How to Deploy Your Own OpenClaw Server

While ClawSimple offers a fully managed service for convenience, you are free to run OpenClaw on your own infrastructure for free.

This guide will walk you through setting up a self-hosted OpenClaw instance on a fresh Ubuntu server.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, you will need:

1. A Fresh Ubuntu Server: We recommend Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or newer. A server with 2 vCPU and 4GB RAM is a good starting point. You can get one from providers like AWS, DigitalOcean, or Hetzner.
2. Root Access: You need SSH access to your server with root privileges (or sudo access).
3. Telegram Bot Token: Create a new bot with @BotFather on Telegram and get your API Token.
4. Telegram User ID: Find your numeric User ID (e.g., via @userinfobot) to add yourself to the allowlist.
5. AI API Key (Optional): An API key for OpenAI or Z.ai if you want to use specific models.

Step 1: Connect to Your Server

Open your terminal and SSH into your server:

ssh root@your-server-ip

Step 2: Run the Installer

We provide an automated installation script that handles dependencies (Node.js, pnpm), systemd service creation, and initial configuration.

Copy and paste the following command into your terminal:

curl -fsSL https://clawsimple.com/api/install | bash

The script will ask you for a few details:

• Telegram Bot Token: Paste the token you got from BotFather.
• Telegram User ID: Enter your numeric ID.
• AI API Keys: (Optional) Enter your keys if you have them.

Step 3: Deployment Complete

Once the script finishes, you will see a success message:

==========================================
  ClawSimple Installation Complete!
==========================================

Your OpenClaw bot is now running as a systemd service called clawsimple.

Useful Commands

• Check Status: sudo systemctl status clawsimple
• View Logs: sudo journalctl -u clawsimple -f
• Restart Service: sudo systemctl restart clawsimple

What's Next?

Your bot should now be online on Telegram! Send Hi to your bot to start chatting.

Since you are self-hosting, you have full control over the configuration. You can find the environment variables in /opt/clawsimple/.env and the main config in /opt/clawsimple/.openclaw/openclaw.json.

Happy hacking!