Last updated: October 2025

After running OpenClaw on a VPS for over a month, the experience was positive. It handles cron jobs, writes code, does research, manages deployments. It’s good. But after a few weeks, a wall appeared that every OpenClaw user eventually hits: no visibility into what it was doing.

Not in a scary way. In a “wait, did that task finish? Did it even start? What’s it working on right now?” way. The agent was busy, but The experience was blind.

Then a concept from the Chinese AI dev community surfaced that changed the picture. A developer named TermMax published a guide about building what he calls a “Mission Control” dashboard for OpenClaw. Six modules, all built with Next.js and Convex, that give you full visibility and control over your AI assistant.

Comparing multiple versions of this approach leads to a clear conclusion: it’s the difference between having an assistant and having a team.

Why You Need a Dashboard

OpenClaw runs in a terminal or through messaging apps. That’s fine for sending it one-off tasks. But once you start using sub-agents, scheduled jobs, and memory files, things get messy fast.

Jonathan Tsai, a UC Berkeley CS grad who went all-in on OpenClaw, described the problem perfectly. He was running 5 master instances, 10 satellite agents, and 20+ scheduled tasks per instance. Without a dashboard, he was flying blind. His solution was the OpenClaw Command Center, a lightweight vanilla JS dashboard that pulls everything into one view.

The Mission Control approach takes this further. Instead of just monitoring, you build tools that the agent itself can read and write to. That’s the key insight: the dashboard isn’t just for you. It’s a shared workspace between you and your AI.

Here’s what to build, with the exact prompts that work.

1. Tasks Board

The foundation. A Kanban-style board where both you and OpenClaw track what’s being worked on, by whom, and what’s stuck.

This is the single most useful thing you can build. Once OpenClaw can see a task board, it starts picking up tasks on its own and updating their status. You stop asking “did you do that thing?” because you can just look.

Please build a task board for us that tracks all the tasks we are working on. I should be able to see the status of every task and who the task is assigned to, me or you. Moving forward please put all tasks you work on into this board and update it in real time. Build it as a Next.js app with a Convex database.

2. Content Pipeline

If you create any kind of content (blog posts, videos, social media), this turns OpenClaw into a production assistant. The pipeline tracks every stage: Idea, Script, Thumbnail, Filming, Publish. You drop in ideas, and the agent fills in scripts, generates thumbnails, and moves cards forward on a schedule.

Please build me a content pipeline tool. I want it to have every stage of content creation in it. I should be able to edit ideas and put full scripts in it and attach images if need be. I want you to manage this pipeline with me and add wherever you can. Build it as a Next.js app with a Convex database.

3. Calendar

OpenClaw can schedule cron jobs and recurring tasks, but there’s no built-in way to audit them. Did the job actually run? When’s the next one? This calendar fixes that. Every scheduled task gets a visual entry you can verify.

Please build a calendar for us in the mission control. All your scheduled tasks and cron jobs should live here. Anytime The evaluation has you schedule a task, put it in the calendar so I can ensure you are doing them correctly. Build it as a Next.js app with a Convex database.

Starting with the Tasks Board and Calendar first is recommended. Those two alone solve 80% of the visibility problem.

4. Memory

OpenClaw stores memories in markdown files (MEMORY.md, daily logs). That works, but searching through them is painful. This module turns every memory into a searchable document with a proper UI. Think of it like a knowledge base for everything your agent has learned about you and your projects.

Please build a memory screen in our mission control. It should list all your memories in beautiful documents. We should also have a search component so I can quickly search through all our memories. Build it as a Next.js app with a Convex database.

For context: the OpenClaw ecosystem already has memory solutions like Engram (Convex-synced multi-agent memory) and Supermemory. But building your own gives you full control over what gets stored and how it’s organized.

5. Team Structure

Once you start using sub-agents regularly, you need a way to see who’s who. This screen maps out your agent team: roles, responsibilities, current tasks, and associated tools. It forces you (and the AI) to think about specialization instead of throwing everything at one instance.

Please build me a team structure screen. It should show you, plus all the subagents you regularly spin up to do work. If you haven't thought about which sub agents you spin up, please create them and organize them by roles and responsibilities. This should be developers, writers, and designers as examples. Build it as a Next.js app with a Convex database.

6. Digital Office

This one’s more fun than practical, but it’s surprisingly useful for quick status checks. A visual office where each agent has an avatar and a workstation. When they’re working, they’re at their computer. When they’re idle, they’re not. It’s a glanceable status board.

Please build me a digital office screen where I can view each agent working. They should be represented by individual avatars and have their own work areas and computers. When they are working they should be at their computer. I should be able to quickly view the status of every team member. Build it as a Next.js app with a Convex database.

Why Next.js + Convex?

The tech stack choice here is deliberate. Convex gives you real-time database sync out of the box, which means your dashboard updates the moment OpenClaw writes to it. No polling, no WebSocket plumbing. Next.js handles the UI. Together they’re probably the fastest way to go from prompt to working dashboard.

That said, you don’t have to use this stack. Tsai’s Command Center is vanilla JS and SSE, and it works great. The prompts above are templates. Swap in whatever you’re comfortable with.

The Bigger Picture

What’s interesting about this approach is that it reframes the relationship with your AI assistant. Instead of a chat interface where you send commands and hope for the best, you get a shared workspace with real accountability.

There’s something unsettling about AI agents churning away while you sleep. A mission control dashboard doesn’t eliminate that feeling, but it does give you a way to check in, verify, and course-correct. That matters more as these agents get more capable.

Start with the Tasks Board and Calendar. Add Memory when you’re ready. The rest is gravy.