BonziClaw

A modern, spyware-free reinterpretation of Bonzi Buddy for Windows, designed as a desktop face/front-end for OpenClaw.

A classic desktop-assistant experience is reimagined here with a privacy-first approach. The project keeps the familiar animated character interaction while avoiding bundled adware/spyware behavior.

This project intentionally avoids that model. Bonzi Buddy is focused on transparent local control: Bonzi acts as the animated UI persona, while OpenClaw handles conversational intelligence.

What This App Does

• Runs as a Windows tray app with quick actions.
• Uses Double Agent/MS Agent to animate and speak as Bonzi.
• Routes chat requests to OpenClaw.
• Supports Telegram bot integration that also routes through OpenClaw.
• Loads local configuration from %APPDATA%/BonzoBuddo/appconfig.json and environment variables.

Core Features

• Ask AI UI flow: user prompt -> OpenClaw -> response -> Bonzi speech/animation.
• Telegram flow: Telegram message -> OpenClaw -> Telegram reply + Bonzi speech callback.
• Tray icon uses ai-icon.svg.
• OpenClaw connectivity supports WebSocket-first with HTTP fallback.
• Local .env loading for secrets and private endpoints.

Tech Stack

• .NET 6 WinForms (net6.0-windows)
• x86 target (PlatformTarget=x86)
• ActiveX interop (AxAgentCtl, AgentObjects)
• Double Agent / MS Agent character runtime
• Svg package for rendering the tray icon from SVG

Quick Start

1. Install prerequisites:

• Windows machine
• .NET SDK 6+ installed
• Double Agent runtime and required agent assets

2. Clone and restore:

git clone <your-repo-url>
cd BonziBuddy
dotnet restore .\BonzoBuddo.sln

3. Create local environment file:

copy .env.example .env

4. Fill .env values (example keys):

• BONZO_OPENCLAW_URL
• BONZO_OPENCLAW_TOKEN
• BONZO_OPENCLAW_PASSWORD
• BONZO_OPENCLAW_MODEL
• BONZO_TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN
• BONZO_TELEGRAM_ENABLED

5. Build and run:

dotnet build .\BonzoBuddo.sln -c Debug
dotnet run --project .\BonzoBuddo\BonzoBuddo.csproj

Configuration and Secrets

• Do not commit .env.
• .env is ignored by .gitignore.
• Use .env.example as your template.
• Runtime config is also persisted to %APPDATA%/BonzoBuddo/appconfig.json.
• If a real token has ever been exposed in commits, rotate it immediately.

Project Layout

• BonzoBuddo/ main WinForms application
• BonzoBuddo/Helpers/ OpenClaw, Telegram, config, utility helpers
• BonzoBuddo/Forms/ UI forms including Ask AI and OpenClaw config
• ai-icon.svg tray icon source
• .github/workflows/ CI pipelines

Build Pipeline

GitHub Actions workflow builds on Windows for push and pull requests:

• Restores NuGet packages
• Builds BonzoBuddo.sln in Release configuration

See .github/workflows/build.yml.

Disclaimer

This repository is an independent community project and is provided for educational and nostalgic software preservation purposes.

Attribution

Michaél Landry for his bonzo code.

Trivy Scan:

Report Summary ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬─────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────┐ │ Target │ Type │ Vulnerabilities │ Secrets │ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────┤ │ BonzoBuddo/bin/Debug/net6.0-windows/BonzoBuddo.deps.json │ dotnet-core │ 0 │ - │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────┘ Legend:

• '-': Not scanned
• '0': Clean (no security findings detected)