OpenClaw VPS Setup Tutorial (Step-by-Step) - Clawdbot Setup

Hey, I'm Dan and in this video I'm going to show you step by step how to set up OpenClaw on a VPS. First, we'll set up your VPS. After that, we'll deploy OpenClaw and then we'll connect OpenClaw to a message app. To set up your VPS, we're going to be using Hostinger because with Hostinger, you can deploy OpenClaw very simply with just one click. It's also quite affordable to get started. Now, to get the best deal on your hosting or VPS, make sure to sign up using our exclusive partner link in the description below to get an extra 10% off any hosting or plan. Once you click on that link, you'll land on this page right here. You'll see the use cases and key features of OpenClaw. And in the top right, you can select a VPS plan. By default, this is set to a KVM2 plan, and that's what I recommend for OpenClaw. It gives you the resources you need to run it smoothly. And you can always scale this up in the future if you need to. So, I'm going to keep KVM2 selected. And once you've chosen a plan, click deploy. Next, you'll choose your billing period. I'm going to pick the 12-month option for this tutorial, but if you want to save the most, the 24-month option is the best value. Further down on the page, you'll see that OpenClaw is set to autodeploy, which is exactly what we want. This just means Hostinger will install it for you automatically. If you scroll down, you'll see the option for daily auto backup. I'm going to skip this for now to keep the price lower, but if this is something that you plan to rely on, daily backups can be worth it. It's basically a safety net in case something breaks and you need to roll back. Scroll down a bit further and you can choose your server location. In most cases, you'll just choose the location closest to you or closest to your audience. That usually gives you the best speed and the lowest latency. I'm going to leave the default location. If you've clicked the link in the description, you'll see the coupon code automatically applied. That will get you the additional 10% off. And once that looks good, click continue. On this screen, you'll create your Hostinger account. Just enter your email address, create a password, and then click register. Now, you'll enter your billing details. Click continue. Then enter your payment information and once you're done, click submit payment to proceed. Here you can click get started or it will happen automatically for you if the timer runs out. Once you've paid, you'll be brought to the Open Claw configuration and first you'll see the OpenClaw gateway token here. First make it visible, then copy it, and then save it somewhere safe. This token is basically the key that lets your VPS connect to your OpenCloud dashboard. So treat it like a password. Don't share it and don't leave it sitting in a document that you'll forget about. I'll save mine off screen in my password manager and we'll move on to the API keys. Next, we need an API key so that open call can actually talk to a model and respond. We'll start with the anthropic API key. Hostinger will tell you where to get this, but I also have the link down in the description. So, I'll open a new tab. I'll use that link. And you should see a page that looks like this. Once you've logged in, but before you create the API key, make sure your billing is enabled or it won't work. To do so, first go to limits on the lefth hand side, then click billing. Here you can buy some credits. I'll add a few credits to get started. Then you can go to the dashboard to create that API key. Or if you see this popup, you can click here to directly go to API keys under manage and API keys here in the submen in the top right. I'll click create key. I'll keep the default workspace selected and then I'll name my key something like open claw. Then I'll click add. Just like the openclaw gateway token, you want to copy this API key and store it somewhere securely. Once you've copied it, we can go back to Hostinger and paste that in the Anthropic API key here. Now, we're going to do the same thing for OpenAI. You don't have to set up both Anthropic and OpenAI, but I like having both options so that you can switch between them later, depending on what you're doing. This will follow a very similar process for any services that you would like to add. Hostinger has been updating this page, so you may see more services than I see here at the time of my recording. Just make sure that you set up billing for those services correctly. And once you have your keys, you can add them here just like I've done with Claude. And one quick heads up on pricing. Openclaw itself is free, but OpenAI and Anthropic are usage based. So every message can cost money. So if you're new to this, start simple. Keep an eye on your usage dashboards in Anthropic and OpenAI. And try not to spam a bunch of test messages while you're setting things up. A few dollars is fine to get started with testing, but you might consider adding enough credits on your favorite provider to enable a higher tier and a better experience. Finally, on this configuration screen, you'll see a WhatsApp number. I'm going to leave this blank because we're not using WhatsApp in this tutorial. If you do want to use it later, you can come back and add it. But for the simplest setup, we're going to use these API keys