🦞 ClawdBot Goes Viral

Hey folks,

Anthropic just expanded Claude in Excel to Pro plan subscribers bringing AI directly into spreadsheets for debugging formulas, tracing errors, and updating assumptions across multi-tab workbooks without breaking dependencies. The integration runs on Sonnet 4.5 and provides cell-level citations when explaining calculations, traces #REF!, #VALUE!, and circular reference errors to their source, and can build financial models from scratch or populate existing templates while preserving formulas. For people drowning in spreadsheet debugging or building financial forecasting tools, Claude now handles the Excel layer natively.

Today in AI: 
→ Agents Move From Demos to Desktops
→ Claude Code Security Centre
→ How to Get Started with Clawdbot

Let's dive in..

🕵️ Agents Move From Demos to Desktops

What if you could point an AI at a folder and come back to find your files organized, data extracted to spreadsheets, and reports synthesized all without giving it step-by-step instructions?

That's the shift happening now. Two approaches just hit production, and they couldn't be more different.

Claude Cowork: The Easy Install

Cowork is an autonomous agent for file management on your laptop. Grant it directory access, describe what you need, and it works with files on your laptop independently (reading, editing, creating files while reporting progress).

The architecture:

• Sub-agent coordination for parallel tasks (spawns multiple Claude instances that work concurrently)

• VM isolation using Apple's Virtualization Framework (agents run separated from your host OS)

• Opus 4.5 default for better autonomous reasoning

Clawdbot: The open source explosion

Clawdbot hit 29,900+ GitHub stars in weeks. Austrian dev Peter Steinberger built something fundamentally different: a self-hosted assistant that connects to messaging apps you already use.

What it does autonomously:

• Drafts emails and manages calendar events

• Books flights and handles insurance claims

• Runs shell commands and manages Git repos

• Controls smart home devices (Philips Hue, air purifiers)

• Connects to WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack, Signal, iMessage

The privacy angle is Clawdbot stores memories as Markdown files in local folders like Obsidian vaults. Your data never leaves your system.

But, the risk is granting an agent file system access to your primary dev machine, which is a security decision most teams aren't ready for. The meme circulating on Twitter: "Just buy a Mac mini and let the agents live there." Isolate the automation on dedicated hardware where a compromised agent can't access your production credentials, SSH keys, or client data.

For your team: If you're piloting agent-based workflows, now's the time to establish governance frameworks. Cowork offers easy isolation; Clawdbot offers self-hosted control. Either way, autonomous systems making operational decisions require audit boundaries you can enforce.

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🪲 Claude Code Security Centre

If you're using Claude Code to generate or modify production code, Anthropic is giving you an extra layer of security to work with on top of /security-review.

Anthropic is building Security Center as a dedicated security management interface for Claude Code. The tool centralizes vulnerability detection and accelerates remediation for development teams.

What Security Center provides:

• Security scan overview across all your repositories

• Issue catalog consolidating detected vulnerabilities

• Manual scanning for specific repos and branches on demand

The feature isn't available yet and still in development, but the timing aligns with broader industry momentum. OpenAI leadership recently signaled renewed focus on cybersecurity, and Anthropic's move reflects the same priority: making code safety transparent and actionable.

For your team: If Claude Code is generating code for security-sensitive applications, Security Center addresses a gap. The current workflow requires manual security review of AI-generated code. This tool promises centralized scanning and faster remediation within the development environment itself.

🎯 How To Get Started with Clawdbot

Set up your own self-hosted AI assistant in minutes. All memories saved as Markdown files in ~/.clawdbot/memories/ - your data never leaves your system.

1. Install Node.js 22+ (required for Clawdbot runtime)

2. Run npm install -g clawdbot@latest

3. Execute clawdbot onboard to configure

4. Add API keys (Claude, GPT, or local models)

5. Link channels (WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack, Signal, or iMessage)

Security tip: Run Clawdbot on dedicated hardware (Mac mini, old laptop, VPS server) instead of your primary dev machine. Keeps production credentials and client data isolated from agent file system access.

🐝 AI Buzz Bits

🍎 Apple announcing Gemini-powered Siri. The company plans to reveal the new assistant in the second half of February, with iOS 26.4 beta launching in March. The Gemini-based Siri will tap into personal data and on-screen content to fulfill tasks like a chatbot.

💰 Zoom's Anthropic stake now worth $2-4 billion. Zoom's quiet $51 million investment in Anthropic from May 2023 could be worth up to $4 billion based on the startup's current $350 billion valuation. That's a potential 78x return. Zoom shares jumped 11% on the news.

🎓 OpenAI embedding ChatGPT in national education systems. OpenAI launched Education for Countries at Davos, deploying ChatGPT Edu and GPT-5.2 across eight countries including Estonia, Kazakhstan, Jordan, and UAE with free licenses for educators at all levels. Program includes OpenAI Academy training and collaborative research on AI in learning.

🛠️ Tool Spotlight

1. Agentfield — Open-source control plane for deploying AI agents as microservices with zero-trust IAM, shared memory, and scaling fabric.

2. Dvina — Private AI connecting 120+ apps and live databases. Run agents locally with full data privacy—no cloud data sharing required.

3. Friendware — System-wide tab-to-complete for macOS. Injects inline AI suggestions in any text field across all apps with native OS integration.

4. Aident AI — Build automations with natural language instead of workflow diagrams. Converts plain English descriptions into executable automation.

For a full list of 1500+ AI tools, visit our Supertool Directory