Bob is an AI assistant that lives on your computer. He can fetch information, manage files, send emails, list things on eBay, control your smart home, and much more. You chat with him through a web dashboard in your browser, and optionally through Telegram on your phone.
You don't need to be a programmer to use Bob. Just follow the steps below.
Open-source AI agents like OpenClaw have gained massive popularity (166k+ GitHub stars), but they come with serious security risks — malicious marketplace skills, remote code execution vulnerabilities, and credential leaks. Anyone can publish a skill, and your agent blindly trusts it.
Bob takes a different approach:
- No open skill marketplace — all 170+ tools are vetted first-party code, not community-submitted plugins
- Credential protection — file access blocks
.env,.ssh/, and credential files; API keys never leave your machine - Owner-only access — only your Telegram ID can talk to Bob; dashboard requires an API token
- Sandboxed A2A — when other agents connect, they get restricted tools, separate context, rate limits, and cost tracking
- Your data stays local — conversations, contacts, expenses, and notes live in
memory/on your machine, never uploaded anywhere
All the power of an autonomous agent, without the security nightmares.
Before starting, you need two things installed on your computer:
Node.js is the engine that runs Bob.
How to open a terminal:
- Windows: Press
Win + R, typecmd, press Enter- Mac: Press
Cmd + Space, typeTerminal, press Enter
Windows setup
- Go to nodejs.org and click the big green button
- Run the installer (accept all defaults)
- Open a new Command Prompt and check it worked:
You should see
node --versionv22or higher. - Install pnpm:
npm install -g pnpm
Mac setup
Option A — Direct download (easiest):
- Go to nodejs.org and click the big green button
- Run the installer
- Open Terminal and check it worked:
node --version - Install pnpm:
npm install -g pnpm
Option B — Via Homebrew (if you have it):
brew install node
npm install -g pnpm
If you don't have Homebrew and want it:
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
Check both are installed:
node --version # should show v22 or higher
pnpm --version # should show a version number
That's it for prerequisites.
Bob needs an AI "brain" to think with. You have three options:
| Gemini | OpenAI | Anthropic | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Free / trying it out | Cheap + capable | Best quality |
| Cost | Free tier available | ~$0.15 per million tokens | ~$3 per million tokens |
| Get a key | aistudio.google.com | platform.openai.com | console.anthropic.com |
Our recommendation: Start with Gemini — it's free and works great for most tasks. You can always switch later.
- Go to aistudio.google.com/apikey
- Sign in with your Google account
- Click "Create API key"
- Copy the key (starts with
AIza...) — you'll paste it during setup
How to get an OpenAI key instead
- Go to platform.openai.com/api-keys
- Create an account and add a payment method (pay-as-you-go, very cheap)
- Click "Create new secret key"
- Copy the key (starts with
sk-...)
How to get an Anthropic key instead
- Go to console.anthropic.com
- Create an account and add a payment method
- Go to API Keys and click "Create Key"
- Copy the key (starts with
sk-ant-...)
Option A — If you have Git:
git clone https://github.com/ronedmeades/BobBot.git
cd BobBot
Option B — No Git? No problem:
- Go to github.com/ronedmeades/BobBot
- Click the green "Code" button, then "Download ZIP"
- Unzip it and open a terminal in the
BobBotfolder
pnpm install
This downloads everything Bob needs. Takes about 30 seconds.
pnpm setup
The wizard will:
- Ask you to pick a brain (Gemini / OpenAI / Anthropic)
- Ask for your API key
- Test that it works
- Ask your name
- Create the configuration file
pnpm shortcut
This creates a Bob icon on your desktop. Double-click it to start Bob and open the dashboard in your browser — one click, done.
You'll also be asked if you want Bob to start automatically when you log in to Windows. If you say yes, your browser bookmark to http://localhost:3000 will always work.
Prefer the terminal? You can skip the shortcut and just run
pnpm devinstead.
With the desktop shortcut: Double-click the Bob icon.
From the terminal:
pnpm dev
You should see:
Starting Bob...
Dashboard: http://localhost:3000
Bob is online. Provider: gemini, Model: gemini-2.0-flash
Chat with Bob at http://localhost:3000
Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser (or it opens automatically with the shortcut). Type a message in the chat box and hit Send.
Try: "Hey Bob, what can you do?"
Want to message Bob when you're away from your computer? Just ask him in the dashboard:
"Help me set up Telegram"
Bob will walk you through the whole process step by step.
