freeCodeCamp x Encode | AI - Workshop: Breaking Down OpenClaw (From Minimal Mode to Advanced Mode w/ Skills)

Beginners Hands-On Workshop: Breaking Down OpenClaw: From Minimal Installation Mode to Full-Featured Installation Mode w/ Your Own Custom Skills & More... ​​Hello code campers! Since OpenClaw, both as a project and as a tech movement, is growing, and since there is so much happening in this space, we've decided to dedicate the next FreeCodeCamp | AI almost entirely to OpenClaw, especially following the success of the previous event. This is quite relevant since AI is moving soooo fast nowadays, making everyone scratch their heads confused while making some feel overwhelmed or have a small sensation of AI news fatigue. We will try to break down what this whole project is all about and whether or not all the hyperbolic statements about what this system can do are true. The aim for this workshop is to go through the setup process (it will hopefully take less time compared to last time because the maintainers of this project are constantly improving things), focusing on how to install the agent not only locally (virtualised, of course) but also in the cloud. We will probably look at AWS and GCP with the caveat: if you have your own server, which we encourage you to look into, the same will apply. This will be our 6th event in our series of local-first, open-source AI events; therefore, we will try to focus on building a setup that doesn't depend on Big Tech but on smaller open-source tech instead. People who already have OpenClaw installed will be guided to customise it to use local LLMs or at least privacy-first cloud-based AI systems (that is because an individual's private ideas and personal project are their personal moat). At the end, we will be looking at what SKILLS are in the context of agents, how to build them, and if we have time, we will look at use cases for OpenClaw or, alternatively, look at emerging open-source AI agent toolkits like Pi. This workshop is open to all levels, from beginners to experts. Bring your laptop (make sure it's fully charged as local LLMs tend to be power-hungry), and don't forget to bring your coding gear (hoodie). This workshop will be accompanied by a guest speaker. This speaker (Tomas) will present his project and hopefully demonstrate it by letting campers take part in the demonstration (the project of course follows the theme of the event, as in, agentic interactions (kind of like MoltBook but better I would say). Tomáš H: Developer. Designer. DJ. Building Smith, infrastructure for orchestrating multiple AI workers in parallel, exploring how human intent scales through automated systems. At the UCL AI Festival, my project Pixel Societies simulated a hackathon with 100+ AI agents that formed teams and shipped working projects, winning Anthropic's Best Use of Claude Agent SDK prize. My background is in computer graphics, psychology and human-computer interaction. Come see how digital versions of us interact at the event. Here's the link to the hack: https://aienginehack.com/feb and also the link to the post about the hack: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7434296458746667008/ Prerequisite First and foremost, VERY IMPORTANT, a VM (Virtual Machine) system like Docker/UTM for MacOs or WSL for Windows. Lastly, a local install of Ollama / LMStudio (but if you don't have any of that, don't worry, come a bit early and we will help set you up). If you want to take a quick look at the slides from the previous events fell free to do so: https://andysign.github.io/ai-london-01/ (Ollama); https://andysign.github.io/ai-london-02/ (LangFlow, not really related but still) https://andysign.github.io/ai-london-03/ (private RAG w/ Anything LLM) https://andysign.github.io/ai-london-04/ (AI-native browsers) https://andysign.github.io/ai-london-05/ (OpenClaw basics) Agenda for the evening (Subject to change) 18:00 - 18:30 Arrival and networkingMingle with fellow developers over refreshments. 18:30 - 18:45 Introductions (What is Local-First?)Intro and a bit of audience engagement 18:45 - 19:40 Workshop ​Hands-on technical workshop (if you are non-technical it's OK, tag along). 19:55 - 20:30 Guest Speaker: Tomas H 20:30 - 21:00 Networking 21:00 - Closing remarks and follow-up END: Carry on the fun at a nearby pub which is right @ the corner. Event Venue We'd like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Encode Club. Encode Club has spent over five years fostering a global community of developers, researchers, and founders in Web3, AI, and emerging technologies. The Encode Hub brings everything together under one roof, providing a dedicated environment for collaboration and innovation through meetups, co-working, and in-person events.