How to Deploy OpenClaw on DigitalOcean?

DigitalOcean is a developer-friendly cloud platform perfect for OpenClaw deployments. Their Droplets (VPS instances) are simple to set up and come with excellent documentation.

Create a Droplet with Ubuntu 22.04, at least 2 GB RAM, and 1 vCPU. The $6/month Basic Droplet works for cloud models. Choose the data center closest to you for lowest latency. Add your SSH key during creation for secure access.

DigitalOcean offers one-click apps and marketplace images, but for OpenClaw, a plain Ubuntu Droplet is best. SSH in and run the install script. The onboarding wizard handles the rest.

DigitalOcean's built-in firewall (Cloud Firewalls) is free and works at the network level — more secure than host-based firewalls. Create a firewall allowing SSH (22) and your Gateway port (18789), then apply it to your Droplet.

For production, consider enabling DigitalOcean Monitoring (free) for CPU, RAM, and disk alerts. Automated backups cost 20% of the Droplet price and provide weekly snapshots.

DigitalOcean also supports Kubernetes if you want to scale to multiple agents later. But for a single agent, a simple Droplet is all you need.

ssh root@your-droplet-ip
curl -fsSL https://openclaw.sh/install | bash
openclaw onboard