OpenClaw: the open-source AI assistant you self-host on a VPS

A personal AI assistant that actually does things

Most AI tools follow the same pattern: you ask a question and get an answer. OpenClaw breaks that pattern entirely. It is an open-source AI assistant that runs on your own hardware, connects to the messaging apps you already use, and takes real actions on your behalf.

Need to clear out your inbox? OpenClaw reads your emails, drafts responses, and archives the noise. Want to schedule a meeting based on a Telegram message? It checks your calendar and books the slot. Curious about a flight price? It opens a browser, searches for options, and reports back. All of this happens through a conversation in WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, Slack, Signal, or whichever platform you prefer.

OpenClaw launched in late 2025 under the name “Clawd,” was briefly renamed to “Moltbot,” and settled on its current name in January 2026. Created by Peter Steinberger, it has grown to nearly 200,000 GitHub stars and over 380 contributors, making it one of the fastest-growing open-source projects of its kind.

How OpenClaw works

At its core, OpenClaw is a gateway that sits between you and one or more AI models (Claude, GPT, Gemini, and others). The gateway runs continuously on a server, maintains persistent memory across conversations, and connects to messaging channels so you can reach your assistant from any device.

The architecture looks like this:

1. You send a message through WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, or any connected channel
2. The OpenClaw gateway receives the message and forwards it to your chosen AI model
3. The AI model processes the request and determines which tools to use
4. OpenClaw executes the actions (sending emails, running commands, browsing the web, scheduling tasks) and sends results back through your messaging channel

Because the gateway runs on your server and not on someone else’s cloud, your conversations, files, and credentials never leave your control. This is what makes it an ideal workload for a self-hosted VPS environment.

What makes OpenClaw different from ChatGPT or Claude

Conversational AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude are powerful, but they live inside a browser tab. You open them, ask something, get an answer, and close the tab. They do not persist between sessions in a meaningful way, they cannot take actions outside their interface, and they forget context once a conversation ends.

OpenClaw is fundamentally different in several ways.

It runs continuously

OpenClaw does not wait for you to open a tab. It runs 24/7 on your server, always listening for messages across all your connected channels. It can wake you up with a reminder at 7 AM, check your email while you sleep, and run scheduled tasks on a cron-like system without any interaction.

It remembers everything

Tell OpenClaw your preferences once and it remembers them permanently. Mention that you prefer window seats on flights, that your project deadline is March 15, or that you are allergic to shellfish. This context accumulates over time and makes the assistant increasingly effective.

It takes real actions

This is the defining feature. OpenClaw is not just answering questions. It operates a browser, runs shell commands, manages files, sends messages, and interacts with APIs. Users have configured it to file insurance claims, manage server infrastructure, control smart home devices, generate and edit media files, and even write and deploy code.

It works where you already are

Instead of requiring you to visit a specific website, OpenClaw meets you in the apps you already have open. Send it a message on WhatsApp from your phone while walking the dog, and it executes the task on your server at home.

Practical use cases for cloud VPS customers

Running OpenClaw on a cloud VPS unlocks a wide range of practical applications. The combination of an always-on virtual private server and an agentic AI creates something more useful than either one alone. Here are some of the ways people are using it today.

Server monitoring and management

OpenClaw can watch your other VPS instances, check service health, restart Docker containers, review logs, and alert you through Telegram or WhatsApp when something needs attention. Instead of setting up separate monitoring tools and notification systems, your AI assistant handles it conversationally. Developers managing multiple cloud servers find this especially valuable for staying on top of infrastructure without constant SSH sessions.

Email and calendar management

Connect OpenClaw to your Gmail or calendar accounts and let it triage your inbox, draft replies in your writing style, schedule meetings, and send you daily briefings. Users report clearing hundreds of emails during breakfast just by chatting with their assistant on their phone.

Development workflows

Developers use OpenClaw to run tests, review code, open pull requests, manage CI/CD pipelines, and even write new features. One common pattern is sending a message like “fix the failing tests” from a phone, and OpenClaw autonomously runs the test suite, identifies the issue, writes the fix, and opens a pull request. Because the assistant runs on a Linux VPS with full root access, it can install any toolchain, language runtime, or framework it needs.

