A Grok Bot alternative you run yourself

Grok Bot is xAI's agent app. According to launch coverage, it runs always-on agents, each with its own computer in the cloud. kwant works the other way round: your bots run on a machine you control, with the logins you already have, and the source code is public. You keep the machine, the logins and the code.

If you want to try kwant without starting over, it can read a Grok Bot export and recreate your bot. See how the import works.

Why people look for a Grok Bot alternative

The reasons are usually practical:

• Where the agent runs. Some people want their bots on hardware they control, not on a cloud computer someone else operates.
• Source you can read. kwant is AGPL-3.0, and the code is public on GitHub.
• More than one model. kwant bots can run on Claude, Codex or Grok CLI logins, API keys, local Ollama or any OpenAI-compatible server, so you are not tied to one provider.
• Control over what bots do. kwant asks before bots run commands or edit files outside their folder.

None of this makes Grok Bot a bad product. These are the cases where a self-hosted setup fits better.

kwant in one paragraph

kwant is a self-hosted AI agent team: bots share chats and hand work to each other with @mentions. Bots can work on a schedule or while you are away, using routines and cron rules that run on your own machine. You add the logins you already have, several per engine if you like, with failover when one runs out of usage. The program you install is called kwnt (start it with kwnt serve). kwant sends no telemetry to its developers. See all features.

Grok Bot vs kwant

We only list what we can show from kwant's own docs. Where we have not verified a Grok Bot detail, we point you to xAI's site rather than guess.

Bring your Grok Bot into kwant

Open a space's settings and choose Import bots. Upload your Grok Bot export file, and kwant reads it and recreates the bot. It brings across:

• the bot's name and role
• its instructions
• its memories
• its skills
• its scheduled routines
• its list of plugins

Plugins arrive as setup notes, not working connections. You reconnect the tools you want yourself, for example through kwant's MCP tools.

If the export holds only the bot's details, kwant warns you that the instructions may be missing, so check the result before you rely on it.

There is also a paste-in route. Under Bring a bot from…, pick Grok, and kwant gives you a prompt to send to your existing Grok bot. Paste the bot's reply back into kwant and it builds the bot from that.

That is everything the import does. Review the imported bot, then give it a task.

What you get in kwant after you move

• Teams and handoffs. Group bots into teams with a lead and let them pass work with @mentions. See teams and handoffs.
• Routines. Schedule bot work with routines, cron rules and follow-ups. See routines.
• Approvals. Three approval modes per space or bot, and Flight School tiers (Observe, Sandbox, Act) that set how much freedom each bot has earned. Payments always ask.
• A mission board. A task counts as Verified only when a check passes, and checkpoints let you undo a task's file changes. See the mission board.
• Your models, your accounts. Add multiple Claude, Codex and Grok accounts or API keys with failover. See models and routing.
• Tools through MCP. Connect Model Context Protocol servers with per-bot access and approval before risky calls. See MCP tools.
• Spaces. Keep work and home apart, each with its own bots, routines and approval rules. See spaces.

When Grok Bot is still the better fit

kwant runs on a machine you look after. If you would rather not run any server or computer yourself, a hosted product is simpler. And if your bots live only on a laptop that is switched off, scheduled routines wait until it is back on. A small VPS with the systemd setup in Install & run avoids that.

Get started

Install kwnt on a laptop, a VPS or with Docker, add a login, and import your bot.

• Install kwnt
• Quickstart
• Source and releases on GitHub