OpenClaw Quickstart: The Reliable Way

OpenClaw Quickstart

Run your own AI assistant that actually does things. Powered by Expanso for reliability, monitoring, and easy deployment.

Why Expanso?

You could set this up manually on a VPS, SSH in, install dependencies, and manage updates yourself. Or you can use Expanso.

Option 1: The Managed Cloud (Easiest)

Best for getting started immediately without any infrastructure.

1. Sign Up for Expanso Console Go to console.expanso.io and create an account.

2. Select “Deploy OpenClaw” From the marketplace, choose the OpenClaw blueprint.

3. Configure & Launch

   • Paste your Anthropic API Key.
   • Add your Telegram Bot Token (Get it from @BotFather).
   • Click Deploy.

That’s it. Your bot is live, monitored, and running on our secure edge infrastructure.

Option 2: Run on Your Own Edge Node

Best for running locally on your laptop, Raspberry Pi, or private server while keeping the benefits of Expanso’s management plane.

1. Install Expanso

Run this one-liner on your machine (Linux/Mac):

curl -sfL https://expanso.io/install.sh | sh

2. Connect to Console

Link your node to your account:

expanso login

3. Deploy OpenClaw Job

Run this command to deploy the OpenClaw job to your node:

expanso job run openclaw \
  --env ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-... \
  --env TELEGRAM_TOKEN=123... \
  --env TELEGRAM_USER_ID=999...

4. Verify

Check the “Flight Recorder” in the Expanso Console to see your bot’s activity trace in real-time.

Key Features Enabled by Expanso

Reliable Ingestion

OpenClaw on Expanso doesn’t just “log to a file”. It uses Expanso’s Defined Ingestion pipelines.

• Traceability: Every decision the AI makes is traced.
• Resilience: If your internet drops, logs are buffered on-device and uploaded when connectivity returns.

Flight Recorder

See what your bot is thinking.

• Visual Trace: View the step-by-step execution path.
• Cost Monitoring: Track token usage and API costs in real-time.

Auto-Updates

We push security patches and OpenClaw core updates automatically (unless you pin a version). No more SSH-ing in to run apt-get update.

Next Steps

• Join the Waitlist for early access to the Enterprise Console.
• Read the Spec (Original Clawdbot)