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OpenClaw Monitoring on GitHub

Complete source code, installation guide, and configuration examples

What Is It?

Your AI agent just did something on a remote server. Do you know what? Right now, most people running agents are doing this: Send task → Wait → Get “Success” in Slack → Hope for the best. That’s not monitoring. That’s faith. VideoDB Monitoring turns your OpenClaw agent into an observable, auditable worker. Every run becomes a live stream, a replayable recording, and a searchable archive.
Think of it as: A dashcam for your AI agent. A black box recorder for browser automation. CCTV for computer-use agents. Ask “when did it open the spreadsheet?” and get the exact moment with a playable clip.

Why Teams Need It

See Everything

  • Live stream — watch your agent work in real-time
  • Replayable recordings — shareable URL, not a dead video file
  • Full session capture — screen and audio recorded continuously
  • Catch issues before they become incidents

How It Works

1

Screen Capture

A monitor daemon (monitor.ts) runs alongside your OpenClaw agent, continuously capturing the screen. Recordings stream directly to VideoDB.
2

On-Demand Indexing

Indexing is separate from recording — you only pay for it when needed. When triggered, VideoDB processes recordings with:
  • Visual indexing — scene descriptions, active apps, URLs, and error detection
  • Transcript — speech-to-text from system audio
  • Audio indexing — semantic indexing of audio content
3

Search & Summarize

Query agent history using natural language. Get timestamped results, auto-generated clips, and session summaries. The agent can even use its own recordings — “summarize what you did in the last 2 hours.”
4

Two Setup Options

Option 1: Install as an OpenClaw skill — the agent handles recording, indexing, and search automatically. Option 2: Use VideoDB’s indexing APIs directly for post-recording analysis, summaries, and search.

CLI Commands

The videodb.ts CLI tool provides these commands:
CommandWhat It Does
start-indexingStart all indexing (visual + audio + transcript)
stop-indexingStop all indexing
start-visual-indexStart visual scene indexing
stop-visual-indexStop visual scene indexing
start-audio-indexStart audio indexing
stop-audio-indexStop audio indexing
start-transcriptStart transcript extraction
stop-transcriptStop transcript extraction
searchNatural language search across indexed recordings
summaryGenerate an AI summary of agent activity
transcriptGet full transcript of audio content
streamGet a playable stream URL for a specific time range

Real-World Scenarios

An agent task failed overnight. Instead of digging through logs, search “when did the error first appear” and get a video clip of exactly what happened — the commands run, the error messages, and the state of the screen.
Need proof of what your AI agents did and when? OpenClaw Monitoring provides timestamped, searchable visual records that serve as a full audit trail of agent actions.
Catch agents going off-script or accessing unexpected domains. Webhook alerts notify you when something looks off, giving you video evidence of unexpected behavior.
Review agent workflows before pushing to production. Record test sessions, then search for edge cases, errors, or unexpected behaviors. Share specific clips with your team.
Your agent can use its own recordings: “Summarize what you did in the last 2 hours”, “Make a highlight video of today’s work and post it to YouTube”, or “Find the moment when you encountered the error.”

Tech Stack

TypeScript

Monitor daemon and CLI tooling (monitor.ts, videodb.ts)

Python + Flask

Backend server for session management and Cloudflare tunneling

VideoDB SDK

Media streaming, AI indexing, and semantic search

OpenClaw

Autonomous agent framework with skill system

Getting Started

Prerequisites
1

Install the Skill

Point your OpenClaw agent at the repo:
please install https://github.com/video-db/openclaw-monitoring skill and set it up
Or install manually:
git clone https://github.com/video-db/openclaw-monitoring.git
mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/videodb-monitoring
cp -r openclaw-monitoring/videodb-monitoring-skill/* ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/videodb-monitoring/
cd ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/videodb-monitoring
npm install
2

Set Your API Key

openclaw config set skills.entries.videodb-monitoring.env.VIDEODB_API_KEY 'sk-xxx'
Get your API key at console.videodb.io.
3

Start the Monitor

cd ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/videodb-monitoring
nohup npx tsx monitor.ts > ~/.videodb/logs/monitor.log 2>&1 & disown
openclaw gateway restart
4

Use It

Ask your agent:
  • “Do X on the browser and send me the recording”
  • “What did I do in the last hour?”
  • “Find when I opened the spreadsheet”
Cost Note: VideoDB ingestion is billed at $0.084 / hour of captured content. Indexing is on-demand — you only pay for it when you trigger it. See the Capture SDK overview for details.

Try Without Setup

Skip installation and try indexing against a hosted live OpenClaw session at matrix.videodb.io:
git clone https://github.com/video-db/openclaw-monitoring.git
cd openclaw-monitoring
echo "VIDEO_DB_API_KEY=your_api_key_here" > .env
uv run try_without_setup.py
This connects to the public agent’s live streams, starts indexing, and prints events to your terminal. Press Ctrl+C to stop and search the indexed content.

Privacy & Security

API Key Security — Keys stored locally via OpenClaw config, never transmitted except to VideoDB
On-Demand Indexing — AI processing runs only when you trigger it, keeping costs controlled
Visual Audit Trail — Complete recordings provide verifiable evidence of agent activity
Secure Tunneling — Cloudflare Tunnel for webhook delivery without exposing ports

Complete Setup Guide on GitHub

Full installation instructions, advanced setup, and troubleshooting