HVTech Meetup — Kingston | Build Your Own AI Agent with OpenClaw

It is a great timing to explore this trending topic — OpenClaw is hot right now (100K+ GitHub stars in its first week, January 2026).

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🦞 What if your AI assistant could actually do things while you sleep — check your inbox, monitor deadlines, automate your workflows — and you owned every bit of it?
That's OpenClaw. It's an open-source personal AI agent you run on your own machine, connected to the messaging apps you already use (WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord — pick your favorite). No subscriptions, no vendor lock-in, no data leaving your control. You bring an API key; OpenClaw brings the agent loop. https://ollama.com/blog/openclaw
At this month's meetup, we're not just demoing it — we're building with it.

• Speakers confirmed: Tyler Bea and Charlie Amadeus

• Lightning talk by Alex Davis presenting his new book coming out in September, "Kobuk the Destroyer: And Other Tales from the Wild, Unseen World of Test Engineering".

Here's how the evening goes: We'll walk through what OpenClaw is and how it works, then the community pitches a couple of ideas for what to actually build. We pick the most interesting ones and get to work — together, in the room, shipping real prototypes before the night is over.
No experience required to show up. If you can install a tool and follow a tutorial, you're ready. If you've already been playing with agents, bring your ideas — we want your brains at the table.
What you'll walk away with:

• A working understanding of how AI agents actually work under the hood
• A prototype you helped build (or watched get built in real time)
• Connections to other builders in the Hudson Valley who are figuring this out alongside you

Bring: Your laptop. An API key if you have one (OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google all work — we'll help if you don't have one yet).
📅 Wednesday, May 13 📍 Kingston Library, NY 🕖 6-7:30 PM 🎟️ Free — just RSVP here
Part of the monthly HVTech / GDG community meetup series. All skill levels welcome.
Want more?
Join HVTechFest Slack
Join our GDG Hudson chapter here
check out OpenHub's ecosystem