IronClaw

IronClaw is a secure AI agent runtime from NEAR AI, built in Rust and created in response to OpenClaw's security flaws. OpenClaw has 9 CVE vulnerabilities and the ClawHavoc supply chain attack affected 9,000+ users—IronClaw addresses these with triple protection: WASM sandboxing, TEE encrypted enclaves, and credential isolation. It is led by Illia Polosukhin, co-author of the Transformer paper.

Core Capabilities

• WASM sandbox isolation: Every tool runs in its own WebAssembly container with capability-based permissions (FileRead/NetConnect/EnvRead require explicit grants)
• Encrypted credential vault: Credentials are stored in TEE encrypted enclaves; the LLM only receives placeholders and never sees raw keys
• Real-time leak detection: Outbound traffic is scanned for credential exfiltration attempts, with network allowlists restricting where data can go
• MCP protocol support: Compatible with Model Context Protocol servers, connecting to any MCP-compatible service
• Offline operation: Fully offline deployment with local Ollama and PostgreSQL—zero external dependencies
• Multi-channel deployment: Supports Telegram, Slack, Discord, WhatsApp, and a web gateway

Use Cases AI agent deployments handling sensitive information such as financial data, health records, and API keys. Suited to enterprise teams in regulated industries and security-conscious users migrating from OpenClaw. For personal calendars or social bots, OpenClaw remains the simpler choice.

Unique Advantages Five independent security boundaries (WASM sandbox, capability permissions, TEE enclave, network allowlist, Rust memory safety)—the most complete in its class. The 3.4MB binary starts in under 10ms with only 7.8MB of memory, far lighter than OpenClaw's Node.js runtime. The iron-port tool supports OpenClaw skill migration (22/30 convert automatically).

Editor's Review The security design is impressive—in testing, a known malicious OpenClaw skill was successfully blocked for lacking capability tokens. But 890 verified skills versus OpenClaw's 5,700+ means the ecosystem still lags, and initial setup requires auditing each skill's capability manifest—a test of patience. A strong fit for teams where security comes first, but be prepared for higher configuration complexity.