Remote desktop and Windows workflows

While OpenClaw runs natively on Linux, it can also manage tasks on Windows VPS instances through RDP or SSH. Users running remote desktop workstations for trading, design, or legacy applications let OpenClaw handle file transfers, application monitoring, and scheduled task automation on their Windows servers.

Content creation and research

OpenClaw can research topics, draft articles, generate social media posts, create images through connected AI services, and even produce audio content. Because it has access to a full browser on your server, it can gather real-time information rather than relying solely on the AI model’s training data.

Business automation

Small business owners use OpenClaw to handle repetitive tasks: processing invoices, updating spreadsheets, generating reports, following up with customers, and managing project timelines. The assistant becomes a team member that works around the clock. Running it on affordable VPS hosting with hourly billing means you only pay for the compute resources you actually use.

Smart home and IoT control

Users have connected OpenClaw to home automation systems, air quality monitors, health trackers, and other IoT devices. It can adjust settings based on conditions, report metrics on request, and proactively notify you when something needs attention.

Forex and trading automation

Traders who already run MetaTrader on a VPS can pair OpenClaw with their trading setup to receive market alerts, monitor Expert Advisor performance, and execute predefined workflows through a quick Telegram message rather than connecting to a remote desktop session.

Why self-hosting matters

OpenClaw is designed to be self-hosted, and this is not a limitation. It is the entire point.

Your data stays yours

When you use a cloud-hosted AI assistant, your conversations, emails, calendar data, and files pass through someone else’s servers. With OpenClaw running on your own Linux VPS, none of that data leaves your control. You choose the data center location where your server lives, whether that is Dallas, Ashburn, Amsterdam, or any of our other facilities. The only external communication is with the AI model provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, etc.) for inference.

No subscription fees for the platform

OpenClaw itself is free and open source under the MIT license. You pay only for the virtual private server to run it on and the API usage from your chosen AI provider. With ColossusCloud’s hourly billing, there are no long-term contracts, no monthly platform fees, no per-seat charges, and no feature gates. A capable VPS for OpenClaw starts at just a few dollars per month.

Full customization with root access

Because you get full root access to your cloud server, you can customize everything. Install any software dependency, write your own skills (plugins), modify the system prompt, integrate with any API, and adjust security settings to match your requirements. Users have built custom integrations with everything from Todoist to air purifiers. This level of control is only possible when you own the infrastructure.

No vendor lock-in

Your assistant, your conversations, your memory, and your skills all live on your server. If you ever want to migrate, you copy the configuration files and start OpenClaw on the new server. Nothing is locked behind a proprietary platform. For more on why infrastructure independence matters, read our article on breaking free from cloud giants.

Supported messaging platforms

OpenClaw connects to a wide range of messaging channels:

• WhatsApp
• Telegram
• Discord
• Slack
• Signal
• iMessage (via BlueBubbles)
• Microsoft Teams
• Google Chat
• Matrix
• WebChat (browser-based, built into the gateway)

You can connect multiple channels simultaneously and continue conversations across platforms. Start a task on Telegram, check progress on Discord, and get the final result on WhatsApp.

AI model flexibility

OpenClaw is not tied to a single AI provider. It supports models from:

• Anthropic (Claude, including Pro and Max subscriptions)
• OpenAI (GPT and Codex models)
• Google (Gemini)
• Local models via Ollama (for fully private, offline inference)

You can switch between models, configure fallbacks if one provider is unavailable, and even use different models for different types of tasks.

Security considerations

OpenClaw is powerful, and that power demands careful security practices. The assistant has access to whatever you connect it to: email accounts, messaging apps, server commands, and browsing capabilities.

Key precautions for any deployment:

• Bind the gateway to localhost and access it through a reverse proxy (Nginx or Caddy) with HTTPS
• Use strong, randomly generated authentication tokens
• Enable UFW or iptables firewall rules to restrict access to necessary ports only
• Run OpenClaw on a dedicated VPS rather than a machine with sensitive production workloads
• Review connected devices and approved sessions regularly
• Keep the software updated, as the project ships frequent security improvements
• Consider using Docker containers for additional process isolation

The OpenClaw project prioritizes security, with dedicated security audits and prompt injection resistance built into the codebase. Running it on a separate cloud server with KVM-based virtualization provides hardware-level isolation from other tenants, and keeping it on its own VPS separates it from your other self-hosted services.

