MimiClaw: Pocket AI Assistant on a $5 Chip

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The world's first AI assistant(OpenClaw) on a $5 chip. No Linux. No Node.js. Just pure C

MimiClaw turns a tiny ESP32-S3 board into a personal AI assistant. Plug it into USB power, connect to WiFi, and talk to it through Telegram — it handles any task you throw at it and evolves over time with local memory — all on a chip the size of a thumb.

Meet MimiClaw

• Tiny — No Linux, no Node.js, no bloat — just pure C
• Handy — Message it from Telegram, it handles the rest
• Loyal — Learns from memory, remembers across reboots
• Energetic — USB power, 0.5 W, runs 24/7
• Lovable — One ESP32-S3 board, $5, nothing else

How It Works

You send a message on Telegram. The ESP32-S3 picks it up over WiFi, feeds it into an agent loop — the LLM thinks, calls tools, reads memory — and sends the reply back. Supports both Anthropic (Claude) and OpenAI (GPT) as providers, switchable at runtime. Everything runs on a single $5 chip with all your data stored locally on flash.

Quick Start

What You Need

• An ESP32-S3 dev board with 16 MB flash and 8 MB PSRAM (e.g. Xiaozhi AI board, ~$10)
• A USB Type-C cable
• A Telegram bot token — talk to @BotFather on Telegram to create one
• An Anthropic API key — from console.anthropic.com, or an OpenAI API key — from platform.openai.com

Install

# You need ESP-IDF v5.5+ installed first:
# https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/v5.5.2/esp32s3/get-started/

git clone https://github.com/memovai/mimiclaw.git
cd mimiclaw

idf.py set-target esp32s3

<details> <summary>Ubuntu Install</summary>

Recommended baseline:

• Ubuntu 22.04/24.04
• Python >= 3.10
• CMake >= 3.16
• Ninja >= 1.10
• Git >= 2.34
• flex >= 2.6
• bison >= 3.8
• gperf >= 3.1
• dfu-util >= 0.11
• libusb-1.0-0, libffi-dev, libssl-dev

Install and build on Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y git wget flex bison gperf python3 python3-pip python3-venv \
  cmake ninja-build ccache libffi-dev libssl-dev dfu-util libusb-1.0-0

./scripts/setup_idf_ubuntu.sh
./scripts/build_ubuntu.sh

</details> <details> <summary>macOS Install</summary>

Recommended baseline:

• macOS 12/13/14
• Xcode Command Line Tools
• Homebrew
• Python >= 3.10
• CMake >= 3.16
• Ninja >= 1.10
• Git >= 2.34
• flex >= 2.6
• bison >= 3.8
• gperf >= 3.1
• dfu-util >= 0.11
• libusb, libffi, openssl

Install and build on macOS:

xcode-select --install
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

./scripts/setup_idf_macos.sh
./scripts/build_macos.sh

</details>

Configure

MimiClaw uses a two-layer config system: build-time defaults in mimi_secrets.h, with runtime overrides via the serial CLI. CLI values are stored in NVS flash and take priority over build-time values.

cp main/mimi_secrets.h.example main/mimi_secrets.h

Edit main/mimi_secrets.h:

#define MIMI_SECRET_WIFI_SSID       "YourWiFiName"
#define MIMI_SECRET_WIFI_PASS       "YourWiFiPassword"
#define MIMI_SECRET_TG_TOKEN        "123456:ABC-DEF1234ghIkl-zyx57W2v1u123ew11"
#define MIMI_SECRET_API_KEY         "sk-ant-api03-xxxxx"
#define MIMI_SECRET_MODEL_PROVIDER  "anthropic"     // "anthropic" or "openai"
#define MIMI_SECRET_SEARCH_KEY      ""              // optional: Brave Search API key
#define MIMI_SECRET_TAVILY_KEY      ""              // optional: Tavily API key (preferred)
#define MIMI_SECRET_PROXY_HOST      ""              // optional: e.g. "10.0.0.1"
#define MIMI_SECRET_PROXY_PORT      ""              // optional: e.g. "7897"

Then build and flash:

# Clean build (required after any mimi_secrets.h change)
idf.py fullclean && idf.py build

# Find your serial port
ls /dev/cu.usb*          # macOS
ls /dev/ttyACM*          # Linux

# Flash and monitor (replace PORT with your port)
# USB adapter: likely /dev/cu.usbmodem11401 (macOS) or /dev/ttyACM0 (Linux)
idf.py -p PORT flash monitor

Important: Plug into the correct USB port! Most ESP32-S3 boards have two USB-C ports. You must use the one labeled USB (native USB Serial/JTAG), not the one labeled COM (external UART bridge). Plugging into the wrong port will cause flash/monitor failures.

