OpenClaw VPS Setup (Docker or Native)

What you’ll achieve

• Deploy OpenClaw on a VPS with either Docker or a native install
• Keep configs and data persistent
• Complete onboarding and verify the gateway
• Avoid common pitfalls (permissions, networking, data loss)

VPS sizing recommendation

• 2 vCPU / 2GB RAM / 20GB SSD
• Ubuntu 22.04+

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Option A: Docker (recommended)

Step 1: Update server

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -ysudo apt install -y curl git ca-certificates

Step 2: Install Docker + Compose

sudo apt install -y docker.io docker-composedocker --versiondocker-compose --version

Step 3: Fix Docker permissions

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Log out and back in.

Step 4: Clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw.gitcd openclaw

Step 5: Run the official Docker setup

chmod +x ./docker-setup.sh./docker-setup.sh

Optional: bake extra system packages into the image.

export OPENCLAW_DOCKER_APT_PACKAGES="ffmpeg build-essential"./docker-setup.sh

Host persistence paths (per official docs):

• ~/.openclaw/ (config/state)
• ~/.openclaw/workspace/ (workdir)

Step 6: Onboard via the CLI container

docker compose exec openclaw-cli openclaw onboard --flow quickstart

Step 7: Logs + validation

docker compose logs -f openclaw-gateway

Option B: Native install (no Docker)

Step 1: Install Node.js (recommended runtime)

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

Step 2: Install the CLI

npm i -g openclaw@latestopenclaw --version

Step 3: Run onboarding + install daemon

openclaw onboard --install-daemon

Step 4: Verify

openclaw healthopenclaw status --all

Step 10: Minimal hardening

sudo ufw allow OpenSSHsudo ufw enablesudo ufw status

Step 11: Backups

cd ~/openclawtar -czf openclaw-data-backup.tar.gz openclaw-data

Secure Control UI access (SSH tunnel)

If you need Control UI access, use SSH tunneling instead of exposing ports:

ssh -N -L 18789:127.0.0.1:18789 user@your-vps-ip

TweetEmbed examples:

• https://x.com/zstmfhy/status/2016680582017929560
• https://x.com/iamvarunahuja_/status/2016388702122213543

Next steps

• Channel setup: /docs/channel-telegram / /docs/channel-whatsapp / /docs/channel-feishu
• Troubleshooting: /docs/troubleshooting
• VPS plan guide: /vps