Deployment Options

OpenClaw can be deployed in many ways, from a simple local install to fully managed cloud hosting. This guide compares the major options.

Quick Comparison

Method	Difficulty	Best For	Cost
Local install	Easy	Personal use, development	Free (+ LLM API)
Docker	Medium	Self-hosters, VPS	Free (+ VPS + LLM API)
Moltworker	Easy	Cloudflare users	~$34.50/mo
Kubernetes	Hard	Production, teams	Free (+ cluster + LLM API)
1Panel	Easy	VPS with GUI management	Free (+ VPS + LLM API)
Coolify	Easy	Self-hosted PaaS users	Free (+ VPS + LLM API)
DigitalOcean 1-Click	Easy	Quick cloud deploy	From $24/mo
Hostinger Template	Easy	Budget VPS	From $5/mo + LLM API
Managed Hosting	Easiest	Non-technical users	Varies

Docker

The official Docker image is the most popular self-hosted deployment method.

# Pull the latest image
docker pull openclaw/openclaw:latest

# Run with Docker Compose (recommended)
curl -fsSL https://docs.openclaw.ai/docker-compose.yml -o docker-compose.yml
docker compose up -d

The Docker setup:

1. Builds the OpenClaw image locally
2. Runs the onboarding wizard inside the container
3. Generates a gateway token for accessing the Control UI
4. Creates necessary configuration volumes
5. Starts the Gateway via Docker Compose

docker-compose.yml (example)

services:
  openclaw:
    image: openclaw/openclaw:latest
    ports:
      - "18789:18789"
    volumes:
      - openclaw-data:/root/.openclaw
    environment:
      - ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=${ANTHROPIC_API_KEY}
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  openclaw-data:

danger

Never bind port 18789 to 0.0.0.0 without authentication. Use 127.0.0.1:18789:18789 or put OpenClaw behind a reverse proxy with auth.

Docker with Local Models

To run OpenClaw with Ollama for fully local inference:

docker-compose.yml

services:
  openclaw:
    image: openclaw/openclaw:latest
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:18789:18789"
    volumes:
      - openclaw-data:/root/.openclaw
    environment:
      - OPENCLAW_BRAIN_PROVIDER=ollama
      - OLLAMA_HOST=http://ollama:11434
    depends_on:
      - ollama
    restart: unless-stopped

  ollama:
    image: ollama/ollama:latest
    volumes:
      - ollama-data:/root/.ollama
    deploy:
      resources:
        reservations:
          devices:
            - driver: nvidia
              count: all
              capabilities: [gpu]
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  openclaw-data:
  ollama-data:

Moltworker (Cloudflare Workers)

Moltworker is Cloudflare's official adaptation that runs OpenClaw on Workers and Sandbox containers — fully managed, always-on, no self-hosting required.

• 8,400 GitHub stars | License: Apache-2.0
• Multi-channel chat (Telegram, Discord, Slack)
• Device pairing authentication
• Optional R2 persistent storage
• Browser automation via CDP
• Cloudflare AI Gateway routing
• Cost: ~$34.50/month on standard-1 instance

Getting Started with Moltworker

1. Fork the Moltworker repo
2. Configure your Cloudflare account and Workers environment
3. Set environment variables (LLM API keys, channel tokens)
4. Deploy via wrangler deploy

tip

Moltworker is ideal if you're already on the Cloudflare ecosystem. It handles scaling, uptime, and edge deployment automatically.

Kubernetes (Helm Chart)

For production deployments on Kubernetes, use the community Helm chart:

helm repo add openclaw https://serhanekicii.github.io/openclaw-helm
helm install openclaw openclaw/openclaw -f values.yaml

Key Features

• StatefulSet deployment with Chromium sidecar for browser automation
• Security-hardened: non-root containers, read-only root filesystems, all capabilities dropped
• Dual config modes: "merge" (preserves runtime changes) or "overwrite" (strict GitOps)
• Init containers for auto-installing ClawHub skills
• Health probes on both OpenClaw and Chromium containers
• ArgoCD and Stakater Reloader compatible
• Network policies with deny-all-ingress defaults
• Requires K8s 1.26+

values.yaml (example)

openclaw:
  config:
    gateway:
      port: 18789
      host: "0.0.0.0"
    brain:
      provider: anthropic
  env:
    ANTHROPIC_API_KEY:
      secretKeyRef:
        name: openclaw-secrets
        key: anthropic-api-key

1Panel

1Panel is an open-source web-based Linux server management panel with an App Store that includes OpenClaw as a one-click install.