and then connect to Telegram. So once you've got your gateway token and your API keys ready, go ahead and click deploy. You may see a quick survey. I'll scroll down and skip. At the top, you'll see that your project is being deployed. And this can take a few minutes, so just give it a moment. What you're looking for is for the status to switch to running. Once the status shows running, find the OpenClaw dashboard link and click it to open it in a new tab. Paste in the Open Claw gateway token that you've saved and click login. Once you're in the chat, type a simple message, something like, "Does everything seem to be set up correctly?" And then send it. If you get a response that confirms three things: Open Claw is running on your VPS, your gateway is connected, and your API keys are working. In my first message, I get some security recommendations and some next steps if I would like. You can review these and you can have OpenClaw help you apply them if there are things that you would like to apply. If you don't get a response, double check that the gateway status is connected. On the left hand side, click overview. Verify that your gateway token is actually entered and check to make sure your status is connected. If you still have issues, make sure that your API keys were pasted correctly and that your billing is set up for those services. With your VPS set up and Open Call deployed, the last step is to connect a messaging app so that you can actually chat with your assistant like a normal conversation. This is one of the main reasons people use Open Call because instead of opening the dashboard every time and navigating to the chat window, you can just message your assistant from your phone or your computer and get responses right inside your chat app. For this tutorial, we're going to use Telegram. It's the simplest option because it supports bots and tokens and those make it easy to connect OpenClaw and test that everything is working. So that's what I'll teach you how to set up in the openclaw chat. I'll type please help me set up Telegram and then I'll send OpenClaw should then respond with some steps. Your steps may look a little bit different than mine, but the main points should be the same. We'll open Telegram and message BotFather. We'll create a new bot. Then we'll paste the token from botfather back to openclaw. I'll be using telegram desktop for this tutorial because it's easiest to set up and the main thing it's going to ask for is a telegram bot token and we'll get that from the botfather. At this point, let's hop into telegram. With telegram open here in the search bar, enter botfather. When you find the official one spelled just like this, open it and then click start. I'm going to close search and drag this over. To create a new bot, use this command here. After using that command or typing out new bot, give your new bot a name. I'll call mine Medics Media Dan openclaw. Next, it'll ask for a username. This one has to be unique and it has to end with bot. I'll call mine Medics Media Dan openclawbot. and I'll send. Once BotFather has created the bot, it'll provide you with an API token. Treat this like you've treated your other API keys. Go ahead and copy it. Then go back to your open call chat and paste in that token. I'll say here's the token for my new bot. I'll paste it in and then I'll hit send. After a moment, Open Claw will message back and we'll need to start the bot in Telegram. send it a message like hello and then we'll do the bot pairing. So now I'll go back to Telegram. In the message, our link to the new bot is right here. So click this to open it and here click start. Then what you want to do is find the pairing code in this message. Copy this. Return once again to Open Claw and provide the code. Pairing code. Paste. Send. Great. Open Claw will then confirm that this is paired. If you didn't already provide it in the first message with the pairing code, you may also need to provide your Telegram ID. I'll send this so my OpenClaw assistant has everything it needs. Sending your Telegram ID adds it to the allow list. So, let's go back to Telegram, open it, and type in, hey, are you online? And right away, we get a response. And if we check the open claw dashboard, we'll see the same response here. So, it looks like we're all paired up and running correctly. The last thing I'll do is open Telegram again and send one more message. What API service are you using to respond? I'd like to check my usage on that particular dashboard. My bot then responds that it's using the OpenAI API. And if you still have that tab open, you can navigate to your usage, refresh it, and again, while open call is free, checking this at this point will start to give you a sense of what your usage might cost based on how many messages you've sent so far to get set up. And that's all you need to do to get connected. You now have Open Claw deployed on a VPS. It's connected to your AI providers and it's linked to Telegram, so you can message it from anywhere. If you haven't signed up for the hosting or VPS yet, make sure to use the first link in the description. That link applies our exclusive discount. It gives you the extra 10% off any hosting or plan, and it makes this process really simple. Thanks for watching and let me know what you plan to have your new AI assistant help you with in the comments.