Getting Started

Get PicoClaw running in 2 minutes.

Reminder

Please get and verify your API key first. For supported models, see Model Configuration. Web search is optional. You can get a free Tavily API (1,000 free queries/month) or Brave Search API (2,000 free queries/month).

Configure with WebUI (picoclaw-launcher)

For most users, we recommend configuring through Launcher WebUI instead of editing config files first.

1. Start the WebUI launcher directly (no pre-initialization required) via command line:

picoclaw-launcher

Or double-click picoclaw-launcher (picoclaw-launcher.exe on Windows).

picoclaw-launcher-tui is no longer maintained and is being phased out. Prefer picoclaw-launcher.

2. Open http://localhost:18800 and complete the following in the UI:

• Add at least one LLM model and set it as default
• Configure web search (currently via config files; see Web Search Setup)
• Start Gateway in Launcher

For more model fields and full config file examples, see Model Configuration.

After configuration is complete, you can start using PicoClaw.

Enable Web Search

Without web search enabled, many real-world scenarios (checking the latest information, finding links, fact verification) are significantly limited. We recommend enabling at least one search engine during initial setup.

In the current version, web search must be configured via config files (config.json + .security.yml), and WebUI does not yet provide a dedicated entry. See Web Search Setup for details.

CLI Command Reference

For CLI commands and picoclaw-launcher parameters, see CLI Commands and Parameters.

Scheduled Tasks

PicoClaw supports reminders and recurring tasks via the cron tool:

• One-time: "Remind me in 10 minutes"
• Recurring: "Remind me every 2 hours"
• Cron expressions: "Remind me at 9am daily"

Jobs are stored in ~/.picoclaw/workspace/cron/ and processed automatically.

Troubleshooting

Web Search Shows "API key configuration issue"

If you have not configured a search API key yet, this is expected.

To enable web search:

1. Option 1 (Recommended): Get a free API key at https://brave.com/search/api (2000 free queries/month).
2. Option 2 (No Credit Card): Use DuckDuckGo fallback (no key required).
3. Option 3 (Mainland China content first): Use Baidu Search (1000 free queries/day).

Content filtering errors

Some providers (like Zhipu) have content filtering. Try rephrasing your query or use a different model.

Telegram bot "Conflict: terminated by other getUpdates"

Only one picoclaw gateway instance should run at a time. Stop any other instances.

API Key Comparison

Service	Free Tier	Use Case
OpenRouter	200K tokens/month	Multiple models (Claude, GPT-4, etc.)
Volcengine CodingPlan	¥9.9/first month	Best for Chinese users, multiple SOTA models (Doubao, DeepSeek, etc.)
Zhipu	200K tokens/month	For Chinese users
Brave Search	2000 queries/month	Web search functionality
Tavily	1000 queries/month	AI Agent optimized search
Baidu Search	1000 queries/day	Better coverage for Mainland China content
Groq	Free tier	Fast inference (Llama, Mixtral)
Cerebras	Free tier	Fast inference (Llama, Qwen)