OpenClaw on a VPS
& Mac Mini

# Update system packages
apt update && apt upgrade -y

# Create a non-root deploy user
adduser deploy
usermod -aG sudo deploy

# Copy your SSH key to the new user
rsync --archive --chown=deploy:deploy ~/.ssh /home/deploy

# Configure UFW firewall — allow SSH, HTTP, HTTPS
ufw allow OpenSSH
ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
ufw enable

# Switch to the deploy user for the rest of setup
su - deploy

# Install nvm
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.7/install.sh | bash

# Reload shell to activate nvm
source ~/.bashrc

# Install and use Node 20 LTS
nvm install 20
nvm use 20
nvm alias default 20

# Verify
node -v   # should output v20.x.x
npm  -v   # should output 10.x.x

# Clone the OpenClaw repository
git clone https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw.git ~/openclaw
cd ~/openclaw

# Install production dependencies
npm install --production

# Copy the example environment config
cp .env.example .env

# ── Required ────────────────────────────────
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-api03-YOUR_KEY_HERE

# Claude model to use by default
CLAUDE_MODEL=claude-sonnet-4-6

# Server port (Nginx will proxy to this)
PORT=3000

# ── Optional: for MCP integrations ──────────
SUPABASE_URL=https://your-project.supabase.co
SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=your-supabase-anon-key

# Webhook secret for inbound triggers
WEBHOOK_SECRET=a-long-random-string-here

# ── Production ──────────────────────────────
NODE_ENV=production

sudo apt install nginx -y
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/openclaw

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your-domain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass         http://localhost:3000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header   Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header   Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header   Host $host;
        proxy_set_header   X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
        proxy_read_timeout 120s;
    }
}

# Enable the site config
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/openclaw /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

# Test config syntax
sudo nginx -t

# Reload Nginx
sudo systemctl reload nginx

# Install Certbot for free SSL (requires DNS pointing to this IP)
sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y
sudo certbot --nginx -d your-domain.com

# Install Homebrew if not already present
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

# Install Node.js 20 via Homebrew
brew install node@20

# Add Node 20 to your PATH (Apple Silicon path)
echo 'export PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/node@20/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

# Verify
node -v   # v20.x.x

# Clone into your home directory
git clone https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw.git ~/openclaw
cd ~/openclaw

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Create your .env file
cp .env.example .env
nano .env   # or open with VS Code: code .env

# Check if the firewall is enabled
sudo /usr/libexec/ApplicationFirewall/socketfilterfw --getglobalstate

# If enabled, add Node to allowed apps
sudo /usr/libexec/ApplicationFirewall/socketfilterfw --add $(which node)
sudo /usr/libexec/ApplicationFirewall/socketfilterfw --unblockapp $(which node)

# Install cloudflared
brew install cloudflare/cloudflare/cloudflared

# Authenticate (opens browser)
cloudflared tunnel login

# Create a tunnel
cloudflared tunnel create openclaw

# Run the tunnel pointing to localhost:3000
cloudflared tunnel run --url http://localhost:3000 openclaw

# Cloudflare will give you a *.trycloudflare.com URL
# Connect it to your own domain in the Cloudflare dashboard

curl https://api.anthropic.com/v1/messages \
  -H "x-api-key: $ANTHROPIC_API_KEY" \
  -H "anthropic-version: 2023-06-01" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "max_tokens": 64,
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Reply OK"}]
  }'

# Expected: {"content":[{"type":"text","text":"OK"}], ...}
# If you see {"error": ...}, check your API key in .env

// openclaw.config.js
module.exports = {
  model: process.env.CLAUDE_MODEL || 'claude-sonnet-4-6',
  max_tokens: 4096,

  mcp_servers: [
    {
      type: 'url',
      name: 'supabase',
      url:  'https://mcp.supabase.com/mcp',
    },
    {
      type: 'url',
      name: 'gmail',
      url:  'https://gmail.mcp.claude.com/mcp',
    },
    {
      // Custom local MCP server example
      type: 'url',
      name: 'my-custom-crm',
      url:  'http://localhost:4000/mcp',
    },
  ],
};

# Install PM2 globally
npm install -g pm2

# Start OpenClaw with PM2 (from the openclaw directory)
cd ~/openclaw
pm2 start npm --name "openclaw" -- start

# Check status
pm2 status

# Tail live logs
pm2 logs openclaw

# Enable startup on reboot (follow the printed command)
pm2 startup
pm2 save