For teams or businesses considering OpenClaw, the sandbox mode allows non-primary sessions (such as group chats or shared channels) to run inside per-session Docker containers. This means external users interacting through a shared channel cannot access files or credentials from your main session.

Why a VPS is the ideal home for OpenClaw

While OpenClaw can run on a laptop or a Raspberry Pi, a cloud VPS is the best environment for a production assistant:

• 24/7 availability with 99.98% uptime: Your assistant is always reachable, even when your laptop is closed or your home internet is down. ColossusCloud’s infrastructure is designed for reliability, with redundant networking and automated hypervisor failover.
• Enterprise-grade performance: Intel Xeon and AMD EPYC processors paired with Ceph distributed storage provide consistent, fast response times for your assistant.
• Low-latency networking: Data center connectivity with 100Gbps backbone provides fast connections to messaging platforms and AI model APIs. Anthropic and OpenAI host their inference endpoints in the US, so a VPS in Ashburn or Dallas minimizes round-trip time.
• Security isolation through KVM virtualization: Each VPS runs on its own isolated KVM virtual machine, keeping your assistant’s credentials and data separated from other tenants and from your personal devices.
• Easy scaling: Need more RAM for browser automation or multiple agents? Resize through the Client Portal without reinstalling anything. Scale up when you need it, scale down when you do not.

Recommended VPS specs for OpenClaw

Workload	RAM	vCPUs	Best for
Light testing	2 GB	1	Single channel, basic chat
Daily use	4 GB	2	Multiple channels, tools, scheduled tasks
Power use	8 GB+	4+	Browser automation, multiple agents, heavy media processing

ColossusCloud offers VPS across six global data centers: Silicon Valley, Las Vegas, Dallas, Ashburn, Amsterdam, and Singapore. Deploy your assistant in minutes with Ubuntu VPS or any other supported Linux distribution and start chatting with it immediately.

Getting started with OpenClaw on a VPS

The quickest path to a running OpenClaw instance:

1. Deploy a Linux VPS with Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 LTS (takes about two minutes on ColossusCloud)
2. SSH into your new cloud server with the root credentials provided
3. Install Node.js 22 or later
4. Install OpenClaw globally with npm install -g openclaw@latest
5. Run the onboarding wizard with openclaw onboard --install-daemon
6. Connect your first messaging channel (WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, or others)

The onboarding wizard walks you through AI provider setup, channel configuration, and basic security settings interactively.

For a detailed walkthrough including Docker deployment, Nginx reverse proxy, SSL certificates, firewall configuration, and channel-specific setup, read our step-by-step OpenClaw installation guide.

If you are new to VPS hosting and want to understand the basics first, our article on understanding virtual private servers covers the fundamentals.

OpenClaw compared to other self-hosted AI tools

OpenClaw is not the only option in the self-hosted AI space, but it occupies a unique position. Tools like Home Assistant focus on smart home automation. Projects like Open WebUI provide a ChatGPT-like interface for local models. OpenClaw combines the conversational AI interface with real-world action execution and messaging platform integration in a way that no other open-source project currently matches.

The closest comparison is a team of SaaS subscriptions (Zapier for automation, a calendar assistant, an email manager, a monitoring tool) collapsed into a single AI agent that understands natural language and runs on your own infrastructure. For VPS customers who already self-host applications like databases, web servers, or other self-hosted apps, adding OpenClaw to the same server or a dedicated instance is a natural extension of that workflow.

The bigger picture

OpenClaw represents a shift in how people interact with AI. Rather than visiting a website to ask questions, you message an assistant that lives on your cloud server, remembers your context, and takes actions across your digital life. It is the difference between a reference tool and a coworker.

The project is evolving rapidly, with new features, integrations, and security improvements shipping weekly. The community of over 380 contributors continues to grow, and the ecosystem of skills and plugins expands daily.

For anyone who values privacy, flexibility, and the ability to automate real work through natural conversation, OpenClaw on a self-hosted VPS is worth exploring. The combination of a reliable virtual private server and an open-source AI assistant gives you a personal AI that is always on, always private, and entirely yours.

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Ready to run your own AI assistant? Deploy a Linux VPS in any of our six global data centers and follow our OpenClaw installation guide. Questions? Contact our team.