February 13, 2026
Claws out in the comments
IronClaw: a Rust-based clawd that runs tools in isolated WASM sandboxes
Privacy pitbull or hype puppy? Commenters bark back
TLDR: IronClaw pitches a privacy-first AI assistant that runs add‑ons in locked-down “mini rooms” on your own computer. Commenters split between applauding real defenses against trick prompts and mocking the security vibes, with one user claiming an AI pioneer is involved—making the privacy stakes and the hype impossible to ignore.
IronClaw storms in promising an AI assistant that works for you, not Big Cloud. It’s open-source and says your data never leaves your machine, locking every add‑on into tiny “safe rooms” using WebAssembly (WASM), which is basically a mini sandbox that limits what tools can do. It encrypts everything, blocks unknown websites, watches for secrets slipping out, and claims defense against “prompt injection” (those trick messages that make AIs misbehave). It even boasts auto‑building new tools on the fly. The GitHub is buzzing.
But the real action? The comments. One camp cheers the security‑first stance: finally an assistant that doesn’t phone home. A curious pro asks how those permissions actually hold up without breaking the sandbox—real questions, not just claps. Then the spice: one user claims a co‑author of the famous “Attention is All You Need” paper (the Transformer blueprint behind modern AI) is involved, turning the hype meter up to 11. Skeptics roll in with eye‑rolls and memes: “vibe coded eh,” says one, poking at the architecture doc; another jokes the dev just told the AI to “make it secure.” It’s a showdown of privacy purists vs vibe police, with techies nitpicking capabilities and cynics sniffing marketing gloss. IronClaw may be sandboxing tools, but the comment section is the real cage match.
Key Points
- •IronClaw is an open-source, Rust-based AI assistant prioritizing local data control and transparency.
- •Untrusted tools run in isolated WASM sandboxes with capability-based permissions and endpoint allowlisting.
- •Security includes credential injection at the host boundary, leak detection, rate/resource limits, and prompt injection defenses.
- •The system supports multi-channel operation, dynamic WASM tool building, MCP integration, and plugin-based extensibility.
- •Installation requires Rust, PostgreSQL with pgvector, and NEAR AI authentication, with a setup wizard managing configuration and encryption.