> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/nearai/ironclaw/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Feature Parity Tracking

> IronClaw vs OpenClaw feature implementation status

## Overview

IronClaw is a Rust reimplementation inspired by [OpenClaw](https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw). This document tracks feature parity between the two projects to coordinate development across contributors.

**Current Version**: IronClaw 0.13.1

## Status Legend

* ✅ **Implemented**: Feature is complete and working
* 🚧 **Partial**: In progress or incomplete implementation
* ❌ **Not Implemented**: Feature not yet started
* 🔮 **Planned**: In scope but not started
* 🚫 **Out of Scope**: Intentionally skipped
* ➖ **N/A**: Not applicable to Rust implementation

## Key Architectural Differences

IronClaw intentionally differs from OpenClaw in several areas:

### 1. Rust vs TypeScript

* **Native performance**: No runtime overhead
* **Memory safety**: Compile-time guarantees
* **Single binary**: No dependencies required

### 2. WASM Sandbox vs Docker

* **Lightweight**: WASM modules vs full containers
* **Faster startup**: Milliseconds vs seconds
* **Capability-based security**: Explicit permission model

### 3. Database Strategy

* **PostgreSQL + libSQL**: Dual backend support
* **Production-ready**: PostgreSQL for production
* **Zero-dependency mode**: Embedded libSQL for development

### 4. NEAR AI Focus

* **Primary provider**: NEAR AI as default LLM backend
* **Session-based auth**: OAuth flow with refresh tokens

### 5. No Mobile/Desktop Apps Initially

* **Server-first**: Focus on core agent functionality
* **CLI/TUI**: Terminal interface for power users
* **Web gateway**: Browser-based control UI

### 6. Novel Features

* **WASM channels**: Extension mechanism unique to IronClaw
* **Tinfoil provider**: Private/encrypted inference
* **Prompt-based skills**: Trust gating and attenuation

## Implementation Progress by Category

### Core Systems (85% Complete)

| Feature | Status | Priority | Notes |
| - | - | - | - |
| Agent loop & message handling | ✅ | P0 | Complete |
| Session management | ✅ | P0 | Per-sender sessions |
| Context compaction | ✅ | P0 | Auto summarization |
| Multi-provider failover | ✅ | P1 | `FailoverProvider` with retry logic |
| WASM sandbox | ✅ | P0 | Capability-based permissions |
| Docker sandbox | ✅ | P0 | Orchestrator/worker pattern |
| Hybrid search (BM25 + vector) | ✅ | P0 | RRF algorithm |
| Prompt injection defense | ✅ | P0 | Pattern detection + sanitization |
| Skills system | ✅ | P0 | Prompt-based with trust gating |
| Heartbeat system | ✅ | P0 | Periodic execution |
| Configuration hot-reload | ❌ | P2 | Requires file watching |
| Global sessions | ❌ | - | Optional shared context |
| Multi-agent routing | ❌ | - | Workspace isolation |

### Messaging Channels (60% Complete)

| Channel | Status | Priority | Notes |
| - | - | - | - |
| CLI/TUI | ✅ | P0 | Ratatui-based |
| HTTP webhook | ✅ | P0 | Secret validation |
| Web gateway chat | ✅ | P0 | SSE + WebSocket |
| Telegram | ✅ | P1 | WASM channel (MTProto) |
| Slack | ✅ | P1 | WASM tool |
| Signal | ✅ | P2 | signal-cli integration |
| WhatsApp | ❌ | P1 | Baileys integration needed |
| Discord | ❌ | P2 | discord.js equivalent |
| iMessage | ❌ | P3 | BlueBubbles/Linq |
| Matrix | ❌ | P3 | E2EE support |

### Channel Features

| Feature | Status | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| DM pairing codes | ✅ | `ironclaw pairing list/approve` |
| Allowlist/blocklist | 🚧 | `allow_from` + pairing store |
| Thread isolation | ✅ | Separate sessions per thread |
| Typing indicators | 🚧 | TUI + Telegram basic support |
| Mention-based activation | ✅ | `bot_username` config |
| Per-group tool policies | ❌ | Allow/deny specific tools |
| Channel health monitor | ❌ | Auto-restart crashed channels |

