The Verified History of OpenClaw: Warelay to OpenClaw

The official Jan. 29, 2026 announcement tells the short version: Clawd → Moltbot → OpenClaw. The full repository history is a little messier and a lot more interesting. Before the final name settled, the project also passed through Warelay, Clawdis, and Clawdbot.

That matters because a lot of the old “history” floating around online compresses the sequence, skips intermediate names, or treats launch-day lore as if it were the whole record. The timeline below is checked against the project’s own blog, docs, and Git history.

Verified naming timeline

What the official announcement said

Peter’s Jan. 29 post is still the best public summary of the final transition. It says the project came from Clawd and Moltbot, and that the new name is OpenClaw. It also says the project had already crossed 100,000 GitHub stars and pulled 2 million visitors in a single week.

That star claim was true in the announcement’s moment, but it should be read as a dated launch metric, not a permanent property of the project. The current repository star count is much higher now, which is why time-bounding the number matters.

What the repo history adds

The Git history fills in the gaps the announcement skips:

• Warelay is the earliest project name verified in the repository history.
• Clawd appears the next day in prompt and identity-related commits.
• Clawdis is not just lore; it shows up in a formal rebrand commit on Dec. 3.
• Clawdbot was the January 2026 bridge name before Moltbot.
• Moltbot appears on Jan. 27, and the repo’s first OpenClaw commit lands Jan. 30.

So the cleaned-up history is not just “Clawd → Moltbot → OpenClaw.” It is:

Warelay → Clawd → Clawdis → Clawdbot → Moltbot → OpenClaw

Common timeline mistakes

Several recurring claims about the naming history need tightening:

• “The first commit already carried Warelay” — not quite. The repo opened with an Initial commit; the Warelay name appears in the next commit.
• “Clawdbot lasted over a month” — the Git history I checked shows Clawdbot starting on Jan. 4 and being replaced by Moltbot on Jan. 27.
• “100K stars” as a timeless fact — it is better framed as the number Peter cited in the Jan. 29 announcement.
• Any X/Twitter shoutout or anecdote without a primary URL — treat it as unverified unless the original post can be cited directly.

Bottom line

The final name landed quickly, but the path to it was iterative:

1. a weekend WhatsApp relay,
2. Warelay,
3. Clawd,
4. Clawdis,
5. Clawdbot,
6. Moltbot,
7. and finally OpenClaw.

If you want the shortest accurate version, use the official post. If you want the full verified timeline, use the repo history too.