I Put an AI Agent
on a Phone
Here's how you can too.
Thomas Jansen
Press SPACE or > to advance
Show of Hands
Who has an old phone
in a drawer?
📱
What if that phone could run a fully autonomous AI agent?
No root. No custom ROM.
Just an app and some scripts.
The Idea
A Chain of Obvious Facts
So technically... right?
Famous last words.
Day One
Typing on a Phone Keyboard
Autocorrect turned npm into "nap." Honestly, I should have been napping instead.
The Wall
OpenClaw vs /tmp
Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/tmp/openclaw'
Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/tmp/openclaw'
Error: EACCES: permission denied, mkdir '/tmp/openclaw'
# Hardcoded in ~15 files. Every. Single. One.
# Manual sed on a touch keyboard...
$ find . -name '*.js' | xargs sed -i 's|/tmp/openclaw|...'
# ...on a 5-inch screen...squinting...
# ...missed one file. 45 min debugging.
Termux can't write to /tmp. I had to patch every reference. On the phone.
And Then...
localhost:18789
The dashboard loaded. In a coffee shop. I pumped my fist.
People looked at me. I did not care.
But that afternoon? Nobody should ever have to repeat it.
It was painful. Error-prone. One missed file = 45 minutes of confusion.
Improvement #1
SSH Changes Everything
listening...
port 8022
$ openclaw
gateway...
Real keyboard. Real terminal. Copy-paste that works. Multiple windows.
You can actually read the error messages.
Fun Fact
Compiling C++ on a Phone
15-30 min compile time
When you compile llama.cpp on a phone, it gets warm.
Like, genuinely warm. You are holding a tiny space heater that is also building a neural network.
It's kind of beautiful.
But Still...
A 20-Step Checklist
- ! Install 12 Termux packages
- ! Configure TMPDIR, TMP, TEMP
- ! Node-GYP workaround
- ! npm install openclaw
- ! Find and patch ~15 files
- ! Create service definition
- ! Set up runit directories
- ! Configure bashrc exports
Get one wrong and something downstream breaks in a confusing way.
Miss the GYP workaround?
Good luck with that error.
Forget one env var?
Permission denied.
Run setup twice?
PATH duplicated six times.
Improvement #2
I Sat Down with Claude
"Here's everything I do manually.
Make it a script.
Make it idempotent.
Make it detect Termux.
Make it patch every file automatically.
Make it print clear instructions at the end."
# What Claude caught that I missed:
> bashrc block needs markers
> so re-running won't add duplicate lines
> otherwise PATH gets same dir 6x
We went back and forth. I'd test on the phone, find an edge case, come back. One evening.
My Favorite Part
doctor_claw.sh
OpenClaw Doctor
==============
PASS PREFIX is set
PASS node is available
PASS openclaw in PATH
PASS No unpatched /tmp/openclaw references
PASS $PREFIX/tmp/openclaw is writable
PASS tmux available
PASS Gateway UI reachable at :18789
Summary: 7 pass, 0 warn, 0 fail
Every check has a remediation. Something fails? It tells you exactly how to fix it.
Today
2 Minutes of Typing
$ cd ~/phoneclaw-setup && ./setup_claw.sh
>>> OpenClaw Android v2 Setup
[1/6] Installing dependencies...
# go make coffee. seriously.
Think About It
What's in That Phone?
A self-contained, portable, always-connected computer.
And it costs nothing. You already own it.
Go Put an AI on Your Phone
A few weeks ago: hunched over a phone, cursing at autocorrect, patching JS files with my thumbs.
Today: one script and a cup of coffee.
That's the power of taking something painful, understanding it deeply, and making it disappear behind a single command.
It's easier than you think.
THANK YOU
