Openclaw¶

Installation on server¶

Create a new debian server configure-ssh-key-for-server create-linux-user <name_of_bot> with sudo privileges:

adduser --disabled-password <your-bot-name>
usermod -aG sudo <your-bot-name>
visudo

Change line %sudo ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL to %sudo ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL and save.

su <your-bot-name> -
cd ~

Installation steps (source)

Install and update software

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install git
sudo apt install polkitd

Install node + npm (Instructions)

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.4/install.sh | bash
\. "$HOME/.nvm/nvm.sh"
nvm install 24

Install openclaw (source)

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

echo 'alias openclaw="~/.openclaw/bin/openclaw"' >> ~/.bashrc

Alternatively this also could work

npm install -g openclaw@latest

Check version

`openclaw --version`

Onboarding¶

openclaw onboard --install-daemon

Run tasks in the background¶

Taks can be run in the background with temux

sudo apt install tmux

Run a prompt in the background with

tmux new -s <name of your temux environment> <your prompt>

You can use a terminal like bash as <your prompt> for a terminal that runs in the background Configure gateway environment

If you are in a temux environment you can return to the main environment without ending the task by typing Ctrl+B D

Return to your temux environment with:

tmux attach -t <name of your temux environment>

As temux environment names you can choose gate for the gateway and tui for the terminal ui

Start the gateway¶

export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/$(id -u)
mkdir -p $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR

Start gateway in the background using

openclaw gateway start

Run terminal chat:

openclaw tui

Configure matrix¶

See documentation

Add to .openclaw/openclaw.json

{
    "channels":{
        "matrix": {
            "enabled": true,
            "homeserver": "<the homeserver url of your bots matrix account like e.g. https://matrix.org>",
            "accessToken": "<your access token (obtain as described below)>",
            "deviceName": "<name of the device>",
            "encryption": true,
            "groupPolicy": "disabled",
            "dm": {
                "enabled": true
                "policy": "allowlist",
                "allowFrom": [
                    "<your matrix id>"
                ]
            }
        }
    },
    "commands": {
        "ownerAllowFrom": [
            "matrix:<your matrix id>"
        ]
    },
    "plugins": {
        "enties": {
            "matrix": {
                "enabled": true
            }
        }
    }
}

To obtain your access token run

curl --request POST \
  --url <the homeserver url of your bots matrix account like e.g. https://matrix.org>/_matrix/client/v3/login \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
  "type": "m.login.password",
  "identifier": {
    "type": "m.id.user",
    "user": "<user name of your bots matrix account>"
  },
  "password": "<password of your bots matrix account>"
}'

Verify matrix

openclaw matrix verify self

Add alternative models¶

An alternative model provider that supports the OpenAI API can be configured by editing the .openclaw/openclaw.json file:

{
    "agents":{
        "defaults": {
            "models": {
                "<name of provider>/<name of model>" : {
                    "alias": "<your prefered alias>"
                }
            },
            "model":{
                "primary": "<name of provider>/<name of model>"
            }
        }
    },
    "models": {
        "providers": {
            "<name of provider>": {
                "baseUrl": "<endpoint of the OpenAI API of the provider>",
                "apiKey": "<your api key>",
                "models":[
                    {
                        "id": "<id of the model>",
                        "name": "<name of the model>"
                    }
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

For a provider like Clarifai the values could be the following

"<name of provider>" = "clarifai"
"<baseUrl>" = "https://api.clarifai.com/v2/ext/openai/v1"
"<id of the model>" = "Kimi-K2_6"

Disable heartbeat¶

To disable the heartbeat add to .openclaw/openclaw.json:

{
    "agents": {
        "defaults": {
            "heartbeat": {
                "every": "0m"
            }
        }
    }
}    

## Open UI locally in browser (not tested)

Make ssh tunnel to link localhost port 18789 of server and local machine

run on your local machine

ssh -N -L 18789:127.0.0.1:18789 <name_of_bot>@<your_server_ip>

Open in browser

http://127.0.0.1:18789/#token=<insert_your_token>

The token can be found in `.openclaw/openclaw.json` 

## Security

[Security info](https://docs.openclaw.ai/gateway/security)

gateway.controlUi.allowInsecureAuth=false


## No longer used

npm install -g @vector-im/matrix-bot-sdk

openclaw plugins install @openclaw/matrix