Why 1Panel?

• GUI-based management — No command line required after initial setup
• One-click OpenClaw install from the App Store
• Ollama integration — Install local LLMs alongside OpenClaw
• Built-in monitoring — CPU, memory, disk, network dashboards
• Docker management — Visual container management
• Backup/restore — One-click backup to cloud storage
• Firewall management — Security hardening through the UI
• 33,300+ GitHub stars — Large, active community

Installing 1Panel

# One-line install on any Linux server
bash -c "$(curl -sSL https://resource.fit2cloud.com/1panel/package/v2/quick_start.sh)"

After installation, access the web panel at http://your-server:port (the installer will show you the URL and credentials).

Installing OpenClaw via 1Panel

1. Open the 1Panel web interface
2. Navigate to App Store
3. Search for OpenClaw
4. Click Install
5. Configure your LLM API key and other settings
6. Click Confirm

1Panel uses the 1panel/openclaw Docker image and handles all the container management, volume mounts, and networking for you.

Managing OpenClaw in 1Panel

Once installed, you can:

• Start/stop/restart the OpenClaw container
• View logs in real-time
• Update to new versions with one click
• Configure environment variables
• Monitor resource usage (CPU, memory)
• Backup configuration and memory data

1Panel Specs

Detail	Value
Repository	github.com/1Panel-dev/1Panel
License	GPLv3 (Pro tier available)
Stack	Go backend, Vue.js frontend
Stars	33,300+
OpenClaw image	1panel/openclaw on Docker Hub

Coolify

Coolify is a self-hosted PaaS (like Heroku) that supports OpenClaw deployment. The most popular community integration is openclaw-coolify (96 stars).

Features of the Coolify integration:

• Docker Sidecar Proxy for sandboxing
• Cloudflare Tunnel integration for secure access
• SearXNG private search engine
• Pre-installed dev tools (GitHub CLI, Vercel, Bun, Python, ripgrep)
• Bitwarden/GPG encryption support

# Deploy via Coolify's one-click service
# (from the Coolify dashboard, select OpenClaw from the service catalog)

See the official Coolify docs or the community integration repo for details.

info

The Coolify build requires ~13 GB free disk space for the Docker build cache.

DigitalOcean 1-Click

DigitalOcean offers a pre-configured Droplet image with OpenClaw:

• Security-hardened configuration out of the box
• Starts at $24/month (4GB RAM Droplet)
• Automatic updates available
• Production-ready Gateway configuration

Deploy from the DigitalOcean Marketplace.

Hostinger

Hostinger provides a one-click OpenClaw Docker template for their VPS plans:

• Budget-friendly starting at ~$5/month
• Docker template pre-configured
• Step-by-step setup guide provided

Managed Hosting

35+ managed hosting providers have emerged for OpenClaw, ranging from $0.99/month shared containers to enterprise GDPR-compliant deployments. See the Hosting Providers guide for a comprehensive comparison.

Highlights:

• Cheapest: Agent37 at $0.99/mo (shared)
• Free: Oracle Cloud free tier — 4 ARM CPUs, 24 GB RAM
• Budget managed: MyClaw.ai from $9/mo
• GDPR: WZ-IT (German enterprise), RunClaw.ai (Hetzner DE)
• Pay-as-you-go: Clowd.bot at $0.50 per launch

warning

With managed hosting, your conversations and data pass through a third party's infrastructure. Review the provider's privacy policy carefully. Self-hosting gives you full control over your data.

Choosing the Right Option

Minimum Server Requirements

Setup	RAM	CPU	Storage	GPU
API-only (Anthropic/OpenAI)	1 GB	1 vCPU	5 GB	None
With Ollama (small models)	8 GB	4 vCPU	20 GB	Optional
With Ollama (large models)	32 GB	8 vCPU	50 GB	Recommended

See Also

• Installation — Local installation guide
• Local Models — Running with Ollama or vLLM
• Security Hardening — Securing any deployment
• WebClaw — Browser-based client for remote access
• Ecosystem — All community tools and projects