## Why Self-Host OpenClaw on a VPS? Running OpenClaw on your own VPS gives you full control over your AI agent. No cloud vendor lock-in, no surprise bills, and your data stays yours. The best part? You can do it for just $5/month. ## Prerequisites - A VPS from any provider (DigitalOcean, Hetzner, Vultr — all have $5/month plans) - Ubuntu 22.04 or newer - SSH access to your server - Basic terminal knowledge ## Step 1: Provision Your VPS Sign up for a VPS provider and create a droplet/instance with: - **OS:** Ubuntu 22.04 LTS - **RAM:** 1GB minimum (2GB recommended) - **Storage:** 25GB SSD - **Region:** Closest to you for low latency ## Step 2: Initial Server Setup ```bash # SSH into your server ssh root@your-server-ip # Update packages apt update && apt upgrade -y # Create a non-root user adduser openclaw usermod -aG sudo openclaw # Set up firewall ufw allow OpenSSH ufw allow 3000 ufw enable ``` ## Step 3: Install Node.js ```bash # Install Node.js 20 LTS curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash - apt install -y nodejs # Verify installation node --version # Should show v20.x.x npm --version ``` ## Step 4: Install OpenClaw ```bash # Install globally npm install -g openclaw # Initialize workspace mkdir ~/.openclaw && cd ~/.openclaw openclaw init # Configure your AI provider openclaw config set provider anthropic openclaw config set apiKey your-api-key-here ``` ## Step 5: Run as a Background Service ```bash # Create a systemd service sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/openclaw.service << 'EOF' [Unit] Description=OpenClaw AI Agent After=network.target [Service] Type=simple User=openclaw ExecStart=/usr/bin/openclaw gateway start Restart=always RestartSec=10 [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target EOF # Enable and start sudo systemctl enable openclaw sudo systemctl start openclaw sudo systemctl status openclaw ``` ## Step 6: Secure Your Installation 1. **Set up SSL** with Let's Encrypt if exposing a web interface 2. **Configure authentication** in your OpenClaw config 3. **Keep updated:** `npm update -g openclaw` regularly ## Troubleshooting **Port blocked?** Check `ufw status` and ensure port 3000 is allowed. **Out of memory?** Add a 1GB swap file: `fallocate -l 1G /swapfile && mkswap /swapfile && swapon /swapfile` **Service won't start?** Check logs: `journalctl -u openclaw -f` ## Next Steps - [Hardening your agent server](/post/openclaw-security-best-practices-hardening-your-agent-server) - [Building custom skills](/post/building-custom-skills-a-developers-guide-to-openclaw-extensions) - [Automating Twitter](/post/automating-twitter-how-to-build-an-ai-social-media-manager-with-openclaw) Your $5/month VPS is now a 24/7 AI agent. Not bad for the price of a coffee.