Agents in the Wild · Session 5 · In-person
This Week in Agents
March 20, 2026 · The Kannas Hotel, Chiang Mai
News update
This week in agents
Mar 12–19, 2026
China goes all-in on "raising lobsters"

CNBC / Reuters · Mar 18–19
CNBC / Reuters · Mar 18–19
China goes all-in on "raising lobsters"
China surpassed the US in OpenClaw adoption. Baidu, Tencent, Zhipu hosting public setup events. Hundreds lining up.
China · on the ground
The lobster boom
- One-person companies — "OpenClaw can run 24/7"
- Local gov subsidies for OpenClaw apps
- AI across 90% of industries by 2030
- $2.8M subsidies per year for qualifying OPCs
- "Dad, can I have a lobster too?" — school parent chats overwhelmed
- Voice → McDonald's — orders coffee via agent in 2 min
- Tech shares up 22% on OpenClaw enthusiasm
- But also banning it — gov agencies, banks, universities restricting. People's Daily: "maintain the safety bottom line"
Manus launches "My Computer" — desktop agent

Meta / Manus · Mar 16–18
Meta / Manus · Mar 16–18
Manus launches "My Computer" — desktop agent
Agents now live on your laptop. Read/edit local files, launch apps, control dev environments. Built a real-time translation app on macOS in 20 minutes — entirely through terminal commands. $20/month. Explicit approval before every action.
"Desktop agent vs domain-specific agents — which wins?"
Developer's Guide to AI Agent Protocols

Google · Mar 18
Google · Mar 18
Developer's Guide to AI Agent Protocols
First comprehensive "when to use what" guide. Covers MCP, A2A, UCP, AP2, A2UI, AG-UI. Uses a supply chain example: MCP for agent-to-tool, A2A for agent-to-agent. Shows how protocols compose for real workflows.
"One dominant protocol, or protocol composition — different layers, different protocols?"
OpenViking — context database for agents

ByteDance / Volcano Engine · Mar 15
ByteDance / Volcano Engine · Mar 15
OpenViking — context database for agents
Replaces vector storage with a filesystem paradigm. Tiered context loading (L0/L1/L2), directory-based retrieval, memory self-evolution loop. OpenClaw + OpenViking: 52% task completion at 4.3M tokens vs 35.6% at 24.6M tokens alone. Better results, 5.7x fewer tokens.
Directories as organizational context, not just similarity search. Current "dump everything into context" approaches are wasteful. The pattern is converging on tiered, structured memory.
"Is the vector database era for agent memory already ending?"
Agent Client Protocol gains momentum

ACP · Mar 15–17
ACP · Mar 15–17
Agent Client Protocol gains momentum
Standardizes communication between code editors and coding agents via JSON-RPC over stdio. SDK updates in Rust, TypeScript, Kotlin, Python — all in one week. Now in JetBrains, GitHub Copilot CLI, Cursor, Zed, and Kiro.
"Will ACP commoditize coding agents — or do proprietary advantages still win?"
Codex app sidebar

@ajambrosino · Mar 18 · 199k views
@ajambrosino · Mar 18 · 199k views · 210 replies · 36 reposts · 1.4k likes
"here's an early look at the codex app sidebar I wanted to ship. I was silenced"
Inbox · Pulse · Skills · Plugins · Prompts · Commands · Automations · Projects · Documents · Chat · Git · Sora · Aardvark · Designer · Analytics · Personalization · Environments · Study and Learn · Databases · GDPR · Shitposter · Settings
OpenClaw + Codex App Server

@huntharo · Mar 18 · OpenClaw maintainer
@huntharo · Mar 18 · OpenClaw maintainer
OpenClaw + Codex App Server
/codex_plan mode via Codex App Server integration. Plan preview in message, full plan in markdown attachment. Can ask and answer steering questions too.
Codex becoming an agent platform, not just an IDE. App Server lets external tools like OpenClaw embed Codex planning directly into their workflows.
NVIDIA open-sources NemoClaw

NVIDIA / GTC 2026 · Mar 16
NVIDIA / GTC 2026 · Mar 16
NVIDIA open-sources NemoClaw
Open source stack for running OpenClaw agents on NVIDIA hardware. Single-command runtime that routes inference between local GPUs and cloud models. Ships with Nemotron 3 Nano 4B and Super 120B. Enterprise security baked in.
"Does NVIDIA backing OpenClaw make it the default agent runtime?"
Claude Cowork ships Dispatch

@felixrieseberg · Mar 18 · 5.8M views
@felixrieseberg · Mar 18 · 5.8M views
Claude Cowork ships Dispatch
One persistent conversation with Claude that runs on your computer. Message it from your phone. Come back to finished work.
Runs in a sandbox. Files stay local. You approve what Claude touches before it acts. Rolling out to Max subscribers first.
Claude Code Channels

@trq212 · Mar 20 · 2M views
@trq212 · Mar 20 · 2M views
Claude Code Channels
Control your Claude Code session through select MCPs. Starting with Telegram and Discord. Message Claude Code directly from your phone.
Dispatch lets you send work. Channels let you push events into a running session — alerts, webhooks, messages. The agent becomes always-on.
Live demo
Channels
Telegram → Claude Code → your machine — Pushing messages into a running session from a phone
Lightning round
Quick hits
Quick hits
- LangChain Deep Agents — durable execution runtime for multi-step agents on LangGraph (Mar 15)
- Alibaba "Token Hub" — 5 AI units consolidated, Wukong enterprise agent launched (Mar 16)
- Mastra raises $13M — TypeScript agent framework, Replit/PayPal/Adobe customers (Mar 4)
Quick hits
- Splunk AI Agent Monitoring now GA — latency, hallucinations, cost tracking
- IETF AIMS Draft — agent identity management via WIMSE + SPIFFE + OAuth 2.0 (Mar 2)
- Microsoft 365 E7 — Agent 365 control plane for enterprise agent governance (Mar 9)
- Xcode 26.3 — Apple ships Claude Agent + Codex directly in IDE via MCP (RC Mar 16)
Discussion · Demos · Q&A
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See you next Friday.