On Saturday, March 7, 2026, SVCAF hosted its first internal OpenClaw Seminar — a community event bringing together board members, volunteers, and curious community members to explore how AI agents are transforming the way our organization operates.

Presenters Chunhua Liao, Sam Li, and Rich Liu walked attendees through live demos, real workflows, and practical insights on getting started with AI agents. Here is a recap of the key highlights.

📊 View the full slides: SVCAF OpenClaw Seminar — March 7, 2026

🎬 Watch the full recording: SVCAF OpenClaw Seminar — March 7, 2026 (YouTube)

From Chatbot to AI Agent: What Is the Difference?

The seminar opened by drawing a clear distinction between traditional chatbots and modern AI agents. While chatbots respond to single questions, an AI agent like OpenClaw takes multi-step actions autonomously — managing email, calendar, files, and web browsing on your behalf, all through a simple chat interface on Discord, Telegram, or WhatsApp.

Chatbot vs. AI Agent — the key differences

Key Insight #1: Your Agent Is Only as Good as Its Configuration

One of the most valuable takeaways: out of the box, an AI agent is a blank slate. What makes it powerful is how you configure it. SVCAF uses plain-text files — SOUL.md (the agent’s values and limits), AGENTS.md (operational rules), and MEMORY.md (long-term memory) — to give our agent a clear identity, workflow, and institutional knowledge.

“ChatGPT gives you a smart stranger. OpenClaw lets you build a smart colleague.” — Chunhua

How SVCAF configures the agent to reason with evidence and first principles

Key Insight #2: Automation Without Constant Prompting — Heartbeats and Cron Jobs

SVCAF’s agent runs proactively without anyone having to ask. Two mechanisms make this possible:

  • Heartbeat: Every ~30 minutes, the agent wakes up and checks for urgent emails, upcoming calendar events, and anything that needs attention.
  • Cron Jobs: Scheduled at exact times — a Daily Learning Brief runs every morning at 7 AM (pulling AI news and policy updates into a Gmail draft), and a Daily Self-Reflection runs at 2 AM to review the day and improve the agent’s own rules.

Heartbeat vs. Cron Jobs — when to use each

Key Insight #3: Real SVCAF Use Cases in Action

Chunhua demonstrated several live workflows SVCAF already uses today:

  • Event Flyer Design: Share a reference flyer, the agent analyzes the style, generates a new flyer using AI image generation, and iterates based on feedback. Four versions in minutes, not hours.
  • Website Management: Post to svcaf.org via WordPress API with a single message. No CMS login needed.
  • Semantic Search: Query across 900+ SVCAF documents — meeting minutes, Drive files, website posts — using meaning, not just keywords. Example: searching “漂流活动” (rafting activity) instantly found relevant archived posts.
  • WeChat Article Pipeline: A 9-step multi-agent workflow that takes an idea and produces a fully illustrated, fact-checked, WeChat-ready article draft in 5–10 minutes.
  • Google Workspace Integration: Full Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Sheets, Docs, and Slides access — all accessible through a single conversation.

How the agent designed an event flyer from a single reference image

Semantic search across 900+ SVCAF documents — finding meaning, not just keywords

The 9-step multi-agent WeChat article pipeline

Key Insight #4: Skills — Extending the Agent Like App Plugins

OpenClaw supports “skills” — modular plug-ins that give agents specialized capabilities. The community registry at clawhub.com offers free, open skills you can install with one command. SVCAF has already contributed several skills to the community, including a Docker setup guide and a WeChat article writer.

Key Insight #5: Multi-Agent Collaboration — Sam Li’s Demo

Sam Li presented an innovative demo: a cooperative AI game designed for OpenClaw agents, where multiple agents work together like a band — each with different capabilities (writing poetry, drawing, speaking). The demo showcased how multiple agents can collaborate on creative tasks, with each agent contributing its specialty to a shared goal.

Key Insight #6: Security and Privacy First — Rich Liu’s Perspective

Rich Liu shared practical safety advice for new users:

  • Avoid sharing real personal information with AI agents until you trust them
  • Use a separate email account when experimenting
  • Install agents in a sandbox environment, especially for sensitive operations like financial tasks
  • Start simple — build trust before delegating complex workflows

The honest truth about getting started — and what makes OpenClaw click

Getting Started with OpenClaw

There are three paths to running OpenClaw:

  • Easiest (Cloud): DigitalOcean Marketplace — $12/month, 5-minute setup
  • Free: Oracle Cloud Always Free Tier — 4 ARM CPUs, 24GB RAM, $0/month forever
  • DIY: Your own Mac, Linux, or Docker setup with free OpenRouter models

Want to try SVCAF’s public AI agent? Join our Discord: discord.gg/yXnx9xnP

What Is Next for SVCAF

SVCAF’s AI roadmap — what’s already working and what’s coming next

We are building an AI-first nonprofit — not because it is trendy, but because it lets our volunteer team serve the Chinese American community at a scale that was previously impossible.

Thank you to everyone who attended and participated. Special thanks to Sam Li and Rich Liu for their presentations and demos. Stay tuned for future SVCAF events and seminars.

📧 Questions? info@svcaf.org  |  🌐 svcaf.org