### LLM Provider Support (70% Complete)

| Provider | Status | Priority | Notes |
| - | - | - | - |
| NEAR AI | ✅ | P0 | Primary provider |
| Anthropic (Claude) | 🚧 | P0 | Via NEAR AI proxy |
| OpenAI | 🚧 | P0 | Via NEAR AI proxy |
| OpenRouter | ✅ | P1 | Via OpenAI-compatible adapter |
| Ollama (local) | ✅ | P2 | Full support via rig |
| Tinfoil | ✅ | - | IronClaw-only private inference |
| AWS Bedrock | ❌ | P3 | |
| Google Gemini | ❌ | P3 | |
| Perplexity | ❌ | P3 | Web search optimization |

### Provider Features

| Feature | Status | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| Auto-discovery | ❌ | Detect available models |
| Failover chains | ✅ | `FailoverProvider` with fallback |
| Cooldown management | ✅ | Lock-free per-provider |
| Per-session model override | ✅ | TUI model selector |

### Security & Safety (75% Complete)

| Feature | Status | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| Gateway token auth | ✅ | Bearer token |
| DM pairing verification | ✅ | Host-based approval |
| Exec approvals | ✅ | TUI overlay |
| TLS 1.3 minimum | ✅ | rustls |
| SSRF protection | ✅ | WASM allowlist |
| WASM sandbox | ✅ | IronClaw innovation |
| Docker sandbox | ✅ | Orchestrator/worker |
| Tool policies | ✅ | Allow/deny lists |
| Prompt injection defense | ✅ | Multi-layer defense |
| Leak detection | ✅ | Secret exfiltration prevention |
| Session file permissions | ✅ | 0o600 mode |
| Webhook signature verification | ✅ | HMAC validation |
| Sandbox env sanitization | 🚧 | Partial implementation |
| Tailscale identity | ❌ | Network identity |
| Trusted-proxy auth | ❌ | Reverse proxy headers |
| Device pairing | ❌ | Multi-device support |
| SSRF IPv6 bypass block | ❌ | Block IPv4-mapped IPv6 |

### Memory & Knowledge (80% Complete)

| Feature | Status | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| Vector memory | ✅ | pgvector |
| Session-based memory | ✅ | Per-sender context |
| Hybrid search (BM25 + vector) | ✅ | RRF algorithm |
| OpenAI embeddings | ✅ | Default provider |
| Atomic reindexing | ✅ | Safe updates |
| Embeddings batching | ✅ | `embed_batch` trait |
| Flexible path structure | ✅ | Filesystem-like API |
| Identity files | ✅ | AGENTS.md, etc. |
| Daily logs | ✅ | Automatic logging |
| Heartbeat checklist | ✅ | HEARTBEAT.md |
| Memory CLI commands | ✅ | search/read/write/tree/status |
| Temporal decay | ❌ | Time-based scoring |
| MMR re-ranking | ❌ | Result diversity |
| LLM query expansion | ❌ | Expand search queries |
| Local embeddings | ❌ | On-device models |
| Citation support | ❌ | Source attribution |

### CLI Commands (75% Complete)

| Command | Status | Priority | Notes |
| - | - | - | - |
| `run` (agent) | ✅ | P0 | Default command |
| `onboard` | ✅ | P0 | Setup wizard |
| `tui` | ✅ | P0 | Ratatui interface |
| `config` | ✅ | P0 | Read/write settings |
| `status` | ✅ | P0 | System status |
| `memory` | ✅ | P0 | Memory operations |
| `tool` | ✅ | P0 | WASM tool management |
| `skills` | ✅ | P0 | Skills management |
| `pairing` | ✅ | P0 | DM pairing approval |
| `hooks` | ✅ | P2 | Lifecycle hooks |
| `completion` | ✅ | P1 | Shell completion |
| `gateway` | ❌ | P2 | Gateway control |
| `channels` | ❌ | P2 | Channel management |
| `cron` | ❌ | P2 | Cron job management |
| `doctor` | ❌ | P2 | Diagnostics |
| `logs` | ❌ | P3 | Log queries |

