# NemoClaw NemoClaw is an open-source reference stack by NVIDIA that simplifies running [[OpenClaw]] always-on [[AI Agents]] more safely. It wraps OpenClaw agents in sandboxed, policy-controlled environments using [[OpenShell]] and routes inference through open-source models like [[NVIDIA Nemotron]]. ## How it works NemoClaw creates a fresh OpenClaw instance inside an [[OpenShell]] sandbox during onboarding. The sandbox enforces four protection layers: network (blocks unauthorized outbound connections), filesystem (restricts access to `/sandbox` and `/tmp`), process (blocks privilege escalation), and inference (reroutes model API calls to controlled backends). Network and inference policies are hot-reloadable at runtime. Filesystem and process policies lock at sandbox creation. ## Architecture Two main components: - **Plugin** (TypeScript): thin package that registers an inference provider and the `/nemoclaw` slash command inside the sandbox. Handles user interaction and delegates orchestration to the blueprint. - **Blueprint** (Python): versioned artifact containing all logic for creating sandboxes, applying policies, and configuring inference. Downloaded, digest-verified, and executed as a subprocess. Design principle: thin plugin, versioned blueprint. They evolve independently with supply chain safety via immutable, digest-verified blueprints. ## Inference routing The agent talks to `inference.local` inside the sandbox. OpenShell intercepts and routes to the configured provider on the host. The sandbox never sees the raw API key. Default backend is [[NVIDIA Nemotron]] 3 Super 120B via build.nvidia.com. Supports NVIDIA endpoints, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, [[Ollama]], NVIDIA NIM, vLLM, and custom endpoints. ## Operator approval flow When an agent tries to reach an unlisted host, OpenShell blocks it and surfaces the request in the TUI for real-time operator approve/deny. Deny-by-default. ## Status Alpha (early preview since March 2026). Apache 2.0 license. ## References - https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/ai/nemoclaw/ - https://github.com/NVIDIA/NemoClaw - https://docs.nvidia.com/nemoclaw/latest/ ## Related - [[OpenClaw]] - [[OpenShell]] - [[NVIDIA Nemotron]] - [[AI Agents]] - [[AI Agent Permissions]] - [[AI Agent Harness]] - [[AI Safety]] - [[Containerization]] - [[Docker]]