Huawei (华为) HarmonyOS (鸿蒙) phones can even 'raise lobsters' — He Gang (何刚) shows off XiaoYi (小艺) Claw and exclaims "very surprised"

The demo

It has been reported that He Gang (何刚), CEO of Huawei's (华为) terminal BG, posted a screenshot showing a new XiaoYi (小艺) feature called "Claw" running on a HarmonyOS (鸿蒙) phone and wrote that he was "very surprised." The screen shot, published to Chinese media, shows XiaoYi Claw assisting with document editing, creating PowerPoint slides, automatically replying to emails and even offering selectable personalities for the assistant. Different initial personas appear to come with different preloaded "skills," and users can reportedly install additional skills from a skills market.

Platform and the OpenClaw angle

Reportedly, Huawei's XiaoYi open platform recently added an "OpenClaw" mode following the viral "OpenClaw 'lobster' (龙虾)" craze in developer communities, enabling users to connect a 7×24 personal intelligent agent through the XiaoYi app. According to the platform interface, when users click "Create" and choose "Standard creation" in the "orchestration" options, they can select "OpenClaw mode" to plug into OpenClaw and build a personal agent tailored to their needs.

Why this matters

Why the fuss? For Western readers: HarmonyOS is Huawei's in-house mobile operating system developed as the company faced export restrictions and limited access to some Western software and chips. XiaoYi is Huawei's native conversational AI and assistant. Pushing capabilities such as persona-based agents, a skills marketplace and continuous personal agents is a clear attempt to deepen Huawei's ecosystem and differentiate HarmonyOS with AI-driven services — a strategic pivot sharpened by years of geopolitical pressure and trade limits.

Source and caveats

The details above come via IT之家 (ithome) and screenshots shared by Huawei executives; some items — such as the reach and real-world performance of the OpenClaw agents — remain based on company material and media reports. Reportedly, broader rollouts and third-party developer uptake will determine whether persona-driven agents become a genuine selling point for HarmonyOS devices.