Tutorial: 2 Minute OpenClaw Setup on AWS

Want to run your own AI assistant powered by Claude? This tutorial will have you up and running on AWS in about 2 minutes.

Why AWS Spot Instances?

Save ~70% on compute costs while running OpenClaw 24/7. Perfect for personal use or development.

What you'll need:

AWS account
Anthropic API key (get one here)
Telegram account (for chat interface)

Step 1: Launch EC2 Instance (30 seconds)

# Launch Ubuntu 24.04 spot instance (t3.large recommended)
# AWS Console → EC2 → Launch Instance
# - Name: openclaw
# - AMI: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
# - Instance type: t3.large
# - Request Spot Instance: ✅
# - Storage: 8 GB (default is fine)
# - Security group: Allow SSH (port 22)

Cost: ~$0.025/hour (spot) vs $0.0832/hour (on-demand)

Step 2: Install OpenClaw (1 minute)

SSH into your instance and run:

# Install OpenClaw
curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install | bash

# Run the setup wizard
openclaw onboard

The wizard will ask you for:

Your Anthropic API key
What messaging platform you want (choose Telegram)
Your Telegram bot token (get from @BotFather)

Step 3: Pair with Telegram (30 seconds)

Open your Telegram bot
Send any message
OpenClaw will reply with a pairing code
Run: openclaw pairing approve telegram <code>

Done! 🎉 Your AI assistant is live.

Bonus: Spot Instance Protection

Spot instances can be reclaimed by AWS with 2 minutes notice. Get notified when this happens:

# Save to ~/.openclaw/scripts/spot-monitor.sh
#!/bin/bash
while true; do
    TOKEN=$(curl -s -X PUT "http://169.254.169.254/latest/api/token" \
        -H "X-aws-ec2-metadata-token-ttl-seconds: 21600")
    
    TERM=$(curl -s -H "X-aws-ec2-metadata-token: $TOKEN" \
        http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/spot/instance-action \
        | jq -r '.time // empty')
    
    if [ ! -z "$TERM" ]; then
        # Send Telegram notification via OpenClaw
        curl -X POST http://localhost:18789/api/v1/message/send \
            -H "Authorization: Bearer $(openclaw config get gateway.auth.token)" \
            -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
            -d '{"channel":"telegram","to":"YOUR_CHAT_ID","message":"Instance terminating soon!"}'
        exit 0
    fi
    sleep 30
done

Run as a systemd service for automatic monitoring.

Cost Breakdown

Monthly costs (assuming 24/7 operation):

EC2 t3.large spot: ~$18/month
EBS storage (8GB): ~$0.80/month
Data transfer: ~$1-2/month (minimal)
Anthropic API: Pay-as-you-go (varies by usage)

Total infrastructure: ~$20-21/month

Compare to managed solutions at $100+/month - you're saving 80%!

Next Steps

Configure additional models (Haiku for simple tasks)
Set up browser automation
Enable web search
Add heartbeat monitoring
Connect to Discord, Slack, WhatsApp

Check out the official docs for more.

Troubleshooting

Can't connect to Telegram?

openclaw status
openclaw gateway restart

Need to update?

openclaw update

Check logs:

tail -f ~/.openclaw/logs/gateway.log

Questions? Join the OpenClaw Discord or check the GitHub repo.