Control your smart home by chatting with one agent

Karpathy set up Dobby to handle home devices through plain language instead of juggling separate apps.

Done with OpenClaw· Intermediate· Mar 2026

What they did
Karpathy built Dobby the Elf Claw as a home-management agent. They gave it control over lights, heating and cooling, shades, the pool, and security, and used AI to spot visitors and send alerts. Natural language became the main way to use the system, replacing six different apps.
How it went
The home now runs through one agent for all of those controls. No other performance details or problems were reported.
Tips
Start with a small set of devices and verify each one before expanding access. Keep security-related actions behind an approval step so the agent asks before making any irreversible change.

Try it yourself with OpenClaw

Connect to my smart home setup: [lights], [HVAC], [shades], [pool], and [security]. Let me control each device in plain English, like 'turn on the hallway lights' or 'set the house to away mode.' Watch for [visitor/event] detection and send me an alert when it happens. Test one device at a time with me, confirm the result after each step, and pause to ask for my approval before any irreversible action, including any change to security, locks, payments, sending, deleting, or submitting. Only proceed after I explicitly approve each such step.

Fill in the [brackets]. Agents can make mistakes, so review anything before it is sent, paid or deleted.

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