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DigitalOcean

docs/install/digitalocean.md

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Run a persistent OpenClaw Gateway on a DigitalOcean Droplet (~$6/month for the 1 GB Basic plan).

DigitalOcean is the simplest paid VPS path. If you prefer cheaper or free options:

  • Hetzner — €3.79/mo, more cores/RAM per dollar.
  • Oracle Cloud — Always Free ARM (up to 4 OCPU, 24 GB RAM), but signup can be finicky and ARM-only.

Prerequisites

  • DigitalOcean account (signup)
  • SSH key pair (or willingness to use password auth)
  • About 20 minutes

Setup

<Steps> <Step title="Create a Droplet"> <Warning> Use a clean base image (Ubuntu 24.04 LTS). Avoid third-party Marketplace 1-click images unless you have reviewed their startup scripts and firewall defaults. </Warning> 
1. Log into [DigitalOcean](https://cloud.digitalocean.com/).
2. Click **Create > Droplets**.
3. Choose:
   - **Region:** Closest to you
   - **Image:** Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
   - **Size:** Basic, Regular, 1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 25 GB SSD
   - **Authentication:** SSH key (recommended) or password
4. Click **Create Droplet** and note the IP address.
</Step> <Step title="Connect and install"> ```bash ssh root@YOUR_DROPLET_IP 
apt update && apt upgrade -y

# Install Node.js 24
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_24.x | bash -
apt install -y nodejs

# Install OpenClaw
curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash

# Create the non-root user that will own OpenClaw state and services.
adduser openclaw
usermod -aG sudo openclaw
loginctl enable-linger openclaw

su - openclaw
openclaw --version
```

Use the root shell only for system bootstrap. Run OpenClaw commands as the non-root `openclaw` user so state lives under `/home/openclaw/.openclaw/` and the Gateway installs as that user's systemd service.
</Step> <Step title="Run onboarding"> ```bash openclaw onboard --install-daemon ``` 
The wizard walks you through model auth, channel setup, gateway token generation, and daemon installation (systemd).
</Step> <Step title="Add swap (recommended for 1 GB Droplets)"> ```bash fallocate -l 2G /swapfile chmod 600 /swapfile mkswap /swapfile swapon /swapfile echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' >> /etc/fstab ``` </Step> <Step title="Verify the gateway"> ```bash openclaw status systemctl --user status openclaw-gateway.service journalctl --user -u openclaw-gateway.service -f ``` </Step> <Step title="Access the Control UI"> The gateway binds to loopback by default. Pick one of these options. 
**Option A: SSH tunnel (simplest)**

```bash
# From your local machine
ssh -L 18789:localhost:18789 root@YOUR_DROPLET_IP
```

Then open `http://localhost:18789`.

**Option B: Tailscale Serve**

```bash
curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sudo sh
sudo tailscale up
openclaw config set gateway.tailscale.mode serve
openclaw gateway restart
```

Then open `https://<magicdns>/` from any device on your tailnet.

Tailscale Serve authenticates Control UI and WebSocket traffic via tailnet identity headers, which assumes the gateway host itself is trusted. HTTP API endpoints follow the gateway's normal auth mode (token/password) regardless. To require explicit shared-secret credentials over Serve, set `gateway.auth.allowTailscale: false` and use `gateway.auth.mode: "token"` or `"password"`.

**Option C: Tailnet bind (no Serve)**

```bash
openclaw config set gateway.bind tailnet
openclaw gateway restart
```

Then open `http://<tailscale-ip>:18789` (token required).
</Step> </Steps>

Persistence and backups

OpenClaw state lives under:

  • ~/.openclaw/ — openclaw.json, per-agent auth-profiles.json, channel/provider state, and session data.
  • ~/.openclaw/workspace/ — the agent workspace (SOUL.md, memory, artifacts).

These survive Droplet reboots. To take a portable snapshot:

bash
openclaw backup create

DigitalOcean snapshots back the whole Droplet up; openclaw backup create is portable across hosts.

1 GB RAM tips

The $6 Droplet only has 1 GB RAM. To keep things smooth:

  • Make sure the swap step above is in /etc/fstab so it survives reboots.
  • Prefer API-based models (Claude, GPT) over local ones — local LLM inference does not fit in 1 GB.
  • Set agents.defaults.model.primary to a smaller model if you hit OOMs on large prompts.
  • Monitor with free -h and htop.

Troubleshooting

Gateway will not start -- Run openclaw doctor --non-interactive and check logs with journalctl --user -u openclaw-gateway.service -n 50.

Port already in use -- Run lsof -i :18789 to find the process, then stop it.

Out of memory -- Verify swap is active with free -h. If still hitting OOM, use API-based models (Claude, GPT) rather than local models, or upgrade to a 2 GB Droplet.

Next steps