Clawdbot Setup Guide

Deploy your own AI assistant on a cheap VPS for under $5/month.

What is Clawdbot?

Clawdbot is an AI assistant that can:

•Manage your Gmail with automated responses
•Run Telegram/WhatsApp bots
•Transcribe voice messages
•Perform research and trend analysis
•Remember context across conversations
•Run 24/7 unattended on a server

Quick Start

Which platform are you on?

Platform	Command
Linux	`curl -fsSL --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 https://raw.githubusercontent.com/moinsen-dev/clawdbot-easy-setup/main/install.sh \| bash`
macOS	`curl -fsSL --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 https://raw.githubusercontent.com/moinsen-dev/clawdbot-easy-setup/main/install-macos.sh \| bash`
Windows	`iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/moinsen-dev/clawdbot-easy-setup/main/install.ps1 \| iex`

That's it! The wizard guides you through the rest.

Decision Tree

Do you have a VPS/server already?

•Yes → Skip to Installation
•No → Continue to Server Selection

Server Selection

Recommended: Hetzner Cloud (~$4.51/month)

Best value for European users. Steps:

•Go to console.hetzner.cloud
•Create an account (email verification required)
•Create a new project
•Click "Add Server" with these settings:

Setting	Recommended Value
Location	Falkenstein, DE (cheapest)
Image	Ubuntu 24.04
Type	CX22 (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM)
SSH Key	Add your public key
Price	~4.51 EUR/month

•Note the server IP address after creation

Alternative Providers

Provider	Plan	Price	Notes
DigitalOcean	Basic Droplet 2GB	$12/month	Easy UI
Vultr	Cloud Compute 2GB	$12/month	Many locations
Linode	Nanode 2GB	$12/month	Good support
Oracle Cloud	Always Free	$0/month	Complex setup

SSH Key Setup

If you don't have an SSH key:

bash

# Generate new key
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your@email.com"

# View public key (copy this to Hetzner)
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Installation

Step 1: Connect to Your Server

bash

ssh root@YOUR_SERVER_IP

Step 2: Create Non-Root User (Recommended)

bash

# Create user
adduser clawdbot

# Grant sudo access
usermod -aG sudo clawdbot

# Switch to new user
su - clawdbot

Step 3: Update System

bash

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 4: Run Installer

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian):

bash

curl -fsSL --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/moinsen-dev/clawdbot-easy-setup/main/install.sh | bash

macOS:

bash

curl -fsSL --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/moinsen-dev/clawdbot-easy-setup/main/install-macos.sh | bash

Windows (PowerShell as Administrator):

powershell

iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/moinsen-dev/clawdbot-easy-setup/main/install.ps1 | iex

Install Options

bash

# Non-interactive (for automation/CI)
curl ... | bash -s -- --no-onboard --no-prompt

# Specific version
curl ... | bash -s -- --version 1.2.3

# Beta version
curl ... | bash -s -- --beta

# Dry run (preview only)
curl ... | bash -s -- --dry-run

# Verbose output
curl ... | bash -s -- --verbose

Configuration

API Keys Setup

Create the environment file:

bash

mkdir -p ~/.clawdbot
nano ~/.clawdbot/.env

Add your API keys:

bash

# AI Provider (at least one required)
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-api03-...
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...

# Telegram Bot (optional)
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=123456789:ABCdefGHIjklMNOpqrsTUVwxyz

# Gmail (optional)
GMAIL_ADDRESS=your-bot@gmail.com
GMAIL_APP_PASSWORD=xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx

Verify Installation

bash

# Check version
clawdbot --version

# Run health check
clawdbot doctor

Daemon Setup (24/7 Operation)

Using Built-in Daemon Manager

bash

# Install as system service
clawdbot daemon install

# Start the daemon
clawdbot daemon start

# Check status
clawdbot daemon status

# View logs
clawdbot daemon logs

# Restart (after updates)
clawdbot daemon restart

# Stop
clawdbot daemon stop

Manual systemd Service

If the built-in daemon doesn't work:

bash

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/clawdbot.service

ini

[Unit]
Description=Clawdbot AI Assistant
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=clawdbot
WorkingDirectory=/home/clawdbot
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node /usr/lib/node_modules/clawdbot/dist/entry.js daemon
Restart=always
RestartSec=10
Environment=NODE_ENV=production

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

bash

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable clawdbot
sudo systemctl start clawdbot
sudo systemctl status clawdbot

Integrations

Telegram Bot

•Open Telegram and message @BotFather
•Send /newbot
•Choose a name and username for your bot
•Copy the token (looks like 123456789:ABCdef...)
•
Run:
bash
```
clawdbot integrations add telegram
```
•Paste the token when prompted

Note: Requires display for QR code scanning.

