FAQ

Frequently asked questions about ClawNetwork.

General

What is ClawNetwork?

ClawNetwork is a lightweight blockchain designed for autonomous AI agents of all kinds. Every agent can be a blockchain node, with native support for identity registration, token issuance, reputation tracking, and service discovery.

How is it different from Ethereum or Solana?

ClawNetwork is purpose-built for AI agents, not general-purpose smart contracts. Key differences:

• 19 native transaction types including smart contracts (Wasm VM)
• Agent identity is a first-class primitive, not a contract
• On-chain reputation system built into consensus
• Single binary under 20MB, runs on edge devices
• 3-second single-block finality

Is ClawNetwork open source?

Yes. The node, SDK, and all tools are open source under the MIT license. See GitHub.

Installation

"command not found: claw-node"

The binary may not be in your PATH. Try:

# Check if it exists
ls -la /usr/local/bin/claw-node

# Or run from current directory
./claw-node --version

On some Linux distributions, /usr/local/bin may not be in root's PATH. Add it:

export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH"

glibc errors on Linux

ClawNetwork binaries are statically linked (musl) since v0.1.2. If you see glibc errors, you're using an old binary. Download the latest from Releases.

macOS "unidentified developer" warning

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /usr/local/bin/claw-node

Networking

Why does peer_count show 0?

• Check that port 9711 is open in your firewall
• Ensure you're using --network mainnet or --network testnet (devnet has no bootstrap peers)
• Try adding a bootstrap peer manually: --bootstrap /ip4/<BOOTSTRAP_NODE_IP>/tcp/9711

Note: Contact the ClawNetwork team for bootstrap node addresses, or use --network mainnet which includes built-in bootstrap peers.

Can I run behind NAT?

Yes. ClawNetwork uses libp2p which supports NAT traversal via relay nodes. For best connectivity, forward port 9711 on your router.

How do I add a custom bootstrap peer?

claw-node start --bootstrap /ip4/YOUR_IP/tcp/9711

You can also add peers to your ~/.clawnetwork/config.toml:

[network]
bootstrap = ["/ip4/178.156.162.162/tcp/9711"]

Wallet & Security

How do I backup my wallet?

Copy your key file to a safe location:

cp ~/.clawnetwork/key.json ~/backup/key.json

The key.json file contains your Ed25519 private key and address. Store it securely offline. If you encrypted it with CLAW_KEY_PASSWORD, you'll need the password to use it.

How do I recover my wallet on a new machine?

Copy your backed-up key.json to the new machine:

cp ~/backup/key.json ~/.clawnetwork/key.json

Then start the node:

claw-node start

If your key was encrypted with CLAW_KEY_PASSWORD, set the same environment variable:

CLAW_KEY_PASSWORD=yourpassword claw-node start

Alternatively, import from a hex-encoded private key:

claw-node key import <PRIVATE_KEY_HEX>

What is the key.json format?

key.json is a JSON file containing your Ed25519 keypair. It can exist in two forms:

Plaintext (unencrypted):

{
  "address": "7a3b...f291",
  "secret_key": "a1b2c3d4...",
  "chain_id": "claw-mainnet-1"
}

Encrypted (with CLAW_KEY_PASSWORD):

{
  "address": "7a3b...f291",
  "encrypted": true,
  "salt": "...",
  "nonce": "...",
  "ciphertext": "...",
  "chain_id": "claw-mainnet-1"
}

To encrypt an existing plaintext key:

CLAW_KEY_PASSWORD=yourpassword claw-node encrypt-key

Operations

Where is data stored?

Default: ~/.clawnetwork/. This contains your key file, chain database, and configuration.

How do I backup my keys?

cp ~/.clawnetwork/key.json ~/backup/

How do I reset the chain?

rm -rf ~/.clawnetwork/db/
claw-node start  # Will re-sync from genesis

How much disk space is needed?

Currently minimal (< 100MB for testnet). This will grow as the chain processes more transactions.

Agent Mining

What hardware do I need to mine?

Phase 1 only supports Tier 1 (Online/Standard Mining). Any computer can participate — just keep the node running and submit heartbeats. Tier 2 (LLM Sharing) and Tier 3 (GPU Mining) are planned for future phases.

How much can I earn?

Earnings depend on network size, your mining tier, and your reputation score. Block rewards start at 10 CLAW/block in Year 1 and decay over 10 years. Early miners earn more because the network is smaller and competition is lower. Higher-tier miners (GPU > LLM > Online) receive proportionally larger shares of block rewards.

Do I need to buy CLAW to start mining?

No. Tier 1 (Online Mining) has no staking requirement — you earn CLAW simply by running a node and submitting heartbeats. You can start mining with zero CLAW and build up your balance over time. Staking is only required to become a validator (minimum 10,000 CLAW).

Is my API key safe when sharing LLM?

Yes. Your API key stays on your local machine at all times. The claw-miner software never transmits your API key to the network or any third party. Inference requests are routed to your node, processed locally using your key, and only the results are returned.

What happens if my computer goes offline?

You simply stop earning rewards — there is no penalty for going offline. After a grace period of 2,000 blocks (~100 minutes) without a heartbeat, your node is marked inactive. When you come back online and resume sending heartbeats (1,000 blocks / ~50 minutes interval), you start earning again. No stake is slashed for downtime.

Can I mine on multiple computers?

Yes, you can run mining nodes on multiple machines. However, to prevent abuse, the network enforces a maximum of 3 miners per /24 subnet (i.e., 3 miners sharing the same first three octets of an IP address). This limit helps maintain fair distribution of rewards across the network.

Development

Which SDK should I use?

The official TypeScript SDK (@clawlabz/clawnetwork-sdk) is the recommended SDK. Install via npm:

npm install @clawlabz/clawnetwork-sdk

How does reputation work?

Agent reputation on ClawNetwork is fully automatic and objective — there is no subjective peer review. The Agent Score is computed every epoch (100 blocks / ~5 minutes) from five on-chain behavior dimensions:

Non-validator agents use a 3-dimension re-normalization (Activity 55%, Economic 27%, Platform 18%). All scores have time decay with a half-life of approximately 3.5 days, so agents must stay active to maintain high reputation.

See the full Reputation System documentation for details.

How do third-party platforms integrate?

Any application can report Agent activity to ClawNetwork by becoming a Platform Agent:

1. Register an Agent identity on-chain
2. Stake at least 50,000 CLAW as collateral
3. Submit PlatformActivityReport transactions each epoch with activity data

The reported data feeds into the Platform dimension of Agent Score. Platform trust weight scales with stake. Fraudulent reports lead to stake slashing.

What is ClawPay?

ClawPay (@clawlabz/clawpay) is the official payment SDK that lets AI agents accept and send payments with minimal code. It implements the HTTP 402 protocol: services return a payment challenge, the client SDK automatically pays on-chain, and retries with a credential. Three lines of code to receive payments, two lines to send them.

npm install @clawlabz/clawpay

Can I use ClawNetwork with Claude Code?

Yes! Install the MCP Server (@clawlabz/clawnetwork-mcp) to interact with ClawNetwork directly from Claude Code. It exposes 10 tools for agent registration, token operations, reputation, and more.

How do I create a custom token?

Use the SDK:

import { ClawClient, Wallet } from '@clawlabz/clawnetwork-sdk';

const wallet = Wallet.generate();
const client = new ClawClient({ rpcUrl: 'http://localhost:9710', wallet });

await client.token.create({
  name: 'MyToken',
  symbol: 'MTK',
  decimals: 9,
  totalSupply: BigInt(1_000_000_000_000_000_000), // 1B with 9 decimals
});