Setting Up OpenClaw on a Hetzner VPS

Posted on:February 11, 2026
· 3 min read

I’ve been running OpenClaw for a while now and it’s become pretty essential to my workflow. For those unfamiliar, it’s an open-source AI assistant you can self-host. Think of it as having Claude available through Telegram, WhatsApp, or whatever messaging app you prefer.

This post details how I set it up on a Hetzner VPS.

Why Hetzner?

Hetzner is cheap and reliable. Their CX22 (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM) runs about €4.49/month which is more than enough for OpenClaw. You could probably get away with a CX11 but I wouldn’t go smaller than that.

Server Setup

Create a new server in the Hetzner Cloud Console:

SSH in and set up a non-root user:

ssh root@your-server-ip
apt update && apt upgrade -y
adduser openclaw
usermod -aG sudo openclaw

Copy your SSH key to the new user:

mkdir -p /home/openclaw/.ssh
cp ~/.ssh/authorized_keys /home/openclaw/.ssh/
chown -R openclaw:openclaw /home/openclaw/.ssh

Logout and reconnect as the new user.

Install Node.js

OpenClaw needs Node 22:

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs

Install OpenClaw

Run the installer:

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

Then run the onboarding wizard:

openclaw onboard

This walks you through setting up your API key (I use Anthropic), workspace location, and channels. I mostly use Telegram so I set that up here.

For Telegram you’ll need to:

  1. Create a bot with @BotFather
  2. Copy the token
  3. Get your user ID (message @userinfobot)

Config

The config lives at ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json. Mine looks something like:

{
  "channels": {
    "telegram": {
      "enabled": true,
      "botToken": "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN",
      "dmPolicy": "allowlist",
      "allowFrom": ["YOUR_TELEGRAM_USER_ID"]
    }
  }
}

Running It

Start the gateway:

openclaw gateway start

Check status:

openclaw status

View logs:

openclaw logs --follow

If you installed the daemon during onboarding it will auto-start on boot.

Security

Set up a basic firewall:

sudo ufw allow ssh
sudo ufw enable

You don’t need to expose the gateway port since Telegram communicates outbound.

Remote Access

If you want to access the web dashboard remotely, Tailscale is the easiest option:

curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
sudo tailscale up

Then access via your Tailscale IP.

Updates

openclaw update

Or manually:

npm update -g openclaw
openclaw gateway restart

Troubleshooting

If things aren’t working:

openclaw doctor
openclaw logs --follow

Check your bot token is correct and your user ID is in the allowlist.

That’s basically it. The docs at docs.openclaw.ai cover everything else if you want to dig deeper.

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