Warelay -> OpenClaw
Simon Willison · Simon Willison · 2026-05-16
Simon Willison uses a custom Git history tool to trace the OpenClaw project through six names — from Warelay to OpenClaw — between November 2025 and January 2026, prepared as material for a PyCon US lightning talk.
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Extraction
Topics: git-historyopen-source-toolsproject-namingopenclaw
Claims
- The OpenClaw project cycled through six distinct names between its first commit on 2025-11-24 and its current name adopted on 2026-01-30.
- A custom script called first_line_history.py was used to extract the project's naming history by reading the first line of the README across all Git commits.
- The project began as a WhatsApp relay CLI tool (Warelay) and evolved into a personal AI assistant before settling on the OpenClaw name.
- The naming sequence was: Warelay → CLAWDIS → CLAWDBOT → Clawdbot → Moltbot → OpenClaw.
Key quotes
Warelay → CLAWDIS → CLAWDBOT → Clawdbot → Moltbot →🦞 OpenClaw
Thanks to this first_line_history.py tool (code here) the answer, according to the Git history of the OpenClaw README, is...