Zuckerman

Ultra-minimal personal AI agent: starts small, self-modifies its code live, adapts by writing exactly the code & features you need (beyond just self-looping), improves instantly, and shares improvements with other agents.

Key features:

• Minimal by design — starts with core essentials only
• Real-time self-improvement — agent edits its own files (config, tools, behavior, code) and reloads instantly
• Full runtime modification — tweak anything while the agent runs
• Hot-reload everywhere — no restarts needed
• Feature versioning — track and manage versions of agent capabilities and improvements
• Collaborative ecosystem — share and adopt improvements via a contribution website
• Multi-channel ready — Discord, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, WebChat + more
• Voice support — TTS/STT with multiple providers
• Security foundations — auth, policy engine, sandboxing (Docker), secret management
• Multiple agents — run several with unique personalities/tools
• Dual interfaces — CLI (power users) + Electron app (visual)
• Calendar & scheduling — built-in time management
• Activity view — comprehensive timeline tracking of agent runs, tool calls, sessions, messages, and calendar events with filtering and detailed metadata

Why Zuckerman exists:

OpenClaw exploded in popularity (100k+ GitHub stars in weeks) because it delivers real agentic power: it acts across your apps, remembers context, and gets things done. But that power comes with trade-offs — massive codebase, complex setup, steep learning curve, ongoing security discussions (prompt injection, privileged access), and constant updates that can overwhelm regular users.

Zuckerman takes the opposite path:

• Ultra-minimal start — only the essentials, zero bloat
• Full self-edit power — the agent can modify its own configuration, tools, prompts, personalities, and even core logic in plain text files
• Instant evolution — changes hot-reload immediately (no rebuilds, restarts, or dev friction)
• Collaborative growth — agents share useful edits/discoveries so the whole network levels up together

You get an approachable, customizable agent that literally grows by rewriting itself — powerful without the usual headaches.