### Automation & Hooks (70% Complete)

| Feature | Status | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| Cron jobs | ✅ | Routines with cron trigger |
| Timezone support | ✅ | Via cron expressions |
| One-shot/recurring jobs | ✅ | Manual + cron triggers |
| `beforeInbound` hook | ✅ | Pre-process messages |
| `beforeOutbound` hook | ✅ | Pre-send messages |
| `beforeToolCall` hook | ✅ | Tool execution guard |
| `onMessage` hook | ✅ | Event trigger routines |
| `onSessionStart` hook | ✅ | Session lifecycle |
| `onSessionEnd` hook | ✅ | Session cleanup |
| `transformResponse` hook | ✅ | Response modification |
| Bundled hooks | ✅ | Audit + declarative rules |
| Plugin hooks | ✅ | WASM capabilities.json |
| Workspace hooks | ✅ | hooks/hooks.json |
| Outbound webhooks | ✅ | Fire-and-forget delivery |
| Heartbeat system | ✅ | Periodic execution |
| `before_agent_start` hook | ❌ | Model override |
| `before_message_write` hook | ❌ | Pre-write interception |
| `llm_input`/`llm_output` hooks | ❌ | LLM payload inspection |
| Cron stagger controls | ❌ | Job spacing |

### Web Interface (65% Complete)

| Feature | Status | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| Control UI Dashboard | ✅ | Web gateway |
| WebChat interface | ✅ | SSE/WebSocket streaming |
| Debug/logs viewer | ✅ | Real-time log streaming |
| Model selection | ✅ | TUI only |
| Gateway status widget | 🚧 | Partial implementation |
| Channel status view | ❌ | Full channel overview |
| Agent management | ❌ | Multi-agent control |
| Config editing | ❌ | Web-based settings |
| Canvas system (A2UI) | ❌ | Agent-driven UI |
| Control UI i18n | ❌ | Multi-language support |

### Plugin & Extension System (70% Complete)

| Feature | Status | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| Dynamic loading | ✅ | WASM modules |
| Manifest validation | ✅ | WASM metadata |
| Workspace-relative install | ✅ | \~/.ironclaw/tools/ |
| Channel plugins | ✅ | WASM channels |
| Tool plugins | ✅ | WASM tools |
| Hook plugins | ✅ | Declarative hooks |
| Plugin CLI | ✅ | `tool` subcommand |
| HTTP path registration | ❌ | Plugin routes |
| Auth plugins | ❌ | Custom auth |
| Memory plugins | ❌ | Custom backends |
| Provider plugins | ❌ | Custom LLM providers |
| ClawHub registry | ❌ | Discovery service |

### Media Handling (10% Complete)

| Feature | Status | Priority | Notes |
| - | - | - | - |
| Image processing | ❌ | P2 | Resize, format convert |
| Audio transcription | ❌ | P2 | Speech-to-text |
| PDF parsing | ❌ | P2 | Text extraction |
| MIME detection | ❌ | P2 | File type detection |
| Vision model integration | ❌ | P2 | Image understanding |
| Video support | ❌ | P3 | Video processing |
| TTS | ❌ | P3 | Text-to-speech |
| Media caching | ❌ | P3 | Performance optimization |

### Mobile & Desktop Apps (Out of Scope)

| Feature | Status | Priority | Notes |
| - | - | - | - |
| iOS app | 🚫 | - | Out of scope initially |
| Android app | 🚫 | - | Out of scope initially |
| macOS app | 🚫 | - | Out of scope initially |
| Apple Watch | 🚫 | - | Out of scope initially |
| SwiftUI interfaces | 🚫 | - | Focus on server-side |
| APNs push notifications | 🚫 | - | Mobile dependency |

## Priority Definitions

### P0 - Core (Already Done)

Essential features for basic functionality:

* ✅ Agent loop and message handling
* ✅ Session management and context compaction
* ✅ WASM and Docker sandboxes
* ✅ Hybrid search with pgvector
* ✅ Prompt injection defense
* ✅ Skills system with trust gating
* ✅ Core channels (TUI, HTTP, WebChat)
* ✅ Gateway control plane
* ✅ Memory CLI commands

### P1 - High Priority

Important features for production use:

* ✅ Multi-provider failover
* ✅ Telegram WASM channel
* ✅ Hooks system (core + bundled/plugin/workspace)
* ❌ WhatsApp channel
* ✅ OpenRouter/OpenAI-compatible provider support

### P2 - Medium Priority

Enhanced functionality:

* ❌ Media handling (images, PDFs)
* ✅ Ollama/local model support
* ❌ Configuration hot-reload
* ❌ Channel health monitor
* ❌ Gateway and cron CLI commands

### P3 - Lower Priority

Nice-to-have features:

* ❌ Discord, Matrix channels
* ❌ TTS/audio features
* ❌ Video support
* ❌ Streaming (block/tool/Z.AI)
* ❌ Memory advanced features (temporal decay, MMR)
* ❌ Control UI i18n

## How to Contribute

### 1. Claim a Feature

Edit `FEATURE_PARITY.md` in the source repository and add your name/handle to the "Owner" field for your chosen section.

