How to install on DigitalOcean on OpenClaw

DigitalOcean offers two paths to deploy OpenClaw:

Option A: 1-Click App (recommended)
Go to the DigitalOcean Marketplace and search for OpenClaw. Click Create OpenClaw Droplet — this pre-installs Docker, OpenClaw, and Nginx reverse proxy. Select the $12/mo Droplet (2 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 50 GB SSD) for reliable performance.

Option B: Manual setup
Go to Create → Droplets, select Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, choose the $12/mo plan (minimum $6/mo works but 2 GB is recommended), select your SSH key, and create the Droplet.

Once the Droplet is created, note the IP address from the dashboard. Connect via SSH:

ssh root@YOUR_DROPLET_IP

If you used the 1-Click App, you'll see the OpenClaw welcome message with next steps. For manual setup, update the system first:

apt update && apt upgrade -y

Skip this step if you used the 1-Click App. Install Docker:

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

Verify installation:

docker --version
docker compose version

Skip this step if you used the 1-Click App. Set up the project:

mkdir -p ~/openclaw && cd ~/openclaw
echo "OPENCLAW_SECRET=$(openssl rand -base64 32)" > .env

Create docker-compose.yml:

cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
version: '3.8'
services:
  openclaw:
    image: openclaw/gateway:latest
    container_name: openclaw
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/app/data
    env_file: .env
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production
EOF

Start OpenClaw:

docker compose up -d

Access the Control UI via SSH tunnel:

ssh -L 3000:localhost:3000 root@YOUR_DROPLET_IP

Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser. Configure:

• AI Provider: Enter your Anthropic or OpenAI API key
• Messaging: Connect WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, or Slack
• Security: Set gateway authentication password
• Preferences: Language, timezone, agent defaults

If you used the 1-Click App, the wizard URL is shown in the SSH welcome message.

Use DigitalOcean's Cloud Firewall (free) for network-level security. Go to Networking → Firewalls → Create Firewall:

• Inbound: Allow SSH (port 22) from your IP only, HTTP (80) and HTTPS (443) if using Nginx
• Outbound: Allow all (OpenClaw needs to reach AI provider APIs and messaging services)

Apply the firewall to your Droplet.

Enable Droplet Backups ($2.40/mo for the $12 Droplet) from the Droplet settings for automatic weekly full-server backups.

Enable Monitoring (free) from the Droplet dashboard to track CPU, memory, disk, and network usage. Set up alerts for high memory usage — OpenClaw typically uses 300-800 MB RAM.

For volume snapshots on demand:

# Take a manual snapshot from the DigitalOcean dashboard
# Snapshots → Take Snapshot