Minimax continues to aggressively develop "Lobster Meat"

As the “lobster farming” craze sweeps through the entire AI community, Minimax has seized the opportunity to launch the “zero-threshold” revolution for AI agents.

On February 26th, Minimax launched MaxClaw, a cloud-based AI assistant built on OpenClaw (Lobster).

This new tool, integrated directly into the Minimax Agent web platform, highlights three core selling points: zero deployment (click-to-use), no additional API fees, and 24/7 cloud residency. Users only need a basic Minimax Agent subscription to experience it.

In fact, Minimax has long been working on lowering the barriers to using AI agents. Previously, the Minimax Agent desktop client supported one-click local deployment, allowing many users tired of complicated environment setups to enjoy the benefits.

This time, integrating MaxClaw cloud hosting into the web platform further reduces the computing power and hardware barriers. Minimax aims to leverage the “deployment dividends” of OpenClaw.

Before MaxClaw, owning a truly personal OpenClaw lobster was not as simple as many imagine.

For most ordinary users attracted by OpenClaw’s impressive demo videos, although the official scripts support one-click deployment, the setup process involves troubleshooting various installation errors. Even after successful deployment, the challenges only increase. Users are forced to act as “cyber operations,” manually configuring interfaces and managing tokens—far from a truly automated experience.

More daunting than technical barriers is the “bill of costs” hanging over every OpenClaw user.

While the OpenClaw framework itself is free, the “brain” that drives it requires users to input API keys from major model providers.

When an active agent is deployed in a group chat, constantly processing context and summarizing long conversations 24/7, the backend billing based on tokens can explode exponentially.

Many have experienced the pain of connecting to Claude or GPT-4 for an optimal experience, only to wake up to find their API account balance wiped out after the agent flooded the chat with responses. The fear of unknown bills makes users cautious, reducing their willingness to explore AI deeply.

To address these pain points, Minimax offers a breakthrough solution—“You just use it, I’ll handle the rest.”

Relying on Minimax’s cloud infrastructure and its flagship 10-billion-parameter model M2.5, MaxClaw packages the open-source OpenClaw framework—originally requiring tech-savviness—into a “foolproof” cloud hosting service.

Zero deployment and 24/7 standby are its primary advantages. Users don’t need coding skills or server purchases—just a click on the web platform, and a dedicated cloud container starts up. This 24/7 cloud deployment means that even if you turn off your computer or disconnect the internet, the AI assistant remains active across social platforms and workflows.

More importantly, it eliminates billing anxiety.

MaxClaw links API consumption directly to the basic subscription. Users no longer need to apply for API keys or worry daily about token usage. By converting uncontrollable “pay-as-you-go” costs into predictable, fixed subscription fees, it provides peace of mind.

Minimax’s ambition is gradually emerging. Seeing the explosive popularity of OpenClaw, but also recognizing its difficulty in quickly penetrating most ordinary users’ pain points, Minimax has taken the initiative to bind with OpenClaw, promoting the zero-deployment concept to prepare for capturing market mindshare. This is a strategic move in Minimax’s AI commercialization and ecosystem development.

In today’s increasingly homogenized large model competition, developer ecosystems are key. The OpenClaw community has accumulated a wealth of excellent plugins and cross-platform adaptation solutions. Minimax’s MaxClaw effectively absorbs this community wisdom without bloodshed.

It doesn’t need to painstakingly develop integration code for each platform—just compatible with OpenClaw, and it instantly opens the highway to countless application scenarios worldwide. This “standing on the shoulders of giants” approach greatly accelerates the deployment of Minimax’s model capabilities.

Furthermore, it validates the commercial closed-loop of large models.

Previously, users’ willingness to pay for large models was limited to single web chat scenarios. With MaxClaw, Minimax delivers a mature “digital workforce.” When AI can truly integrate into high-value automation workflows, users’ willingness and stickiness to subscribe to Minimax will experience a qualitative leap.

Finally, this strategic move generates high-frequency real interaction data for Minimax’s underlying models.

Feedback from real-world OpenClaw applications will fuel the continuous evolution of Minimax’s core capabilities, creating a data flywheel that other vendors relying solely on web chat interfaces cannot match.

The emergence of MaxClaw may mark the beginning of transforming agents from “developer toys” into “mass-market products.”

In today’s agent chaos, whoever can quickly turn model capabilities into zero-threshold productivity will seize the next era’s entry point. Minimax is already leading the pack.

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