### 2. Create Tracking Issue

Open a GitHub issue for the feature area:

```markdown theme={null}
Title: Implement [Feature Name]

Description:
- Feature category: [Category]
- Priority: [P0/P1/P2/P3]
- Current status: [❌/🚧]
- Target status: [✅]

Implementation plan:
1. Step one
2. Step two
3. ...

Related files:
- src/...
- tests/...
```

### 3. Update Status

As you work:

* Change ❌ to 🚧 when starting
* Update to ✅ when complete
* Add notes for design decisions or deviations

### 4. Update in PR

Include `FEATURE_PARITY.md` updates in your pull request:

```diff theme={null}
| Feature | OpenClaw | IronClaw | Notes |
|---------|----------|----------|-------|
- | Hot-reload | ✅ | ❌ | |
+ | Hot-reload | ✅ | ✅ | Uses notify crate for file watching |
```

## Coordination

### Section Ownership

* Each major section should have one owner to avoid conflicts
* Owners can delegate sub-features to others
* Update ownership in `FEATURE_PARITY.md`

### Communication

* **GitHub Issues**: Track feature implementation
* **Pull Requests**: Include parity updates
* **Discussions**: Ask questions and propose designs
* **Telegram**: [@ironclawAI](https://t.me/ironclawAI) for real-time chat

### Review Process

1. Reviewers verify parity updates match code changes
2. Status changes must be accurate
3. Notes should explain any deviations from OpenClaw
4. Priorities can be adjusted with justification

## Current Status Summary

As of version 0.13.1:

| Category | Completion | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| Core Systems | 85% | Context, sessions, failover complete |
| Messaging Channels | 60% | Core channels done, WhatsApp/Discord pending |
| LLM Providers | 70% | NEAR AI, OpenRouter, Ollama supported |
| Security & Safety | 75% | WASM/Docker sandboxes, prompt defense done |
| Memory & Knowledge | 80% | Hybrid search, embeddings, CLI complete |
| CLI Commands | 75% | Core commands done, management tools pending |
| Automation & Hooks | 70% | Cron, core hooks, webhooks working |
| Web Interface | 65% | Gateway, chat, logs complete |
| Plugin System | 70% | WASM loading, tools, channels working |
| Media Handling | 10% | Major gap - images, audio, PDF needed |
| Mobile/Desktop | 0% | Out of scope initially |

**Overall Progress**: \~65% feature parity

## Next Major Milestones

### Q2 2026

* Complete WhatsApp channel (P1)
* Implement media handling (P2)
* Add configuration hot-reload (P2)
* Enhance channel health monitoring (P2)

### Q3 2026

* Discord channel implementation (P2)
* Advanced memory features (temporal decay, MMR) (P3)
* Streaming support (block/tool-level) (P3)
* Control UI internationalization (P3)

### Q4 2026

* Matrix and additional messaging channels (P3)
* TTS/audio features (P3)
* Video processing support (P3)
* Plugin registry/ClawHub (P3)

## Resources

* **OpenClaw Repository**: [github.com/openclaw/openclaw](https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw)
* **IronClaw Repository**: [github.com/nearai/ironclaw](https://github.com/nearai/ironclaw)
* **Full Parity Matrix**: See `FEATURE_PARITY.md` in source repository
* **Contributing Guide**: [/development/contributing](/development/contributing)
* **Building Guide**: [/development/building](/development/building)
* **Testing Guide**: [/development/testing](/development/testing)

## Questions?

If you're unsure whether a feature is in scope or how to implement it:

1. Check the full `FEATURE_PARITY.md` in the source repository
2. Search existing GitHub issues
3. Open a discussion on GitHub
4. Ask in the Telegram group

We're here to help you contribute successfully!