Show HN: OpenClone – A human cloning deepfake project with infrastructure

5 hours ago 1

Video Intro

Create AI-powered digital clones that talk, think, and interact just like you! OpenClone uses cutting-edge deepfake technology to bring your personal AI avatars to life.

OpenClone lets you build personalized AI clones that can:

  • 🗣️ Talk like you - Train with your voice for realistic speech
  • 🎭 Look like you - Create lifelike video avatars
  • 🧠 Think like you - Learn from Q&A sessions to capture your personality
  • 💬 Chat naturally - Have conversations that feel authentic

Perfect for content creators, educators, businesses, or anyone who wants to create their digital twin!

OpenClone is a distributed system of specialized components working together:

The main web interface where users create and interact with their digital clones. Features user authentication, clone management, chat, and video generation orchestration.

🗄️ Database (PostgreSQL + pgVector)

Dual-database architecture with the main OpenClone database for user data and clones, plus a separate logging database. Supports vector embeddings for AI personality matching.

🎭 SadTalker (Python + GPU)

AI-powered deepfake video generation service that creates realistic talking head videos from still images and audio. Requires NVIDIA GPU for optimal performance.

🖼️ U-2-Net (Python + GPU)

Image segmentation service that removes backgrounds from user photos and performs image preprocessing for clone creation.

📊 LogViewer (Python Flask)

Monitoring dashboard that provides system insights, error tracking, and performance metrics across all OpenClone components.

🔧 CICD (Kubernetes + Terraform)

DevOps infrastructure for deploying OpenClone to cloud environments, including Kubernetes clusters, databases, and monitoring systems.

🤖 Code Assistant Integrattion

Technical documentation and context files for AI-powered development assistance.

Working with This Repository

This project is designed to work with AI coding assistants. The repository includes AI-optimized documentation and integration tools:

🚀 Quick Start with Claude Code

  1. Open this repository in Claude Code
  2. Run /OpenClone/StartStopScripts/Claude/start.bat for shared development environment
  3. Use the cr command anytime to have Claude analyze and update documentation

AI Assistant documentation was created with Claude Code format.

Ready to create your first clone? Here's how:

Option 1: Full Setup (Recommended)

  1. Download - Clone this repository to your computer
  2. Configure - Set up the environment variables below
  3. Launch - Run StartStopScripts/run-all.bat to start everything
  4. Create - Visit http://localhost:8080 and build your first clone!

Want to start individual services? Use these batch files:

  • StartStopScripts/Database/start.bat - Start the database
  • StartStopScripts/SadTalker/start.bat - Start video generation
  • StartStopScripts/U-2-Net/start.bat - Start background removal
  • StartStopScripts/OpenClone/start.bat - Start the main website
  • Docker Desktop - For running all the AI services
  • NVIDIA GPU (recommended) - Makes video generation much faster
  • Node.js - For the website frontend

API Keys (Get these free accounts)

  1. Create Your Clone - Upload a photo and record some audio samples
  2. Train the AI - Answer questions to teach your clone how to respond
  3. Generate Videos - Watch your clone come to life in realistic talking videos
  4. Chat & Share - Have conversations with your clone or let others chat with it
  • 🎯 Quick Setup - Get started with batch scripts
  • 🔒 Privacy First - Your data stays on your computer
  • 🎨 Customizable - Train your clone's personality and responses
  • 📱 Web Interface - Works in any modern web browser
  • 🚀 GPU Accelerated - Optimized for quick video creation
  • 💾 Export Options - Download your clone videos and conversations
  • 📖 Documentation - Check the individual component README files for detailed setup
  • 🐛 Issues - Found a bug? Create an issue in this repository
  • 💡 Questions - Need help? Create an issue and we'll assist you

Ready to create your digital twin? Let's get started! 🚀

Environment Variables Setup

Copy these settings and update with your own values. You can set these in your system environment or create a .env file:

# AI Services (Required) OpenClone_OPENAI_API_KEY=<your-openai-api-key> OpenClone_ElevenLabsAPIKey=<your-elevenlabs-api-key> # Google Login (Required) OpenClone_GoogleClientId=<your-google-client-id> OpenClone_GoogleClientSecret=<your-google-client-secret> # Security (Generate a random string) OpenClone_JWT_SecretKey=<your-jwt-secret-key>

Database Settings (Default values work for local development)

# Database Configuration OpenClone_DB_Host=192.168.0.100 OpenClone_DB_Port=5433 OpenClone_Postgres_Password=puppies OpenClone_postgres_superuser_password=openclone-super # Main Database OpenClone_OpenCloneDB_Name=open_clone OpenClone_OpenCloneDB_User=openclone OpenClone_openclonedb_password=kittens OpenClone_DefaultConnection=Host=192.168.0.100;Port=5433;Database=open_clone;Username=openclone;Password=kittens;Include Error Detail=true; OpenClone_DefaultConnection_Super=Host=192.168.0.100;Port=5433;Database=open_clone;Username=postgres;Password=openclone-super;Include Error Detail=true; # Logging Database OpenClone_LogDB_Name=open_clone_logging OpenClone_LogDB_User=logs OpenClone_logdb_password=bunnies OpenClone_LogDbConnection=Host=192.168.0.100;Port=5433;Database=open_clone_logging;Username=logs;Password=bunnies; OpenClone_LogDbConnection_Super=Host=192.168.0.100;Port=5433;Database=open_clone_logging;Username=postgres;Password=openclone-super;
# Your Information OpenClone_Admin_Email=<[email protected]> OpenClone_JWT_Issuer=https://www.clonezone.me OpenClone_JWT_Audience=OpenClone # File Storage (Update paths for your system) OpenClone_Root_Dir=C:/Users/seanm/Desktop/OpenClone OpenClone_OpenCloneFS=C:/Users/seanm/Desktop/OpenClone/OpenCloneFS # AI Service Endpoints (Default local addresses) OpenClone_SadTalker_HostAddress=http://127.0.0.1:5001 OpenClone_U2Net_HostAddress=http://127.0.0.1:5002 # Email (Optional - for DKIM) OpenClone_email_dkim=v=<your-dkim-public-key> OpenClone_ZOHO_EMAIL_PASSWORD=<your-zoho-password> # Cloud Deployment (Optional - for Vultr hosting) OpenClone_Vultr_API_Key=<your-vultr-api-key> OpenClone_Server_0_IP_Address=<your-server-ip> OpenClone_Server_0_Password=<your-server-password> # System Settings OpenClone_CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=0,1 OpenClone_OpenCloneLogLevel=Information OpenClone_SystemLogLevel=Error
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