Show HN: Relay – The open-source Claude Cowork for OpenClaw

Summary

What Is Relay · Why Relay · Features · Use Cases · Quickstart · Development The open-source Claude Cowork for OpenClaw. If OpenClaw is the runtime, Relay is your local command center. Relay is an Electron desktop app that gives you the same experience as Claude Cowork — autonomous task execution, scheduling, sub-agents, connectors — but on your infrastructure, with your model, and with real governance. Claude Cowork is excellent. But companies are looking for alternatives because of three structural limits: Data sovereignty — Cowork runs files through a sandboxed VM on Anthropic's servers. Regulated industries can't send sensitive data there. Model lock-in — Cowork only works with Claude. Companies want to route tasks to GPT-4, Llama, Gemini, or custom endpoints. Compliance gaps — Anthropic themselves recommend against using Cowork for regulated workflows because activities aren't yet captured in standard audit logs or compliance APIs. Relay solves all three. Same workflow pattern — different trust model. ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ You (Operator) │ │ give goals · review deliverables · approve risky actions │ └─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ ┌───────────────▼───────────────┐ │ Relay (Desktop App) │ │ ── Control Plane ── │ │ │ │ Dispatch & Chat │ You see everything. │ • Give a task in natural lang │ You approve what matters. │ • Agent plans steps for you │ You stay in control. │ • Review polished deliverable │ │ │ │ Governance │ │ • Approval gates (file ops, │ │ shell commands, data sends) │ │ • Exportable audit trail │ │ • Cost tracking per task │ │ │ │ Configure │ │ • Schedule recurring tasks │─ ─ ┐ Relay defines. │ • Browse & edit agent memory │ │ OpenClaw executes. │ • Manage connectors (Slack, │ │ │ Notion, GitHub, Jira, etc.) │ │ │ • Set project working folder │ │ └───────────────┬───────────────┘ │ │ │ WebSocket / API │ │ │ ┌───────────────▼───────────────┐ │ │ OpenC...