How to Install OpenClaw on a VPS: Step-by-Step Guide

Setting up your own AI assistant on a VPS might sound intimidating, but it's actually surprisingly straightforward. In about 30 minutes, you'll have a fully functional AI assistant that can chat with you on Telegram, remember conversations, run commands, and even generate voice messages.

In this guide, you'll learn how to install OpenClaw on a fresh Ubuntu VPS, connect it to Telegram, and start chatting with your personal AI assistant.

Security Note: OpenClaw has full system access on whatever machine it runs on. Always install it on an isolated VPS. Never install OpenClaw on your main computer or a server with sensitive data. Treat it like giving someone remote access to your machine and proceed with caution.

How to Install OpenClaw on a VPS - Quick Overview

Prerequisites

Before starting, you'll need:

• A fresh Ubuntu VPS (Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 recommended). If you need one, SSD Nodes offers an affordable Openclaw VPS hosting perfect for this.
• SSH access to your server with root or sudo privileges
• A Telegram account to create a bot and chat with OpenClaw
• An Anthropic API key from console.anthropic.com (required for the AI brain)

Step 1: Connect to Your VPS

First, SSH into your fresh VPS:

ssh root@your-server-ip

You should see a welcome message and a command prompt.

Before proceeding, install screen so your session survives any SSH disconnections during installation:

apt install -y screen

Step 2: Create a Dedicated User

Running OpenClaw as root is not recommended. Let's create a dedicated user called openclaw:

adduser openclaw

You'll be prompted to set a password and fill in some optional information (you can press Enter to skip the optional fields).

Next, give this user sudo privileges:

usermod -aG sudo openclaw

Now switch to the new user:

su - openclaw
screen -S openclaw

You're now inside a screen session running as the openclaw user. If your SSH connection drops at any point, reconnect to your VPS, run su - openclaw, then screen -rd openclaw to pick up where you left off.

Your prompt should change to show openclaw@yourserver. From now on, we'll do everything as this user.

Step 3: Install OpenClaw

OpenClaw provides a simple one-line installer. Run it:

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

This script automatically:

• Detects your system
• Installs Node.js if needed
• Installs OpenClaw globally

This process can take from 10 minutes to 30 minutes or more depending on the dependencies needed.
Once complete, it will go directly to the onboarding process.

If it does not go directly to onboarding, then verify the installation first:

openclaw --version

You should see something like 2026.3.7.

Note: If you see bash: openclaw: command not found after installation, the binary isn't in your PATH yet. Fix it by running:

export PATH=$HOME/.npm-global/bin:$PATH

Then make it permanent so it survives future sessions:

echo 'export PATH=$HOME/.npm-global/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Now try openclaw --version again and you should see the version number.

Step 4: Run the Setup Wizard

OpenClaw includes an interactive setup wizard that configures everything for you. If it's not already running, run it with the following command:

openclaw onboard

The wizard will guide you through several steps:

Security Warning

First, you'll see a security warning explaining that OpenClaw has full system access. Read it carefully, then select Yes to continue.

Choose Onboarding Mode

Select QuickStart (the default) for the easiest setup.

Select Model Provider

Choose Anthropic as your model provider.

Anthropic Auth Method

Select Anthropic API key.

Enter Your API Key

Paste your Anthropic API key when prompted.

Tip: Get your API key from console.anthropic.com. You'll need to add credits to your account.

Select Default Model

Keep the default (claude-opus-4-5) or choose a different model from the list.

Choose a Channel (Telegram)

Select Telegram as your messaging channel. The wizard will appear after a few minutes and show you instructions for creating a bot with BotFather.

Create a Telegram Bot & Enter Token

To get a bot token:

1. Open Telegram and search for @BotFather
2. Send /newbot to BotFather
3. Choose a display name for your bot (e.g., "My OpenClaw")
4. Choose a username ending in bot (e.g., "myopenclaw_bot")
5. BotFather will give you a token like 8562115417:AAFVazfBSo1234pE8n2kpN5TRlVcYWJOs64

Paste this token into the wizard.

Configure Skills

You'll be asked about skills configuration. Select Yes to continue.

Install Skill Dependencies

You'll see a list of available skills. Select Skip for now to continue without installing optional dependencies, or choose any skills you want.