Bob has 170+ tools across 35 skill modules. Here's what he can do out of the box:
Basics:
- Fetch web pages and APIs — research topics, check prices, read documentation
- Read and write files — on your computer, wherever you point him
- Run shell commands — install things, run scripts, automate tasks
- Remember things — persistent notes that survive restarts
Productivity:
- Calendar & events — schedule meetings, deadlines, recurring events with reminders
- Google Calendar — list/create/update/delete events in Google Calendar, view attendees, recurrence
- Reminders — "remind me in 2 hours", "tomorrow morning", snooze support
- Contacts — address book with search, tags, and relationships
- Quick capture — jot down ideas, links, todos, snippets — searchable later
- Expense tracking — log expenses, category breakdowns, CSV/JSON export
- Invoices — generate PDF invoices (pulls your info from the vault, client info from contacts)
- Fill forms — personal data vault with smart field matching
- PDF forms — parse and auto-fill PDF forms from your vault
Research & Content:
- Summarize documents — summarize files or URLs (brief, detailed, or bullet points)
- Translate text — translate between languages, detect language
- Weather — current conditions and forecasts for any location (free, no API key)
- Social media posts — generate platform-optimized content for LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X
- Monitor websites — watch for changes, track keywords on HN/Reddit
Marketplace & eBay:
- Marketplace engine — unified orders, messaging, and fulfillment across platforms
- eBay, Etsy, Poshmark, Depop — built-in adapters (more can be added as local skills)
- Get orders — view orders from any marketplace, filter by status
- Ship orders — mark as shipped with tracking (single or bulk)
- Buyer messaging — send/receive messages through marketplace platforms
- Process images — resize, crop, convert, watermark (needs
sharp) - Analyze images — describe photos, extract text, generate listings from poster photos
- List on eBay — create listings, upload photos, bulk price updates (needs eBay API keys)
- Batch poster workflow — scan a folder of posters, auto-generate eBay listings
- Standing rules — persistent monitoring (alert on unshipped orders, new orders, unread messages, daily sales summary, weekly insights digest)
- Escalation engine — multi-channel notification chains (Telegram → SMS → phone call) with auto-acknowledge
Communication:
- Voice messages — send Bob a voice note on Telegram, get text + voice reply back (Whisper STT + edge-tts TTS)
- Phone calls — Bob can call your phone and speak a message aloud (needs Twilio)
- SMS — send text messages to your phone (needs Twilio)
- Send email — via Gmail (needs Gmail API keys)
- Import Google Contacts — pull contacts from Google into Bob's address book
Smart Home:
- Home Assistant — control lights, switches, climate, scenes, automations (15 tools)
- Device monitoring — persistent watches with alerts (e.g. "tell me when the front door opens")
- Real-time state — WebSocket connection for instant state change awareness, REST API fallback
System:
- File organizer — scan folders, organize by type or date, find duplicates
- Browser automation — navigate pages, click, type, screenshot (needs
playwright) - Backups — auto-backup to an external drive on a schedule
- Background tasks — hand Bob a task and he works on it autonomously
- Environment manager — safely set API keys and config vars through chat (allowlisted keys only)
- MCP servers — connect to Model Context Protocol servers for plug-and-play tool expansion
- Analytics — search conversation history, tool usage stats, event log (SQLite-powered)
Agent-to-Agent (A2A):
- Bob-to-Bob communication — your Bob can discover and talk to other Bobs using the open A2A protocol
- Trust tiers — control who can access what (blocked / manual approval / trusted / budget-capped)
- Security — sandboxed execution, per-peer tokens, rate limits, cost tracking, audit log
Bob is extensible — new skills can be added as modules. Ask Bob what he can do and he'll tell you.
Want Bob to be able to call or text your real phone? You'll need a Twilio account.
- Go to twilio.com and sign up (free trial gives you ~$15 credit)
- Verify your email and phone number
- In the Twilio Console, go to Phone Numbers → Buy a number
- Pick any number with Voice and SMS capabilities (~$1.15/month)
- Note down the phone number (e.g.
+15551234567)
- From the Twilio Console dashboard, copy your Account SID (starts with
AC) - Copy your Auth Token (click "Show" to reveal it)
Open your .env file and add these lines:
TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID=ACxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN=your_auth_token_here
TWILIO_PHONE_NUMBER=+15551234567
OWNER_PHONE_NUMBER=+15559876543
Replace OWNER_PHONE_NUMBER with your real phone number (the one you want Bob to call/text).
On the free trial, Twilio can only call/text verified numbers:
- In the Twilio Console, go to Phone Numbers → Verified Caller IDs
- Click Add a new Caller ID and verify your personal phone number
This restriction is removed once you upgrade your Twilio account.
pnpm dev
Then in the dashboard, try:
- "Call me and say hello"
- "Text me a quick test message"
Bob can understand voice notes and reply with voice. You need an OpenAI API key for the speech-to-text part (text-to-speech is free).
- You send a voice note on Telegram
- Bob transcribes it using OpenAI Whisper ($0.006/min — that's less than a penny per minute)
- Bob processes your request just like a text message
- Bob replies with text AND voice — the voice reply is free (uses Microsoft Edge TTS)
Add to your .env file:
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-xxxxx
Already using OpenAI as your LLM provider? Bob reuses
LLM_API_KEYautomatically — no extra key needed.
Optionally customize Bob's voice:
BOB_VOICE=en-GB-RyanNeural
The default is a British male voice. See Microsoft's voice list for alternatives.
Bob can control your smart home devices through Home Assistant.
- In Home Assistant, go to your Profile (click your name, bottom-left)
- Scroll down to Long-Lived Access Tokens
- Click Create Token, give it a name (e.g. "Bob"), and copy it
HA_URL=http://192.168.1.100:8123
HA_TOKEN=your_long_lived_access_token_here
Replace the URL with your Home Assistant's address.
pnpm dev
Then try:
- "What devices do I have?"
- "Turn off the living room lights"
- "What's the temperature in the bedroom?"
- "Watch the front door and tell me when it opens"
Join the Bob community to share tips, get help, and show off what your Bob can do:
- Discord: Join the Bob community
- GitHub Issues: Report bugs or request features
- GitHub Discussions: Ask questions and share ideas
"node is not recognized" or "node: command not found" Node.js isn't installed. Go to nodejs.org and install it, then restart your terminal.
"pnpm is not recognized"
Run npm install -g pnpm first, then restart your terminal.
"No API key for provider"
You need to run pnpm setup first, or manually create a .env file. See the setup steps above.
"API key invalid" or "authentication error" Double-check that you copied the full API key with no extra spaces. Try generating a new one.
Port 3000 already in use
Something else is using that port. Either close it, or add DASHBOARD_PORT=3001 to your .env file.
Bob seems slow or unresponsive Some AI providers have rate limits, especially on free tiers. Wait a moment and try again.
See CLAUDE.md for the full technical architecture, API docs, and how to add new skills.
MIT
