🌐

Always On Agents

The other half of the system. 24/7 assistants running on a server, reachable through messaging apps, handling the daily flow while you sleep.

Concept·6 sections·1 min read

01The Two Halves

Why this matters

Claude Code is powerful, but it only works when your terminal is open. Close the laptop and your AI partner clocks out. Always on agents fill that gap. They run 24/7 on a server, reachable through messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, or Discord.

Claude Code

Analogy

A brilliant specialist hired to sit at your desk and collaborate on projects

Active when

Terminal is open. You are actively working.

Best for

Deep work: building features, writing long form content, analyzing complex systems

Proactive

No. Waits for your input.

Always On Agent

Analogy

A personal assistant who lives at your office around the clock, answering messages and managing tasks

Active when

24/7. Operates whether you are at your desk or not.

Best for

Daily flow: email triage, calendar management, quick tasks, proactive notifications

Proactive

Yes. Reaches out to you with alerts, reminders, and briefings.

They are not competing tools. They are complementary halves. One for deep, focused work. One for everything else. Together, you always have a capable partner.

02What They Handle

☀️

Morning Briefings

Wake up to a summary: today's calendar, important emails, pending tasks, weather, anything you configure.

📧

Email Triage

Reads incoming email, categorizes by urgency, drafts replies for routine messages, flags what needs your attention. Noise gets archived.

📅

Calendar Management

"Schedule a call with Sarah next week." The agent checks availability, proposes times, sends invites. Resolves conflicts automatically.

💬

Quick Tasks via Chat

"Remind me to call John at 3 PM." "Add milk to my grocery list." "What is on my calendar tomorrow?" Natural conversation through any messaging app.

🔔

Proactive Alerts

"Your flight is delayed by 2 hours." "The client has not responded in 3 days." "Your subscription renews tomorrow." Monitors and surfaces what matters.

✅

Task Management

Review tasks, mark completions, reprioritize based on what happened today. Keeps your task list current without manual effort.

03OpenClaw

The current leading option for self hosted always on agents is OpenClaw, an open source personal AI assistant designed to run on your own server.

🏠Self hosted. Your data stays on your machine. No third party has access to your emails, calendar, or conversations.

💬50+ messaging platforms. WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack, SMS, and many more.

📧Email management. Reads inbox, drafts replies, flags urgent messages, archives noise.

📅Calendar management. Schedules meetings, resolves conflicts, sends reminders.

🔔Proactive behavior. Reaches out to you with briefings, reminders, and alerts.

⚡Custom skills. Extend with Markdown or TypeScript skills for anything specific to your workflow.

OpenClaw is complementary to Claude Code, not a replacement. It handles life and business operations, not software development. Use both for complete coverage.

04Detailed Comparison

	Claude Code	Always On Agent
Runs on	Your computer	VPS (always on)
Interface	Terminal	WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord
Best for	Deep work, coding, complex tasks	Daily flow, email, calendar, quick tasks
Plugin system	MCP servers	Skills and plugins
Available	When terminal is open	24/7
Proactive	No (waits for input)	Yes (reaches out to you)
Complexity ceiling	Very high (full coding, analysis)	Medium (task management, communication)

05Setting One Up

Step 1: Get a VPS

A small virtual private server from Hostinger, DigitalOcean, or similar. Even a $5/month instance works for most personal agent setups.

Step 2: Install the agent

For OpenClaw, clone the repository and follow the setup guide. Docker makes this straightforward.

Step 3: Connect a messaging platform

Link your WhatsApp, Telegram, or Discord account. This becomes your interface for talking to the agent.

Step 4: Add skills for your services

Connect Gmail, Google Calendar, Todoist, or whatever tools you use daily. Each connection gives the agent new capabilities.

Step 5: Configure proactive behaviors

Set up morning briefings, email check frequency, alert conditions. Tell the agent what matters to you and when.

Step 6: Test and iterate

Start with one or two skills. Add more as you get comfortable with the workflow. The system grows with you.

per month

The minimum VPS cost to run an always on agent. Full 24/7 coverage for the price of a coffee.

06The Combined Ecosystem

🌐 Always On Agent

Daily flow, email, calendar, alerts

✅ Task Manager

Captures and tracks all work

💻 Claude Code

Deep work, coding, complex tasks

🌐 Always On Agent

Daily flow, email, calendar, alerts

✅ Task Manager

Captures and tracks all work

💻 Claude Code

Deep work, coding, complex tasks

🌐

Always on handles daily flow

Triages email overnight. Sends morning briefings. Manages calendar. Drafts responses for quick questions.

💻

Claude Code handles deep work

Complex coding tasks. System architecture decisions. Research deep dives. Full codebase access.

📄

Shared context

Using file sync tools, both systems access the same context files. The always on agent knows your schedule. Claude Code knows your code. Both know who you are.

✅

Task management bridges them

Todoist becomes the handoff layer. The always on agent creates tasks from emails: "Client wants a proposal by Friday." Claude Code executes the complex ones when you sit down.

The full picture

Not just an AI tool you open sometimes. An AI layer that runs continuously across your work and life. One system captures. The other delivers. You direct both.