Security & privacy
Pincer is designed to be safe to run on machines where the official OpenClaw app isn’t allowed.
A pure client
Section titled “A pure client”Pincer connects to a Gateway you already run and speaks the Gateway WebSocket protocol (v4) in the operator role.
- It never bundles, launches or embeds a Gateway.
- It never registers as a node, so it exposes no camera, screen, shell or
system.runcapabilities.
Scopes
Section titled “Scopes”| Access level | Scopes requested |
|---|---|
| Chat & Approvals (default) | operator.read, operator.write, operator.approvals |
| Full Management | the above, plus operator.admin |
operator.admin is only requested when you choose Full Management, and the gateway has to approve it separately.
Device identity
Section titled “Device identity”Each install creates its own Ed25519 device key, stored in the Keychain and marked this device only, so it never syncs to other devices or backups. The gateway must approve each device once.
Secrets
Section titled “Secrets”Gateway tokens and passwords are stored in the Keychain, never in UserDefaults. In Gateway Settings, saved secrets are shown only as “saved” and are never sent back to the gateway unless you change them.
Transport
Section titled “Transport”wss://is required for anything other than loopback, private LAN or Tailscale addresses.- You can pin the gateway’s TLS certificate by its SHA-256 fingerprint.
Images
Section titled “Images”Images are fetched only from the gateway itself: inline, through artifacts.download, or from the gateway’s own host.
The one exception is public https images the agent links to. These are downloaded directly with no credentials or cookies, and you can turn this off in Settings with Load images the agent links from the web.
Local cache
Section titled “Local cache”Transcripts are cached so chats open instantly:
- Location:
~/Library/Caches/Pincer/Transcripts/<gateway>/, one file per chat. - Size: up to 20,000 messages per chat.
- Protection: files use complete file protection.
- Cleanup: removing a gateway deletes its cache.
To turn the cache off, set PINCER_CACHE_DIR=off. To use another folder, set it to a path.
Sandbox
Section titled “Sandbox”The Xcode-built macOS app is sandboxed, with outgoing network access and read-only access to files you pick.
The quick scripts/bundle-mac.sh development bundle is only ad-hoc signed and isn’t meant for everyday use.
Synced preferences
Section titled “Synced preferences”Some personal touches, such as custom chat colors, icons and server names, sync between your devices through the gateway’s user preferences. They’re stored on your gateway, not on a third-party service. See Synced preferences.