' as it gains traction. The name references the AI assistant ecosystem while hinting at the claw metaphor that would define its identity. GitHub stars begin climbing rapidly.
Clawdbot
Early January 2026Renamed to 'Clawdbot' as the project crosses major adoption milestones. The name directly references Claude's lobster mascot, which would soon cause trademark issues with Anthropic.
Moltbot
January 27, 2026Anthropic files trademark complaints about 'Clawdbot' due to its reference to Claude's lobster mascot. The project is hastily renamed to 'Moltbot' — a reference to molting, the process by which crustaceans shed their shell. This name lasts only two days.
OpenClaw
January 29, 2026The project receives its final name: OpenClaw. The 'Open' prefix signals its open-source MIT license, while 'Claw' retains the crustacean identity without directly referencing Claude. This name sticks and the project's adoption accelerates.
Why Did OpenClaw Go Viral?
200,000+ GitHub stars in three months is extraordinary. Here is what drove OpenClaw's rapid adoption.
MIT Licensed & Free
No per-seat fees, no vendor lock-in, no usage limits. OpenClaw is fully open-source under the MIT license. For businesses tired of paying per-agent or per-automation fees, this was transformative.
Model-Agnostic Design
OpenClaw works with Anthropic Claude, OpenAI GPT-4o, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, Moonshot Kimi K2.5, and local Ollama models. Users are not locked into a single LLM provider.
Local-First Architecture
Everything runs on the user's own hardware. No data leaves the machine unless the user explicitly connects to external APIs. In an era of data privacy concerns, this resonated strongly.
How Did Steinberger End Up Joining OpenAI?
Competing Offers from Meta and OpenAI
As OpenClaw's popularity skyrocketed, Peter Steinberger received acquisition and hiring offers from both Meta and OpenAI. Both companies recognized the value of the open-source AI agent ecosystem Steinberger had built and wanted his expertise in multi-agent systems.
February 14, 2026: Steinberger Joins OpenAI
On February 14, 2026, Peter Steinberger officially joined OpenAI. Sam Altman announced that Steinberger would focus on multi-agent technologies — building systems where multiple AI agents collaborate on complex tasks. This aligns with OpenClaw's architecture, which already supports multi-agent orchestration through AGENTS.md configuration.
OpenClaw Moves to Open-Source Foundation
To ensure OpenClaw's independence, the project is transitioning to an open-source foundation for community governance. This means OpenClaw will continue as a community-driven project, independent of OpenAI, Meta, or any other company. The MIT license remains, and the community of 200,000+ users and 35,000+ contributors will guide the project's future direction.
What Does This Mean for OpenClaw Users?
Steinberger joining OpenAI raises legitimate questions about OpenClaw's future. Here is what we know.
MIT License Stays
OpenClaw's MIT license cannot be revoked. The source code is and will remain freely available. No company can change this — it is legally irrevocable for existing releases.
Foundation Governance
The open-source foundation will handle project governance, release management, and community coordination. This is the same model used by Linux, Kubernetes, and other major open-source projects.
Community Development Continues
With 35,000+ forks and an active contributor community, OpenClaw development does not depend on any single person. New features, bug fixes, and security patches will continue from the community.
ClawHub Marketplace Grows
The ClawHub skill marketplace with 10,700+ skills will continue to grow under community stewardship. The ecosystem is self-sustaining — developers publish skills because users use them, not because of any corporate mandate.
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