The question I get asked most often: "What can I actually do with OpenClaw?"
The official documentation answers with architecture diagrams. This article answers with working bots you can deploy today.
Five specific bots, five specific use cases, with the exact configuration for each.
Bot 1: Customer Support Assistant (Telegram)
The setup: A Telegram bot that answers common customer questions based on a knowledge base you define. Handles FAQs, escalates complex issues.
Who this is for: E-commerce stores, SaaS products, service businesses with repetitive support requests.
Configuration:
Name: [Your Brand] Support Channel: Telegram Model: Claude 3.5 Sonnet (good balance of quality and cost) System prompt: You are a customer support assistant for [Company Name]. Answer questions based on the FAQ below. For questions not covered, respond with: "That's a great question — let me connect you with our team. Please email support@[company].com" [Paste your FAQ content here]
Skills to add: None required for basic operation. Add a "Web Search" skill if you want it to reference external documentation.
Expected cost: $15–$40/month for a small business with 50–200 support interactions/day.
The secret to good support bots
The system prompt knowledge base is everything. Spend 2 hours writing comprehensive FAQ content and your bot will handle 70–80% of tickets. Spend 20 minutes and it will handle 20–30%.
Bot 2: Slack Research Assistant
The setup: A Slack bot that researches topics and produces structured briefings on demand. Useful for sales teams, analysts, or anyone who needs quick research.
Who this is for: Sales teams prepping for calls, marketing teams monitoring competitors, analysts who need fast summaries.
Configuration:
Name: Research Bot Channel: Slack Model: Gemini 2.0 Flash (faster responses, good for research tasks) System prompt: You are a research assistant. When given a company name, person, topic, or question, search for recent information and produce a structured briefing with: Overview, Recent News, Key Facts, Potential Talking Points. Keep it scannable. Maximum 400 words.
Skills to add: Web Search (required for this to work well), Document Reader (optional, for internal docs).
How to use: In Slack, message the bot:
