How to Install and Set Up OpenClaw on a VPS

AI agents and self-hosted automation platforms are becoming increasingly popular among developers, businesses, and privacy-conscious users.

OpenClaw is one of the more flexible solutions available today, allowing users to build custom AI workflows, install skills, automate repetitive tasks, and run AI-powered assistants from their own infrastructure.

One of the best ways to deploy OpenClaw is on a VPS. Unlike shared hosting, a VPS provides dedicated resources, root access, and full control over your environment.

In this guide, we’ll walk through installing OpenClaw on a VPS running Ubuntu, Debian, or AlmaLinux, along with recommended server configurations and common use cases.

Recommended VPS Configurations

OpenClaw itself is relatively lightweight, but memory usage can increase quickly as you add skills, integrations, and automations.

While a minimal installation may run on 1 GB of RAM, most users will have a much smoother experience with at least 4 GB available.

For best performance, we also recommend using a VPS without a Web Hosting Control Panel.

Platforms such as cPanel or Plesk consume additional memory and system resources that could otherwise be allocated to OpenClaw.

Recommended Setup

Ideal for personal projects and small business workflows:

• 2 vCPU
• 4 GB RAM
• 40 GB SSD storage

Larger Business Deployment

Recommended for multiple users, advanced automations, and heavier workloads:

• 4 vCPU
• 8 GB RAM
• 80+ GB SSD storage

Preparing the VPS

OpenClaw works well on several modern Linux distributions.

For this guide, we’ll use Ubuntu, although any operating system available with our VPS plans should work.

Connect to your server via SSH:

ssh root@your-server-ip

Update your system packages:

apt update && apt upgrade -y

Install common utilities:

apt install curl wget git unzip build-essential python3 python3-pip -y

Installing OpenClaw

OpenClaw can be installed using the official installation script:

curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash

The installer will also set up Node.js and guide you through the initial configuration process.

During onboarding, you’ll be asked to:

• Confirm a security acknowledgment, since OpenClaw can access files and execute commands on your system.
• Select an LLM provider, such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Nvidia, or local models through Ollama.
• Configure the gateway bind address. For security, select 127.0.0.1 (localhost).
• Choose a messaging channel. Telegram is usually the easiest option on a headless Linux server.
• Configure optional skills and hooks, which can also be added later.

If you’re looking for a free model provider, Nvidia offers several free endpoints through build.nvidia.com, although performance may be slower than commercial alternatives.

After installation, verify that everything is working correctly:

openclaw --version
openclaw doctor

The doctor command checks your installation, Node.js version, configuration, connectivity, and port availability, and suggests fixes for any detected issues.

Note: If you receive a “command not found” error when running OpenClaw commands, reconnect to your SSH session to refresh your PATH.

Running OpenClaw as a Service

To start OpenClaw automatically after a reboot:

openclaw gateway start --install-daemon

You can then manage it like any other system service:

sudo systemctl status openclaw
sudo systemctl restart openclaw
journalctl -u openclaw -f

It is also important to enable user lingering. Otherwise, Linux may terminate OpenClaw processes when you disconnect from your SSH session:

sudo loginctl enable-linger $USER

Setting Up Telegram

Once your VPS is configured, you can connect OpenClaw to Telegram.

Open Telegram and search for @BotFather (the verified account with the blue checkmark).

Create a new bot by running:

/newbot

Choose a bot name and a unique username ending in bot.

After creation, BotFather will provide an API token similar to:

8023765041:AYGJX7NziHtbFPL8T-XD5oqwP54L-fioZLQ

Save this token and return to your VPS.

Edit your OpenClaw configuration:

openclaw config

Locate the Channels section and update your Telegram settings.

Then restart OpenClaw:

openclaw gateway restart

Send a message to your bot in Telegram. OpenClaw will generate a pairing code.

Approve the pairing request:

openclaw pairing approve telegram MJOSDHYRT

Finally, send:

/start

to begin interacting with your bot.

Common OpenClaw Use Cases

Personal AI Assistant

Many users deploy OpenClaw as a private AI assistant for managing tasks, organizing notes, summarizing information, and automating daily workflows.

Because it runs on your own VPS, you retain greater control over privacy, data storage, and customization.

Content and Research Automation

OpenClaw can help generate content outlines, summarize articles, organize research notes, and automate repetitive writing tasks.

This makes it useful for bloggers, marketers, developers, students, and researchers.

Internal Knowledge Assistant

Businesses can use OpenClaw to search internal documentation, SOPs, onboarding materials, and company resources.

This reduces the time employees spend manually searching for information and helps centralize organizational knowledge.

Customer Support and Workflow Automation

OpenClaw can be integrated into support systems and internal workflows to answer common questions, summarize tickets, automate repetitive actions, and trigger workflows based on incoming requests.

Running the platform on your own VPS also provides greater control over sensitive business data.

A Few Words of Caution

OpenClaw is still a relatively young platform and, like many AI-powered tools, it is not immune to mistakes.

Because it can interact with files, services, and external systems, it is important to carefully review the permissions you grant and the automations you create.

As a general best practice, start with limited access and gradually expand permissions only as needed.

This helps reduce the risk of unintended actions while you become familiar with how the platform behaves in your environment.

NOTE: The whole process – from logging in for the first time on the server to having an OpenClaw bot up and running takes between 10 and 30 minutes, depending on how experienced you are with both servers and OpenClaw itself.

A great marketing opportunity for your store 

As AI tools continue to grow in popularity, more users are looking for affordable ways to run AI applications in private, flexible, and fully controlled environments. 

This creates a great opportunity for you – our reseller hosting partners, to offer VPS solutions optimized for AI-related workloads and self-hosted AI platforms like OpenClaw.

By allowing customers to install OpenClaw on their VPS, you can position your hosting services within the growing AI market without having to build your own AI platform.

Many users prefer self-hosted solutions because they offer greater privacy, customization, and control compared to cloud-based AI services.

This can help you:

• Attract AI-focused customers and developers;
• Differentiate their VPS services from competitors;
• Increase demand for higher-resource VPS plans;
• Encourage long-term customer retention;
• Position your brand within the rapidly growing AI market.

As demand for self-hosted AI tools grows, offering VPS solutions for applications like OpenClaw can become a valuable part of your hosting services and marketing strategy.

Originally published Friday, June 5th, 2026 at 10:53 am, updated June 5, 2026 and is filed under Reseller Hosting, Virtual Private Servers.

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