I wanted to share my experience working with a base Mac mini M4 for AI and other projects. I originally acquired the Mac for a giveaway hosted by Gradient, where the challenge was to self-host Parallax (it’s a llm running service) and then get it to do something cool and locally. My project was a terminal-based tool designed to provide command insights, install software, and assist with system troubleshooting. While I thought this was useful and actually something I would like to use in my day job instead of man pages. It did possibly miss the mark of being cool for a wider audience though. While I didn't win the giveaway, the process left me with a powerful machine and not many ideas for its use. Initially, I used it for gaming, which as most may know is not that good on a Mac mini, but it did handle Rust rather well. Shortly thereafter I became interested in the OpenClaw project. I wiped the Mac to install OpenClaw and found it helpful for a few weeks, particularly while studying for the AI-300 exam, as both a planner and a teacher. We are still waiting on the pass/fail for that test a couple months later. Beware of the beta test, Microsoft host them for cheap, but waiting for the outome is pain. But I digress, the point I was making is that due to security concerns regarding full system access and a desire to return to gaming, even if lackluster, I decided to transition my setup to containers. Containers, while in themselves not much more secure without a few extra steps, definitely give me a warm and fuzzy feeling of being safe, and that's all that matters. As a proponent of containerization, I’ve spent the last few days configuring this new environment. Despite some delays balancing the project with family responsibilities, the setup is now coming together. For starters, I would say avoid the website documentation. The GitHub page had all I needed for the setup. Copy the docker-compose.yml word-for-word from their GitHub: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw. Then setup the two volumes (mkdir). After that, edit the image to pull the latest image: http://ghcr.io/openclaw/openclaw:latest. Edit the .env file with your information. Then, smooth sailing: set up Ollama to be reached on 0.0.0.0 and load a model up. After that, docker compose up -d, and honestly, that's it. You need to go into exec on the gateway, then onboard. Not sure why it took couple of days, all be it minutes at a time, but hopefully it helps if someone randomly finds this. For the OpenClaw working in a container, even though not recommended, it works much better than the app for me. No need to worry on the system, account locks, or no SSH—not an issue. And it's as smooth for me for notes, reminders, and assistant. I might add an Nginx for an added layer of fun, but more so for a weekend project. If Or you only have one system and don't want to lose control, I think this is the way. As for what’s next, I think I’m actually gonna try to build a product or do something productive with OpenClaw.