Clawvisor: Purpose-Based Authorization Layer for OpenClaw Agents

Clawvisor is an authorization layer that sits between your OpenClaw agent and the APIs it calls, addressing security concerns when agents need access to sensitive data like Gmail or Calendar. Instead of handing over credentials directly, it implements purpose-based authorization: the agent declares what it intends to do, you approve that specific purpose, and an AI gatekeeper verifies every subsequent request against it.

How It Works

The workflow follows these steps:

• On setup, you register apps for your agent to access and generate a token for your agent
• You instruct your agent to do something (e.g., check my calendar and email and send me a brief)
• Your agent registers a "task" in Clawvisor, with a specific purpose and required scopes
• You review the task in the Clawvisor dashboard and approve if it matches your expectations
• Your agent starts executing the task by requesting data through Clawvisor
• Clawvisor inspects each request and makes sure it's in alignment with the approved task

Security Features

The gatekeeper model is designed to be resistant to prompt injection and context drift. Even if a malicious instruction convinces your agent to make a request, Clawvisor evaluates it against your original approved purpose and blocks it. The gatekeeper's job stays narrowly scoped to checking alignment, avoiding the drift risks that affect broader AI agents.

Technical Details

• The gatekeeper model is configurable, with the creator using Haiku
• Adds only a few cents a day to Claude bill costs
• Telegram integration for approving tasks on the go
• Shows risk assessment based on permission breadth and task coherence
• Performs context chaining to pass facts between API calls to detect task deviation
• Supports standing tasks for regular operations without constant approval
• Offers both TUI and web interfaces

Getting Started

Installation requires a few commands:

git clone https://github.com/clawvisor/clawvisor
cd clawvisor
make setup
make run

Then have your OpenClaw agent install the ClawHub skill:

clawhub install clawvisor

Clawvisor is self-hosted and open source, currently in early development but already being used by the creator for sensitive tasks. The tool addresses the fundamental trust issue when giving AI agents access to personal data by ensuring credentials never leave the authorization layer and every action is verified against user-approved purposes.