This is a step-by-step guide for deploying a cloud-hosted 📝OpenClaw instance on a 📝DigitalOcean Droplet using their official 1-Click Marketplace image. This guide covers account creation through a working OpenClaw dashboard. Channel setup (📝Slack, 📝WhatsApp, etc.) is covered in 📝Slack Setup for OpenClaw on DigitalOcean.

This is the fastest path to a cloud-hosted OpenClaw instance that is not running on your personal machine. The 1-Click image handles 📝Docker, sandboxing, firewall hardening, and non-root execution automatically — removing the infrastructure burden that makes a bare Droplet setup time-consuming. The whole process from zero to a working dashboard takes under 15 minutes.

Prerequisites

• A DigitalOcean account
• An Anthropic API key
• An SSH key on your local machine (see [[SSH Key Setup]] if you need to generate one)

Steps

1. Create a Droplet - Log into your DigitalOcean dashboard and navigate to Droplets → Create Droplet.
1. Choose a region - Select the region geographically closest to you.
1. Select the OpenClaw image - Under Choose an Image, click the Marketplace tab. Search for OpenClaw and select the official OpenClaw image. This pre-installs OpenClaw with all dependencies, Docker isolation, and hardened firewall rules.
1. Choose a plan - Select Basic (Shared CPU). Choose the s-2vcpu-4gb size (~$18/month). This is the minimum recommended spec for running OpenClaw effectively. You can resize upward later without rebuilding. Do not select Dedicated CPU, GPU, or Memory-Optimized plans — they are significantly more expensive and unnecessary for an OpenClaw gateway workload, where the heavy compute happens inside Anthropic's infrastructure rather than on your Droplet.
1. Add your SSH key - Under Authentication, select SSH Key. Paste your public key (the contents of ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub on your local machine) and give it a name. See [[SSH Key Setup]] if you have not generated a key yet.
1. Name your Droplet - Give it a recognizable hostname, e.g. openclaw-cloud.
1. Create the Droplet - Click Create Droplet. Wait 2–3 minutes for initialisation to complete. Your Droplet's IPv4 address will appear in the dashboard.
1. SSH into the Droplet - Open a terminal on your local machine and run: ```bash ssh root@YOUR_DROPLET_IP ``` Replace YOUR_DROPLET_IP with the IP shown in your DigitalOcean dashboard. If asked to confirm the host fingerprint, type yes.
1. Run the setup wizard - Once connected, the OpenClaw setup wizard launches automatically. When prompted: - Select Anthropic as your AI provider - Paste your Anthropic API key when asked
1. Note your Dashboard URL and Gateway Token - After entering your API key, the wizard will display a Dashboard URL and a Gateway Token. Copy both — you will need them to access the control UI.
1. Open the Dashboard - The gateway binds to localhost on the Droplet, so you access it via SSH port forwarding. Open a new terminal tab on your local machine (do not SSH in first) and run: ```bash ssh -N -L YOUR_📝Tailscale_IP:YOUR_PORT_NUMBER root@YOUR_DROPLET_IP ``` Leave this tab running. Then open your browser and go to: ``` http://localhost:YOUR_PORT_NUMBER ``` Enter your Gateway Token when prompted. You should see the OpenClaw dashboard.
1. Verify the config - Your live config file lives at: ``` /home/openclaw/.openclaw/openclaw.json ``` This is the file you edit for all future configuration changes, including adding channels. See [[OpenClaw Config Reference]] for the full config schema, and [[Slack Setup for OpenClaw on DigitalOcean]] to connect your first channel.