Options:

•SSH with X forwarding: ssh -X user@server
•Use Hetzner web console
•Set up VNC for remote desktop

bash

clawdbot integrations add whatsapp
# QR code appears - scan with WhatsApp mobile app

Gmail

•Enable 2-Factor Authentication on your Google account
•Go to myaccount.google.com/apppasswords
•Select "Mail" and your device
•Copy the 16-character App Password
•
Run:
bash
```
clawdbot integrations add gmail
```
•Enter your Gmail address and App Password

Maintenance

Updates

bash

# Check for updates
clawdbot update --check

# Update Clawdbot
clawdbot update

# Update and restart daemon
clawdbot update --restart

Backup

bash

# Create backup
tar -czvf clawdbot-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz ~/.clawdbot

# Restore
tar -xzvf clawdbot-backup-YYYYMMDD.tar.gz -C ~/

View Logs

bash

# Daemon logs
clawdbot daemon logs

# Follow in real-time
clawdbot daemon logs -f

# System logs (systemd)
sudo journalctl -u clawdbot -f

Troubleshooting

"clawdbot: command not found"

bash

# Refresh shell cache
hash -r

# Check if installed
which clawdbot || npm list -g clawdbot

# Add to PATH
export PATH="$HOME/.npm-global/bin:$PATH"
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.npm-global/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Permission Denied (npm)

bash

mkdir -p ~/.npm-global
npm config set prefix '~/.npm-global'
export PATH="$HOME/.npm-global/bin:$PATH"

Out of Memory (2GB VPS)

Add swap space:

bash

sudo fallocate -l 2G /swapfile
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile
echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

Daemon Won't Start

bash

# Check diagnostics
clawdbot doctor

# Check port conflicts
sudo lsof -i :3000

# View detailed logs
clawdbot daemon logs --verbose

# Manual start to see errors
node /usr/lib/node_modules/clawdbot/dist/entry.js daemon

Firewall Issues

bash

# Check firewall status
sudo ufw status

# Allow required ports
sudo ufw allow 22/tcp    # SSH
sudo ufw allow 3000/tcp  # Clawdbot (if using web UI)
sudo ufw enable

Security Checklist

• Using SSH key authentication (not password)
• Root login disabled (PermitRootLogin no in sshd_config)
• Firewall configured (ufw)
• fail2ban installed (sudo apt install fail2ban)
• API keys stored in .env file (not in config)
• Regular backups of ~/.clawdbot
• Running as non-root user

Cost Summary

Item	Monthly Cost
Hetzner CX22	~$4.51
Domain (optional)	~$1
Total	~$5.50

Comparison: Mac Mini M4 at $800 = 145+ months of VPS hosting.

clawdbot-setup

Clawdbot Setup Guide

What is Clawdbot?

Quick Start

Which platform are you on?

Decision Tree

Server Selection

Recommended: Hetzner Cloud (~$4.51/month)

Alternative Providers

SSH Key Setup

Installation

Step 1: Connect to Your Server

Step 2: Create Non-Root User (Recommended)

Step 3: Update System

Step 4: Run Installer

Install Options

Configuration

API Keys Setup

Verify Installation

Daemon Setup (24/7 Operation)

Using Built-in Daemon Manager

Manual systemd Service

Integrations

Telegram Bot

WhatsApp

Gmail

Maintenance

Updates

Backup

View Logs

Troubleshooting

"clawdbot: command not found"

Permission Denied (npm)

Out of Memory (2GB VPS)

Daemon Won't Start

Firewall Issues

Security Checklist

Cost Summary

Resources