Skip Optional API Keys

The wizard will ask about various optional API keys (Google Places, Gemini, Notion, OpenAI, ElevenLabs). Select No for each one to skip them.

Enable Hooks

When asked about hooks, select Skip for now.

Onboarding Complete!

The wizard will show a completion message with the dashboard information with instructions on how to access it.

This is your confirmation that everything is working. The dashboard URL shown (http://127.0.0.1:18789/...) is intentionally bound to localhost only, meaning it’s not accessible from outside the server. That’s by design for security reasons. The next step covers how to access it from your local machine.

Copy the full token URL from your terminal output, you’ll need it in Step 6.

Step 5: Start the Gateway if Not Started automatically

screen -rd openclaw
openclaw gateway

export PATH=$HOME/.npm-global/bin:$PATH

Step 6: Verify the Gateway is Running and Access the Dashboard from Your Local Machine

Open a new terminal (or detach from screen with Ctrl+A, D).

If you're logged in as root, switch to the openclaw user first:

su - openclaw

Then check:

openclaw status

You should see the gateway is running.

ssh -N -L 18789:127.0.0.1:18789 openclaw@<your-vps-ip>

ss -tlnp | grep 18789

LISTEN 0 511 127.0.0.1:18789 0.0.0.0:* users:(("openclaw-gatewa",pid=3948,fd=24))
LISTEN 0 511 [::1]:18789 [::]:* users:(("openclaw-gatewa",pid=3948,fd=26))

http://localhost:18789/#token=YOUR_TOKEN_HERE

Step 7: Pair Your Telegram Account

For security, OpenClaw requires you to "pair" before it will respond to your messages. This prevents random people from chatting with your AI.

Open Telegram and send any message to your new bot (e.g., "hello").

The bot will respond with a pairing code like ABCD1234.

Now approve this pairing from your terminal:

openclaw pairing approve telegram ABCD1234

Replace ABCD1234 with your actual pairing code.

Step 8: Start Chatting!

Go back to Telegram and send a message. OpenClaw should now respond!

Try asking it:

• "What can you do?"
• "What's the weather like?"
• "Tell me a joke"

Congratulations! You now have your own personal AI assistant running on your VPS!

Managing Your OpenClaw Instance

Check Status

openclaw status

Restart the Gateway

If running in screen:

screen -rd openclaw
# Press Ctrl+C to stop, then run:
openclaw gateway

View Configuration

cat ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json

Troubleshooting

ss -tlnp | grep 18789

screen -rd openclaw
openclaw gateway

"systemctl --user unavailable" error

This is normal on VPS environments without systemd user sessions. Use screen to run the gateway in the background:

screen -S openclaw
openclaw gateway
# Ctrl+A, then D to detach

Bot not responding?

1. Check the gateway is running: openclaw status
2. Verify your pairing: openclaw pairing list telegram
3. Make sure you approved the pairing code

"API key invalid" error?

Make sure your Anthropic API key is correct and has credits.

Need to reconfigure?

Run the wizard again:

openclaw onboard

Security audit

Run a security check on your installation:

openclaw security audit --deep

What You've Accomplished

By following this guide, you've successfully:

• Set up a secure, dedicated user for OpenClaw
• Installed OpenClaw on your VPS
• Created a Telegram bot and connected it to OpenClaw
• Paired your Telegram account for secure access
• Started chatting with your personal AI assistant

Your AI assistant is now live! It can chat with you, remember context across conversations, search the web, run commands on your server, and much more.

FAQ

Is OpenClaw free to use?

OpenClaw itself is free and open source. However, you'll need to pay for:

• Your VPS hosting
• Anthropic API usage (pay-per-token)
• Optional: ElevenLabs for voice features

Can I connect other messaging apps?

Yes! OpenClaw supports Discord, WhatsApp, Signal, Slack, and more. Run openclaw onboard again to add additional channels.

How do I update OpenClaw?

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

Then restart your gateway.

Where is my OpenClaw data stored?

All data is stored locally on your VPS in ~/.openclaw/ (config) and your workspace folder (memory, files). Nothing is sent to external servers except API calls to Anthropic.

Is OpenClaw secure?

OpenClaw has full access to whatever machine it runs on. That's why we strongly recommend:

• Using an isolated VPS (not your main computer)
• Not connecting sensitive accounts
• Being careful about prompt injection in group chats
• Running openclaw security audit --deep to check your setup