🤖 OpenClaw Dual-Agent

The OpenClaw Dual-Agent Setup is a specialized deployment pattern for users who want to maximize AI utility while minimizing operational costs. By running a "Paid Agent" (e.g., Anthropic Claude Sonnet) alongside a "Free/Cheap Agent" (e.g., OpenRouter-powered models), you can delegate high-reason_reasoning tasks to premium models and routine,-low-cost tasks to lightweight models—all managed through separate, dedicated Telegram interfaces.

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🏗️ Architecture: Parallel Agent Isolation

This architecture relies on strict Agent Isolation. Unlike standard single-agent setups, each agent in a dual-agent configuration operates within its own siloed environment.

Component	Premium Agent (Anth_Agent)	Economy Agent (Free_Agent)
Provider	Anthropic (Claude 3.5/4)	OpenRouter (Llama, Mistral, etc.)
Directory	~/.openclaw/agents/premium-agent/	~/.openclaw/agents/free-agent/
Auth Method	openclaw onboard (Global)	auth-profiles.json (Local to Agent)
Interface
Telegram Account ID	tg_premium_01	tg_free_01
Primary Task	Complex Reasoning, Coding, Strategy	Tasks, Lookups, Monitoring, Summarization

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🚀 Deployment Workflow

1. Telegram Bot Provisioning

You must create two distinct bots via @BotFather to ensure that messages are routed to the correct agent.

Extract your Chat ID: Use the following command to retrieve the unique numeric ID for your new bot:

curl https://api.telegram.org/bot<YOUR_BOT_TOKEN>/getUpdates | jq '.result[0].message.chat.id'

2. Authentication & Credential Management

Security Warning: Never pass API keys via the command line as they persist in your shell history. Use the interactive onboarding or secure environment files.

• Premium Agent: Run the interactive onboarder:

  openclaw onboard --anthropic-api-key "$ANTHROPIC_API_KEY"

• Economy Agent: Navigate to the specific agent directory and create a local auth-profiles.json:

  cd ~/.openclaw/agents/free-agent/agent
  echo '{"openrouter": "your_openrouter_key"}' > auth-profiles.json
  chmod 600 auth-profiles.json

3. Global Configuration (openclaw.json)

The openclaw.json file acts as the "Router." You must define both agents and their respective Telegram bindings.

{
    "agents": {
        "list": [
            {
                "agentDir": "~/.openclaw/agents/main/agent",
                "heartbeat": {
                    "every": "55m",
                    "model": "anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5-20251001"
                },
                "id": "main",
                "model": {
                    "primary": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6"
                },
                "name": "main",
                "subagents": {
                    "model": "anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5-20251001"
                },
                "tools": {
                    "alsoAllow": [
                        "ollama_web_fetch",
                        "ollama_web_search"
                    ]
                },
                "workspace": "~/.openclaw/workspace"
            },
            {
                "agentDir": "~/.openclaw/agents/free-agent/agent",
                "heartbeat": {
                    "every": "1h",
                    "model": "openrouter/google/gemini-flash-1.5"
                },
                "id": "free-agent",
                "model": {
                    "primary": "openrouter/google/gemini-flash-1.5",
                    "fallbacks": [
                        "openrouter/free"
                    ]
                },
                "name": "Free",
                "workspace": "~/.openclaw/workspace-free-agent"
            }
        ]
    },
    "auth": {
        "profiles": {
        "anthropic": {
            "mode": "api_key",
            "provider": "anthropic"
        },
        "anthropic:default": {
            "mode": "api_key",
            "provider": "anthropic"
        },
        "openrouter": {
            "mode": "api_key",
            "provider": "openrouter"
        }
        }
    },
    "bindings": [
        {
            "agentId": "main",
            "match": {
                "accountId": "default",
                "channel": "telegram"
            }
        },
        {
            "agentId": "free-agent",
            "match": {
                "accountId": "telegram2",
                "channel": "telegram"
            }
        }
    ],
    "channels": {
        "telegram": {
            "accounts": {
                "default": {
                    "allowFrom": [
                        "TOKEN"
                    ],
                    "botToken": "TOKEN",
                    "dmPolicy": "pairing",
                    "groupPolicy": "allowlist"
                    },
                    "telegram2": {
                    "allowFrom": [
                        "TOKEN"
                    ],
                    "botToken": "TOKEN",
                    "dmPolicy": "pairing",
                    "enabled": true,
                    "groupPolicy": "allowlist",
                    "groups": {
                        "*": {
                        "requireMention": true
                        }
                    }
                }
            },
            "dmPolicy": "pairing",
            "enabled": true,
            "groupPolicy": "allowlist",
            "groups": {
                "*": {
                "requireMention": true
                }
            },
            "streaming": {
                "mode": "partial"
            }
        }
    }
}

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🛠️ Operational Commands

Verification & Health Checks

Before assuming your dual-agent setup is functional, run the Doctor and Cleanup protocols to ensure the session stores are synchronized.

# Check for configuration errors and path mismatches
openclaw doctor

# Sync session stores and repair missing paths
openclaw sessions cleanup \
  --store ~/.openclaw/agents/premium-agent/store \
  --enforce --fix-missing

# Apply all changes
openclaw restart

Security: Sanitizing Logs

When sharing logs or debugging, never expose your botToken or apiKey. Use jq to redact sensitive strings from your configuration file before sharing.

# Redact all Telegram Bot Tokens in the config
cat ~/.openclaw/open_claw.json | jq '.channels.telegram.accounts |= map_values(.botToken = "[REDACTED]")'

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💡 Best Practices

• The "Cost-Switch" Strategy: Use the Free Agent for all cron jobs, web_scrapes, and summarizations. Reserve the Premium Agent for code_reviews, architecture_design, and complex_debugging.
• Filesystem Permissions: Always chmod 600 on any file containing API keys or auth-profiles.json.
• Context Separation: Remember that each agent has its own agentDir. If you need the Free Agent to see a file, it must be accessible within its specific directory or shared via a workspace mount.

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Standardized by the OpenClaw Engineering Team.