<details> <summary>Show reference photo</summary> <img src="assets/esp32s3-usb-port.jpg" alt="Plug into the USB port, not COM" width="480" /> </details>

CLI Commands (via UART/COM port)

Connect via serial to configure or debug. Config commands let you change settings without recompiling — just plug in a USB cable anywhere.

Runtime config (saved to NVS, overrides build-time defaults):

mimi> wifi_set MySSID MyPassword   # change WiFi network
mimi> set_tg_token 123456:ABC...   # change Telegram bot token
mimi> set_api_key sk-ant-api03-... # change API key (Anthropic or OpenAI)
mimi> set_model_provider openai    # switch provider (anthropic|openai)
mimi> set_model gpt-4o             # change LLM model
mimi> set_proxy 127.0.0.1 7897  # set HTTP proxy
mimi> clear_proxy                  # remove proxy
mimi> set_search_key BSA...        # set Brave Search API key
mimi> set_tavily_key tvly-...      # set Tavily API key (preferred)
mimi> config_show                  # show all config (masked)
mimi> config_reset                 # clear NVS, revert to build-time defaults

Debug & maintenance:

mimi> wifi_status              # am I connected?
mimi> memory_read              # see what the bot remembers
mimi> memory_write "content"   # write to MEMORY.md
mimi> heap_info                # how much RAM is free?
mimi> session_list             # list all chat sessions
mimi> session_clear 12345      # wipe a conversation
mimi> heartbeat_trigger           # manually trigger a heartbeat check
mimi> cron_start                  # start cron scheduler now
mimi> restart                     # reboot

USB (JTAG) vs UART: Which Port for What

Most ESP32-S3 dev boards expose two USB-C ports:

| Port | Use for | |------|---------| | USB (JTAG) | idf.py flash, JTAG debugging | | COM (UART) | REPL CLI, serial console |

REPL requires the UART (COM) port. The USB (JTAG) port does not support interactive REPL input.

<details> <summary>Port details & recommended workflow</summary>

| Port | Label | Protocol | |------|-------|----------| | USB | USB / JTAG | Native USB Serial/JTAG | | COM | UART / COM | External UART bridge (CP2102/CH340) |

The ESP-IDF console/REPL is configured to use UART by default (CONFIG_ESP_CONSOLE_UART_DEFAULT=y).

If you have both ports connected simultaneously:

• USB (JTAG) handles flash/download and provides secondary serial output
• UART (COM) provides the primary interactive console for the REPL
• macOS: both appear as /dev/cu.usbmodem* or /dev/cu.usbserial-* — run ls /dev/cu.usb* to identify
• Linux: USB (JTAG) → /dev/ttyACM0, UART → /dev/ttyUSB0

Recommended workflow:

# Flash via USB (JTAG) port
idf.py -p /dev/cu.usbmodem11401 flash

# Open REPL via UART (COM) port
idf.py -p /dev/cu.usbserial-110 monitor
# or use any serial terminal: screen, minicom, PuTTY at 115200 baud

</details>

Memory

MimiClaw stores everything as plain text files you can read and edit:

| File | What it is | |------|------------| | SOUL.md | The bot's personality — edit this to change how it behaves | | USER.md | Info about you — name, preferences, language | | MEMORY.md | Long-term memory — things the bot should always remember | | HEARTBEAT.md | Task list the bot checks periodically and acts on autonomously | | cron.json | Scheduled jobs — recurring or one-shot tasks created by the AI | | 2026-02-05.md | Daily notes — what happened today | | tg_12345.jsonl | Chat history — your conversation with the bot |

Tools

MimiClaw supports tool calling for both Anthropic and OpenAI — the LLM can call tools during a conversation and loop until the task is done (ReAct pattern).

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | web_search | Search the web via Tavily (preferred) or Brave for current information | | get_current_time | Fetch current date/time via HTTP and set the system clock | | cron_add | Schedule a recurring or one-shot task (the LLM creates cron jobs on its own) | | cron_list | List all scheduled cron jobs | | cron_remove | Remove a cron job by ID |

To enable web search, set a Tavily API key via MIMI_SECRET_TAVILY_KEY (preferred), or a Brave Search API key via MIMI_SECRET_SEARCH_KEY in mimi_secrets.h.

Cron Tasks

MimiClaw has a built-in cron scheduler that lets the AI schedule its own tasks. The LLM can create recurring jobs ("every N seconds") or one-shot jobs ("at unix timestamp") via the cron_add tool. When a job fires, its message is injected into the agent loop — so the AI wakes up, processes the task, and responds.

Jobs are persisted to SPIFFS (cron.json) and survive reboots. Example use cases: daily summaries, peri