What's Coming to OpenClaw: 2026 Roadmap

OpenClaw and DenchClaw are building toward a vision of an AI workspace that runs locally by default, stays open-source, and extends through a community-driven skills ecosystem. The 2026 roadmap reflects that direction — expanding what individual users can do, adding team collaboration for the first time, and pushing deeper into agent autonomy.

This overview is based on public statements, GitHub discussion threads, and YC S24 batch demos. Individual features and timelines may shift.

The Current State#

At the start of 2026, DenchClaw is a capable single-user AI workspace. Install npx denchclaw, add an API key, and you have a local CRM, knowledge base, and AI agent that understands your data. The setup guide gets most users running in under an hour.

The skills system — where markdown files teach the agent new capabilities — has grown to several hundred community skills on ClawHub. The mobile companion app for iOS and Android is live. The PWA runs at localhost:3100. The core architecture is stable.

What's missing in early 2026: teams, cloud sync, and the deeper automation loops that would let the agent operate more independently.

The 2026 roadmap addresses all three.

DenchClaw Cloud#

Status: Active development, expected H1 2026

DenchClaw Cloud is an optional hosted tier. The key word is optional — local-first remains the default. DenchClaw Cloud exists for users who want always-on access, automatic backups, and easier team onboarding without managing their own VPS.

What Cloud Adds#

Managed gateway: Your workspace runs on DenchClaw's infrastructure instead of your laptop or a self-managed server. No need to keep a machine running or configure a VPS.

Automatic backups: Daily snapshots of your DuckDB workspace, with one-click restore. The backup and restore guide covers the current manual approach — Cloud automates this.

Custom domain: Instead of localhost:3100 or a self-configured domain, DenchClaw Cloud assigns a subdomain (e.g., yourname.dench.app) with TLS pre-configured.

Sync across devices: Changes on your laptop sync to your VPS sync to your phone. Currently, local-only deployments require manual sync management.

What Cloud Doesn't Change#

DenchClaw Cloud does not change the data model. Your workspace remains a DuckDB database. You can export it at any time. The agent still runs on your behalf using your API keys. DenchClaw doesn't train on your data.

The open-source version continues to receive full feature parity. Cloud is infrastructure convenience, not a feature gate.

Pricing#

Not yet announced. Based on infrastructure costs and comparable products, expect a free tier with limited compute and storage, and a paid tier targeting solo professionals and small teams at $10–30/month.

Team Workspaces#

Status: Design phase, expected H2 2026

The most-requested feature since launch. Team workspaces let multiple people share a single DenchClaw workspace — with distinct identities, role-based access control, and shared pipeline visibility.

Architecture#

The current data model in DuckDB doesn't have a user concept beyond the workspace owner. Team workspaces require:

• User accounts at the workspace level (not DenchClaw Cloud accounts — you can self-host team workspaces too)
• Per-user agent sessions with shared data access
• Field-level permissions (e.g., sales reps see their pipeline, managers see all)
• Audit logs for writes and AI actions

Collaboration Features in Scope#

Shared pipeline views: Everyone on the team sees the same deal pipeline. Agents respond to each user's queries but operate on shared data.

Assignments: Tag contacts, deals, and tasks to specific team members. The agent knows who owns what.

@mentions in notes: When logging notes, mention a teammate. They get notified.

Activity feed: A chronological log of team actions — deals updated, notes added, contacts created — visible to all authorized members.

What's Not in Scope (Yet)#

Real-time collaborative editing (like Notion or Google Docs) is not on the immediate roadmap. Comments and threads on records may come as a follow-on feature after core team workspaces ship.

ClawHub Skills Marketplace Expansion#

Status: Ongoing, accelerating through 2026

ClawHub is the skills marketplace at clawhub.ai. In 2025 it launched with community-contributed skills; 2026 focuses on quality, monetization tooling, and first-party skills.

First-Party Skills From Dench#

The DenchClaw team is building and maintaining a set of official skills for the most common integrations. Target list includes:

• Salesforce bridge — sync contacts and deals bidirectionally with Salesforce
• HubSpot importer — one-time or recurring import from HubSpot CRM
• Stripe — attach payment and subscription data to CRM contacts
• Linear — link engineering tickets to customer contacts
• Calendly — log meetings and sync attendees to DenchClaw contacts
• Slack — surface DenchClaw context in Slack threads, log messages as notes

Official skills will be reviewed, maintained, and kept up-to-date with platform changes.

Monetization Tools for Publishers#

The 2026 ClawHub publisher experience adds:

• Analytics dashboard: installs, active users, retention by skill
• Subscription billing: recurring revenue via Stripe Connect, handled by ClawHub
• Version management UI: visual diff, rollback, changelog management
• Skill bundles: package multiple skills at a discount
• Promotional codes: time-limited offers for launches or partnerships

Skill Verification Program#

A verified badge for skills that meet quality standards: documented behavior, error handling, active maintenance. Verified skills will rank higher in search and show a visual trust indicator.

More Importers#

Status: Incremental additions throughout 2026

Currently DenchClaw imports from CSV, LinkedIn exports, and Gmail contacts. The roadmap adds structured importers for:

Importers are being built as installable skills, not core platform features — so they can be updated independently and community members can contribute them.

