Practical OpenClaw Setup: Mac Mini Configuration, Cost Management, and Daily Automation

Basic Setup and Security

The OpenClaw instance runs on a Mac Mini that also functions as a local NAS/DLNA server. Before installation, SSH and ports were locked down on the Mini, and OpenClaw was given its own user account without full disk access or SUDO permissions.

Configuration and Management

All setup and major configuration changes were done using Claude Code. The developer downloaded OpenClaw documentation and fed it into Claude Code to create a plugin set that manages, administers, and troubleshoots the OpenClaw installation. Claude Code has SSH access to the Mac Mini and serves as the primary management tool.

Model Usage and Cost Optimization

After burning through approximately $60-70 in API fees during the first few days, a hard audit using Claude Code revealed several inefficiencies:

• Poorly managed cron jobs firing every 15 minutes using LLM calls instead of scripts
• Inefficiencies in SOUL.md and other context documents

The solution involved moving all basic cron jobs to Haiku and using Sonnet 4.6 as the primary agent. For complex tasks, the developer outsources to Claude Code running Opus.

Current daily costs:

• Approximately $0.60/day for daily cron jobs
• Another $1-2/day for assistant interactions (managing calendar, notes, small tasks)

Costs increase significantly when:

1. Asking OpenClaw to figure out large, multistep requests (better to use Claude Code first, then give the ready-to-execute plan to OpenClaw)
2. Asking OpenClaw to install new skills itself (again, better to use Claude Code)

Integrations and Daily Use

Telegram

Telegram is used as the messaging platform because it's the easiest option that works right out of the box according to OpenClaw install guides.

AgentMail.to

A free AgentMail inbox provides OpenClaw with its own logins for online services and email forwarding capability. Currently used primarily for Dropbox login.

Dropbox via Composio

OpenClaw has a free Dropbox account using its AgentMail.to address. A shared "Shared Work" folder serves as a document exchange between the developer and OpenClaw. Composio handles all OAuth for Dropbox integration.

Email & Calendar via Composio

Google Workspace (email and calendar) is connected via Composio. Email is read-only, and OpenClaw can write to the calendar only with explicit instructions.

Automated Cron Jobs

• 7 AM: Morning briefing with weather and any calendar events before noon
• 8:30 AM: Follow-up message for any pre-noon meetings
• 9:30 AM: Summary of emails from the last 24 hours with outstanding items needing action
• 2 PM Daily: Checks for outstanding calendar invites from wife's three email addresses and auto-accepts them
• 6 PM: Email summary to catch messages missed between 4-6 PM
• Weekly: Email summary looking back at the past 7 days for missed important items