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Show HN: DenchClaw – Local CRM on Top of OpenClaw

https://github.com/DenchHQ/DenchClaw
Seems interesting, but I see it's a fork of Openclaw that's many commits behind. Do you think you'll be able to keep DenchClaw updated with Openclaw?

I think a better solution would be to bring in one of the many Openclaw alternatives like NullClaw, ZeroClaw, etc. The magic of Openclaw is the heartbeat and cron modules so bringing in that piece should not be too difficult? I'll fork and hack away at it as well but the less dependent you are on other projects, the longer the longevity.

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OpenClaw opens a wide attack surface on your digital life that cannot be remediated so long as hallucinations and prompt injection remain unsolved problems. Anything built on top of it is equally insecure and probably even more insecure.

I really don't want to yuck anybody's yums or step on dev work that I had nothing to do with, because I've been there and I know it sucks, but OpenClaw is barely secure enough to even play with in a sandbox. Giving it private information about your real business and real business contacts feels like an absolutely insane thing to do.

At best OpenClaw is like a toy... if the toy was a gun and it shot real bullets. This feels like playing Russian roulette with your livelihood.

Looking at that star graph: Since OpenClaw became a thing, I can't help but conclude that Github interest/popularity metrics have become useless signals.
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In terms of "[XYZ] for agents", I think CRM is a big one that people haven't talked about as much. It becomes super relevant as soon as people start using an agent for anything customer related.

And the design principals are already pretty well established (accounts, contacts, leads, opportunities, custom object model, stages, etc.). It just needs to be turned into a database boilerplate with a bunch of agent tools. Excited to try this out.

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Everything is skills. In a file system. That is the future.

Responding to some HN comments, I understand the focus on Sales Automation and Outreach can be worrysome.

But for me personally, this is where I do all knowledge work. For me it acts like Cursor, Happenstance, News Aggregator, Fun games creator like Pacman (it has an App Store), I can import Notion into editable MD files, create reports and presentations, etc.

Watched the demo — the outreach pipeline is impressive technically, but you mentioned midway that the drafted emails came out "kind of robotic" and needed manual editing. If a human still reviews and rewrites each one, where does the actual time saving land — in the data gathering, or somewhere else?
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Great, thanks for making me Google what CRM means in this context. Neither your post nor your website explains the acronym.
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Not a biggie, but might want to update the reference to 'Ironclaw' in the Try Ironclaw link at the top of dench.com
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{"deleted":true,"id":47316154,"parent":47309953,"time":1773093403,"type":"comment"}
One on hand, this is genuinely cool. On the other end, this is the final nail in cold outreach's coffin.
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I find it amusing that one of the main things to do with OpenClaw and other similar tools is create a Web Interface on top of it so that users can click on buttons when the entire promise of the technology is that you don't have to do any of that because it transcends standard UI.

I mean, ultimately why would you even need a CRM if not to sell something? And if you are going to sell something ultimately you want to get that done without any additional layers of abstraction. So the interface is the definition of the goal and the output is measured in results.

"Hey claw, I want to sell my product. Go figure it out!"

You don't need a UI for that.

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Can my agents (powered by NanoClaw or Claude Code) use the CRM without installing OpenClaw codebase?
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the crm isnt the hard part, the hard part is that most sales teams have a workflow problem disguised as a tooling problem. local first is smart but id focus on opinionated defaults for pipeline stages because thats where 90% of founders building their own crm get stuck, they model their process wrong then blame the software.
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Well, of course I will test this thing you built in 2 days[1] for you!

[1]: https://xcancel.com/kumareth/status/2023534527113818625

I really want a DeathClaw product.
I just use plain-text files for my CRM in Obsidian [1]. Works great if you are a solo founder only.

[1] https://www.ssp.sh/brain/managing-my-business-with-obsidian/

Nice, this seems interesting. I don't use Obsidian (I use Logseq) but this has given me a couple of ideas for a CRM I am building (it's currently in a Personal Relationship manager phase which I've found useful for about a year or two).

Thanks for sharing.

Love this setup! I also use Obsidian, but after DenchClaw I usually just open my Obsidian directory into DenchClaw so I can do anything with it. It has all the needed primitives for me like the markdown editor, graphs, etc.
That's a simple but useful set up, thanks for sharing.
At what point does this become an AI powered spamming machine?
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Combining OpenClaw with sensitive personal data is a recipe for disaster.
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Wow, sorry, but given how incredibly insecure all the "claw" agent type things are right now, does this really sound wise at all?

It sees everything you do, really? What's it gonna do with that data? You don't know.

Put all your customer data in there, all your customer relationships. It's fine, it couldn't leak all that information, it couldn't screw up any sensitive business details I'm sure. This is gonna go great.

Sorry AFK everybody I'm gonna go get myself a VibeMBA.

Anyway, good luck, I'm really looking forward to the user stories in a few weeks! I'm sure this won't go badly at all.

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> It has a CRM focus because we asked a couple dozen hard-core OpenClaw users "what do you actually do", and it was sales automation, lead enrichment, biz dev, creating slides, linkedin outreach, email/notion/calendar stuff, and it's always painful to set up.

So basic automation and forcing the web to be "open"...

No one is talking about how AI is going to destroy business models that are dependent on dark patterns, on walled gardens, on poorly designed one size fits all implementations (so many things wedged sideways into sales force).

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Am I the only one that read this as "DeathClaw"?
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In response maybe we should design TCPAclaw. It is specialized in honeypotting all of the random cold call spam, tracks down the source of unsolicited contacts; including registration state, legal contacts, and registered agent(s). It then drafts and sends a TCPA letter and waits for one of two things to happen: Either a $500-$1500 check arriving in your mailbox, or the demand deadline elapses. In case of demand deadline elapse, TCPAclaw files a small claims suit in the appropriate court of jurisdiction.

Fight fire with fire.

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> sales automation, lead enrichment, biz dev, [...] linkedin outreach,

Sigh.

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> It has a CRM focus because we asked a couple dozen hard-core OpenClaw users "what do you actually do", and it was sales automation, lead enrichment, biz dev, creating slides, linkedin outreach, email/notion/calendar stuff, and it's always painful to set up.

Fuck me, it's going to get worse before it gets better, isn't it?

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