Render

Deploy OpenClaw on Render using the repo's render.yaml Blueprint. It declares the service, disk, and environment variables in one file.

Prerequisites

• A Render account (free tier available)
• An API key from your preferred model provider

Deploy

Deploy to Render

This creates a Render service from render.yaml, builds the Docker image, and deploys it. Your service URL follows the pattern https://<service-name>.onrender.com.

The Blueprint

services:
  - type: web
    name: openclaw
    runtime: docker
    plan: starter
    healthCheckPath: /health
    envVars:
      - key: OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_PORT
        value: "8080"
      - key: OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR
        value: /data/.openclaw
      - key: OPENCLAW_WORKSPACE_DIR
        value: /data/workspace
      - key: OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN
        generateValue: true # auto-generates a secure token
    disk:
      name: openclaw-data
      mountPath: /data
      sizeGB: 1

Choosing a plan

The Blueprint defaults to starter. To use the free tier, change plan: free in your fork's render.yaml — note that with no persistent disk, OpenClaw state resets on each deploy.

After deployment

Access the Control UI

The web dashboard is available at https://<your-service>.onrender.com/. Connect using the shared secret: the auto-generated OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN (find it in Dashboard → your service → Environment), or your password if you switched to password auth.

Logs

Dashboard → your service → Logs shows build logs (Docker image creation), deploy logs (service startup), and runtime logs (application output).

Shell access

Dashboard → your service → Shell opens a shell session. The persistent disk is mounted at /data.

Environment variables

Edit variables in Dashboard → your service → Environment. Changes trigger an automatic redeploy.

Auto-deploy

Render redeploys automatically when the connected repo's branch gets a new commit. If you deployed straight from openclaw/openclaw instead of your own fork, you have no push access to trigger that, so update by running a manual Blueprint sync from the Dashboard, or point the service at your own fork.

Custom domain

1. Dashboard → your service → Settings → Custom Domains
2. Add your domain
3. Configure DNS as instructed (CNAME to *.onrender.com)
4. Render provisions a TLS certificate automatically

Scaling

• Vertical: change the plan for more CPU/RAM. Usually sufficient for OpenClaw.
• Horizontal: increase instance count (Standard plan and above). Requires sticky sessions or external state management since OpenClaw keeps runtime state on the local disk.

Backups and migration

From the Render Dashboard shell, export state, config, auth profiles, and workspace at any time:

openclaw backup create

This creates a portable backup archive. See Backup.

Troubleshooting

Service will not start

Check the deploy logs in the Render Dashboard. Common issues:

• Missing OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN — verify it is set in Dashboard → Environment
• Port mismatch — ensure OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_PORT=8080 so the gateway binds to the port Render expects

Slow cold starts (free tier)

Free tier services spin down after 15 minutes of inactivity; the first request after spin-down takes a few seconds while the container starts. Upgrade to Starter for always-on.

Data loss after redeploy

Happens on the free tier (no persistent disk). Upgrade to a paid plan, or regularly export a backup with openclaw backup create from the Render shell.

Health check failures

If builds succeed but deploys fail, the service may be taking too long to start or /health may not be reachable. Check:

• Build logs for errors
• Whether the container runs locally with docker build && docker run

Next steps

• Set up messaging channels: Channels
• Configure the Gateway: Gateway configuration
• Keep OpenClaw up to date: Updating