Self-Host Openclaw

Self-Host Openclaw (Clawdbot) in a Proxmox VM (The Secure Way)

Self-Host Openclaw (Clawdbot) in a Proxmox VM (The Secure Way)

Self‑Hosting Openclaw (Clawdbot) on Proxmox VM – Secure Setup

This guide walks through a security‑focused Openclaw (formerly Clawdbot/Moltbot) deployment on Proxmox using a dedicated Ubuntu VM, a non‑privileged user, and a localhost‑only gateway.

1. Why a VM and not LXC

Openclaw is an AI agent with shell access, persistent storage, and plugins, so a compromise of the agent can become a compromise of the host if isolation is weak.

Additional prerequisites (strongly recommended):

2. Create the Proxmox VM

  1. In Proxmox, create a new VM, name it e.g. openclaw.

  2. OS:

    • Use Ubuntu Server 24.04 ISO (or similar) as the installation media.

  3. System settings:

    • Machine: default (q35) is fine.

    • BIOS: default.

    • CPU:

      • Cores: at least 2 vCPUs.

      • Type: host to expose all CPU features.

    • Memory:

      • Give more than the minimum (e.g. 4–8 GB depending on what you’ll run).

      • Disable ballooning; Node.js + plugins can use more RAM unexpectedly, and ballooning can cause instability.

    • Disk: 32 GB+ recommended (depends on logs, plugins, etc.).

  4. Enable the QEMU guest agent for better integration.

  5. Finish the wizard and start the VM.

Inside the Ubuntu installer:

3. Initial Ubuntu hardening and updates

From your workstation:

 ssh youruser@<vm-ip>

Then:

 sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Apply security updates before installing anything else.

4. Create a dedicated Openclaw user

Never run Openclaw as root. Use a separate, unprivileged user as a sandbox.

sudo adduser openclaw
# Follow prompts for password; optional extra info can be blank

Optionally restrict sudo for this user (recommended: no sudo at all). Then switch:

sudo su - openclaw

All further Openclaw‑related steps run as this openclaw user unless otherwise noted.

5. Add swap (for Node.js compilation)

Openclaw is a Node.js package and can compile plugins and dependencies during install; lack of RAM/swap can cause failures.

As root:

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

Verify:

swapon --show

6. Install Node.js and Openclaw

Still on the VM:

  1. Install Node.js (example using distro or NodeSource; adapt to your preferred method). The video uses a repository add + install flow.

Example (NodeSource, adjust version as needed):

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs

  1. Switch to the dedicated user and install Openclaw globally:

sudo su - openclaw
npm install -g openclaw

(Use the actual package name used in the docs; the video installs the “cloudbot/Openclaw” CLI globally via npm.)

7. Telegram bot setup

The example integration in the video uses Telegram, but you can map this process to any supported chat client.

From your phone/desktop Telegram client:

  1. Talk to @BotFather.

  2. /newbot → choose a name and username.

  3. Copy the HTTP API token; you’ll paste it in the Openclaw onboarding later.

  4. In BotFather:

    • Disable group privacy so the bot can read all messages in groups (if you want group usage).

  5. Get your personal Telegram user ID:

    • Talk to @userinfobot (or similar), send /start, copy the numeric user ID.

Keep:

8. Run the Openclaw onboarding wizard

From the openclaw user shell:

openclaw init

# or the appropriate CLI command that starts the onboarding wizard

During the wizard (as shown in the video):

  1. Choose manual configuration.

  2. Select your LLM provider:

    • Example in the video: Anthropic, model claude-3-opus-4.5 (adjust for current names/pricing).

    • Paste your API key.

  3. Gateway binding (critical security step):

    • Set the gateway bind address to loopback only (e.g. 127.0.0.1:PORT).

    • This ensures the HTTP gateway listens only on the VM itself, with no open ports to your LAN or the internet.

  4. Enable Telegram integration:

    • Paste the Telegram bot token.

    • Enter your Telegram user ID if requested as an initial allowed user.

  5. Skip skills/hooks initially to keep the surface area small.

The wizard may attempt to install a systemd service and report a message like “system user services unavailable” at the end. We’ll fix that manually next.

9. Fixing the USER_ID environment gotcha

In the video, the service failed to start until an environment variable for the current user ID was exported.

As the openclaw user:

echo "export USER_ID=$(id -u)" >> ~/.bashrc source ~/.bashrc

If Openclaw expects a different variable name (e.g. CLOUD_USER_ID or similar), match what the docs/onboarding output indicates; the video exports the current user ID so the Node environment/compiler knows which user it is running as.


10. Create a systemd service manually

Since the onboarding script’s service creation is unreliable, create a systemd unit yourself so Openclaw auto‑starts on boot and survives logout.

As root:

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

Example unit file (adapt command/paths to your setup):

[Unit]
Description=Openclaw AI Agent
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=openclaw
WorkingDirectory=/home/openclaw
Environment=USER_ID=%i # or the variable you need, or drop if not required
ExecStart=/usr/bin/npx openclaw start
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Save and reload systemd:


sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now openclaw.service
sudo systemctl status openclaw.service

Confirm the service is active (running).

11. Run the built‑in security audit

Openclaw ships with a security audit command that checks configuration issues.

As openclaw:

openclaw audit

 # or the appropriate audit command

12. Pairing mechanism and Telegram test

Openclaw discourages random users from using your bot by requiring a pairing flow.

  1. From Telegram, search for your bot by its username and send any message.

  2. The bot will respond with a pairing code instead of executing commands.

  3. On the VM, in your terminal (as openclaw), run the pairing command (check docs; the video shows entering the code in the terminal to approve the user).

  4. Once paired, you can chat normally.

Test:

Use caution with destructive commands you authorize (e.g. cleaning npm cache); validate suggestions before approval.

13. Security recap

This setup is designed so that even if Openclaw is exploited, the blast radius is contained.

Key decisions:

With this in place, you’re not one of the many users exposing full shell agents unauthenticated on the public internet.

14. Ideas for next steps

Ins0mnia