Mobile: Native Experience Upgrades#

Status: Active development throughout 2026

The current mobile companion app is functional but minimal. 2026 brings substantial upgrades:

iOS and Android#

Widgets: A home screen widget showing today's pipeline summary, open tasks, and recent contacts. Glanceable without opening the app.

Siri / Google Assistant integration: "Hey Siri, log a note in DenchClaw" triggers the app and starts voice transcription. Targeted for H2 2026.

Offline queue: Log notes and create contacts while offline. Changes sync when the gateway reconnects.

Biometric auth: Face ID / fingerprint to open the app instead of a PIN.

Share sheet integration (expanded): Share a LinkedIn profile, web page, or document to DenchClaw. The agent parses the shared content and creates or updates a relevant record.

Tablet Support#

iPad and Android tablet layouts get a proper split-pane design: contacts/pipeline list on the left, agent chat on the right. Currently the phone layout scales to tablet but isn't optimized.

Native Integrations#

Status: Design complete, building H1 2026

Integrations are currently handled through skills. Native integrations are deeper platform-level connections that don't require skill configuration.

Email#

Gmail and Outlook native sync: Instead of installing a skill and configuring OAuth, native integrations surface as first-class options during onboarding. Connect your email in two clicks; the agent automatically associates emails with CRM contacts.

Email templates: Store and manage outbound templates. The agent uses contact context to personalize before sending.

Calendar#

Native two-way sync with Google Calendar and Apple Calendar. Meeting attendees automatically linked to CRM contacts. Pre-meeting briefs generated automatically 15 minutes before a meeting starts.

Phone / Dialer#

For teams that use software phones (like Aircall, JustCall, or Dialpad), a native dialer integration logs calls automatically: duration, disposition, and an auto-generated summary via transcription.

Agent Autonomy Features#

Status: Experimental in H1 2026, general availability H2 2026

The most significant architectural evolution in 2026: giving the DenchClaw agent the ability to act on scheduled schedules and respond to events without waiting for user input.

Scheduled Agent Actions#

Define recurring tasks the agent performs automatically:

# HEARTBEAT.md
## Daily (8 AM)
- Check for leads that haven't been contacted in 7+ days
- Summarize pipeline changes from yesterday
- Flag deals where projected close date has passed
 
## Weekly (Monday 9 AM)
- Generate week-ahead pipeline summary
- Check for any contacts with birthdays this week

The agent reads this file and executes the tasks on schedule, delivering summaries to your configured channel (email, Slack, or in-app notification).

Trigger-Based Workflows#

Event-driven automation without writing code:

"When a deal moves to 'In Negotiation', automatically draft a personalized follow-up email and add it to my drafts"

"When a new contact is added with Company = 'Fortune 500', notify me immediately and add them to the high-priority pipeline"

These workflows are defined in natural language and stored in the workspace. The agent evaluates triggers as events occur.

Agent Memory and Learning#

The agent gains longer-term behavioral memory:

• Remembers your communication style preferences
• Learns which contacts prefer formal vs. casual tone
• Tracks response rates and surfaces patterns ("You get faster replies when you email on Tuesday mornings")

This is based on data in your workspace — not external training — so it's private and specific to your patterns.

Local LLM Support#

Status: Experimental, expected stable in 2026

Currently DenchClaw requires an API key for a hosted LLM (Anthropic, OpenAI, etc.). The roadmap includes first-class support for locally running models via Ollama.

# Future configuration
DENCHCLAW_LLM=ollama/llama3.3
OLLAMA_BASE_URL=http://localhost:11434

With a capable enough local model, DenchClaw would run entirely offline with zero ongoing API costs. The tradeoff is model quality and speed — current local models are significantly behind frontier models on complex reasoning tasks.

The plan is to support local models for simpler operations (note logging, contact lookup, basic formatting) while routing complex tasks (enrichment, drafting, analysis) to hosted models, with the routing configurable per-user.

What Stays the Same#

A few principles the roadmap explicitly preserves:

Open source (MIT): DenchClaw's core will remain MIT licensed. Cloud and enterprise features may have separate licensing, but the local workspace will not be gated.

Data ownership: No version of DenchClaw changes who owns the data. Your workspace is yours. Export any time.

Skills are markdown: The skills system's design — markdown files that teach the agent — stays the same. Complexity can live in supporting scripts, but the core skill file remains human-readable.

No tracking without consent: DenchClaw doesn't send usage telemetry by default. Any telemetry features will be opt-in with clear disclosure.

FAQ#

When is DenchClaw Cloud launching?
Targeted for H1 2026 based on current development cadence. Check dench.com for the announcement.

Will team workspaces require DenchClaw Cloud?
No. Team workspaces will be self-hostable. You can run a team workspace on your own VPS using the same deployment approach as today.

Will the free local version lose features when Cloud launches?
No. The DenchClaw team has been explicit that Cloud is additive infrastructure, not a feature gate. Local deployments retain full feature parity.

How do I contribute to the roadmap?
Open GitHub issues or discussions at the DenchClaw repo. The team reviews community feature requests regularly, and several roadmap items originated from YC batch user feedback.

Is DenchClaw planning any funding beyond YC?
No public announcement. The project is MIT licensed and the team is focused on building — further funding details would be shared via the DenchClaw blog when relevant.

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