Features Overview

Everything Uplink can do — powered by OpenClaw, controlled by you.

Built on OpenClaw

Uplink is designed as a frontend for OpenClaw — the open-source AI agent platform. Every feature in Uplink leverages OpenClaw's capabilities under the hood:

• Chat & streaming — Powered by OpenClaw's gateway API (OpenAI-compatible)
• Satellites — Uplink's multi-provider switching maps directly to OpenClaw's model routing
• Session persistence — Your conversation history lives in OpenClaw's session store, surviving restarts and device switches
• Context tracking — The token counter in the header reads real-time context usage from OpenClaw's session data
• Gateway proxy — Uplink proxies WebSocket connections directly to OpenClaw for real-time streaming

Local-First Architecture

Uplink runs as a Node.js server on localhost:3456. Your conversations, settings, and data live on your machine. The AI connection goes through the OpenClaw gateway running locally, so your prompts and responses never touch third-party servers unless you explicitly configure an external endpoint.

When your internet goes down, Uplink keeps serving. The web UI, settings, and conversation history are all local. Only the AI inference requires a working gateway connection.

Text Chat

The core experience. A clean, responsive chat interface in your browser. Features include:

• Streaming responses — Tokens appear in real-time as the AI generates them
• Markdown rendering — Code blocks, tables, lists, and inline formatting
• Conversation history — All chats are persisted and searchable
• System prompts — Set per-conversation or global personality/instructions
• Multi-device sync — Open the same Uplink instance from any device on your network

Satellites

Satellites are independent AI conversations with isolated context. Each satellite maintains its own message history, system prompt, and context window — completely separate from your other conversations. Think of them as parallel chat sessions that don't interfere with each other.

• Independent AI conversations — Each satellite is a separate conversation with its own isolated context and memory
• Isolated context windows — Messages in one satellite don't affect the context or token count of another
• Create and switch freely — Spin up new satellites and jump between them from the satellite switcher in the header
• Clean slate on demand — Starting a new satellite gives you a fresh conversation without losing your other chats
• Same gateway — All satellites route through your single OpenClaw gateway — they're separate sessions, not separate AI providers
• Embeddable — Part of OpenClaw's embed and widget system, allowing chat interfaces to be embedded in other pages or applications

Activity Panel

The activity panel gives you a real-time window into what OpenClaw is doing under the hood. Toggle it with the wrench icon (🔧) in the header to see live developer and debug information as your conversation flows.

• Tool calls — See which tools OpenClaw invokes and their results
• API requests — Watch gateway requests and responses in real-time
• Processing activity — Follow the AI's work as it streams, reasons, and executes
• Errors and warnings — Surface issues immediately instead of wondering why something failed
• Toggle on/off — Click the wrench icon in the header to show or hide the panel at any time

Voice Chat

Talk to your AI instead of typing. Uplink supports multiple TTS and STT engines — from free cloud services to fully local GPU-accelerated models. See the Voice Chat page for full details.

End-to-End Encryption

Uplink supports optional AES-256 encryption for all conversations. Enable it on first run or later in Settings → Privacy. When enabled:

• All messages are encrypted at rest on the server
• Your encryption password never leaves your browser
• Zero-knowledge design — the server cannot read your messages
• If you forget your password, conversations are unrecoverable (by design)

Themes

Five built-in themes to match your vibe. Switch instantly in Settings → General. See the Themes page for previews.

PWA Support

Uplink is a Progressive Web App. On mobile, add it to your home screen for a native-app experience — full-screen, no browser chrome, offline-capable UI. Works on both iOS Safari and Android Chrome.

Multi-Device Access

Since Uplink is a web server, any device on your network can access it by navigating to the server's IP and port. Conversations sync in real-time via WebSocket. Use it on your desktop, laptop, phone, and tablet simultaneously.

For access outside your home network, see Remote Access.

OpenClaw Gateway

Uplink connects to AI exclusively through the OpenClaw gateway. OpenClaw provides an OpenAI-compatible API that handles model routing, session management, and streaming — Uplink is built to take full advantage of these features.

Agents

The Agents Panel lets you manage AI agent sessions, routing, and configuration directly from the Uplink interface. Access it to control how OpenClaw routes requests and configure agent-specific behavior.

• Session management — View and manage active agent sessions
• Routing configuration — Control how requests are routed between different agents
• Agent settings — Configure agent-specific parameters and behavior

Watchdog Auto-Restart

Uplink includes a watchdog process monitor that automatically restarts the server if it crashes or becomes unresponsive. Ensures high availability for long-running deployments.

• Automatic recovery — Watchdog restarts Uplink if it crashes or hangs
• Health monitoring — Periodic checks ensure the server is responsive
• Minimal downtime — Rapid recovery keeps your AI assistant available

File Uploads

Attach files directly to your messages for the AI to analyze. Uplink supports images, documents, and spreadsheets.

• Images — Upload and attach images for vision-capable models to analyze
• Documents — Attach PDF and DOCX files for content extraction and discussion
• Spreadsheets — Upload Excel files for data analysis
• Drag and drop — Drop files directly into the chat input area

Push Notifications

Stay informed even when Uplink isn't in the foreground. Web push notifications alert you when new messages arrive — useful when running long tasks or waiting for agent responses.

• Browser push alerts — Get notified of new messages via your browser's notification system
• Works in background — Receive alerts even when the Uplink tab isn't active
• Configurable — Enable or disable in Settings → Notifications

Missed Messages

Never lose track of messages received while you were away. The missed messages system queues messages that arrived while you were offline and lets you catch up when you return.

• Offline queue — Messages received while you're disconnected are queued for later
• Catch-up view — Review all missed messages when you reconnect
• No data loss — Messages are persisted server-side until delivered

Conversation Sharing

Generate public share links for your conversations. Useful for sharing interesting AI interactions, debugging sessions, or collaborative work with others.

• Share links — Generate a public URL for any conversation
• Read-only access — Shared conversations are viewable but not editable
• Selective sharing — Choose which conversations to share

Keyboard Shortcuts

Power users can navigate Uplink efficiently with keyboard shortcuts for common actions.

• Quick navigation — Switch between satellites, toggle panels, and access settings without reaching for the mouse
• Chat controls — Send messages, clear input, and manage conversations with key combos
• Discoverable — View all available shortcuts from the keyboard shortcuts panel