Deploy OpenClaw on Fly.io

Illustration by Annie Ruygt of some little characters walking along

To deploy OpenClaw to Fly.io, download the deploy package and run the script. It handles everything — app creation, volumes, secrets, and deployment. Download Deploy Package

unzip Openclaw-Fly-Deploy-main.zip
cd Openclaw-Fly-Deploy-main
bash deploy.sh

You’ll need flyctl installed, a Fly.io account (free trial works), and an LLM API key (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, Moonshot AI, or MiniMax).

What is OpenClaw?

OpenClaw is an open-source AI agent gateway that lets you run a persistent AI assistant reachable from anywhere — Discord, Telegram, Slack, or your local CLI. It manages conversations, tool use, and connections across multiple channels through a single gateway process.

How it works

The deploy package sets up a wrapper server that manages the OpenClaw gateway and provides a browser-based setup wizard:

Internet → Fly.io proxy → Wrapper server (:3000) → OpenClaw gateway (:18789)
                              ├── /setup      → Setup wizard (password-protected)
                              ├── /healthz    → Health check (no auth)
                              └── /*          → Proxied to gateway

All state lives on a persistent volume mounted at /data, so your configuration, conversation history, and installed tools survive restarts and redeployments. The script will prompt you for:

App name — defaults to openclaw-XXXX (random suffix). This becomes your URL: https://your-app-name.fly.dev
Region — where to run your Machine (defaults to iad / Virginia). Pick one close to you for lower latency. See Fly.io regions for the full list.
Setup password — protects the /setup wizard from the internet. Pick something strong.
LLM provider — choose from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, Moonshot AI, or MiniMax
LLM API key — the key for your chosen provider
Channel tokens (optional) — Discord bot token, Telegram bot token, or Slack bot + app tokens if you want to connect chat channels

The script then creates a Fly app, provisions a persistent volume, sets your credentials as encrypted Fly secrets, and builds and deploys the Docker image on Fly’s remote builders. The first deploy takes a few minutes. Your credentials never leave your machine — they go directly to Fly.io via flyctl.

Post-deploy setup

Once deployment completes, the script prints your app details:

=== Deployment Complete ===

  App URL:       https://your-app-name.fly.dev
  Setup wizard:  https://your-app-name.fly.dev/setup
  Gateway URL:   wss://your-app-name.fly.dev
  Gateway token: <your-generated-token>

Setup wizard

Visit https://your-app-name.fly.dev/setup in your browser. Log in with any username and the setup password you chose. From the wizard you can:

Change your LLM provider and API key
Add or update Discord, Telegram, and Slack channel connections
Edit the raw OpenClaw config file
Run debug commands against the gateway
Export and import configuration backups
Approve device pairing requests

Connect your local CLI

If you have OpenClaw installed locally, point it at your remote gateway:

openclaw config set gateway.mode remote
openclaw config set gateway.remote.url wss://your-app-name.fly.dev
openclaw config set gateway.remote.token <your-gateway-token>
openclaw health  # verify the connection

This lets you use the openclaw CLI on your laptop while the gateway runs on Fly.io, keeping conversations and state persistent even when your laptop is closed.

Configuration

Secrets

All sensitive values are stored as Fly secrets, encrypted at rest and injected as environment variables at boot. They are never visible in logs, config files, or the Fly dashboard.

Secret	Required	Description
`SETUP_PASSWORD`	Yes	Protects the `/setup` wizard with HTTP Basic Auth
`OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN`	Yes	Auth token for gateway connections (auto-generated)
`OPENCLAW_API_KEY`	Yes	Your LLM provider API key
`OPENCLAW_AUTH_CHOICE`	Yes	Provider identifier (set by deploy script)
`OPENCLAW_API_KEY_FLAG`	Yes	CLI flag for the provider (set by deploy script)
`OPENCLAW_DISCORD_TOKEN`	No	Discord bot token
`OPENCLAW_TELEGRAM_TOKEN`	No	Telegram bot token
`OPENCLAW_SLACK_BOT_TOKEN`	No	Slack bot token (`xoxb-...`)
`OPENCLAW_SLACK_APP_TOKEN`	No	Slack app token (`xapp-...`, required if bot token is set)

To update a secret after deployment:

fly secrets set OPENCLAW_API_KEY=sk-new-key-here -a your-app-name

The Machine restarts automatically when secrets change.

VM sizing

The default configuration uses a shared-cpu-2x Machine with 4 GB RAM, which costs roughly $20–25/month when running continuously. With auto-stop enabled (the default), you only pay for time the Machine is actually running. To adjust resources:

fly scale memory 4096 -a your-app-name
fly scale vm shared-cpu-4x -a your-app-name

Persistent storage

OpenClaw stores all state on a Fly Volume mounted at /data. This includes:

openclaw.json — gateway configuration
Conversation history and context
Installed tools and plugins
npm/pnpm caches for user-installed packages

The default volume size is 1 GB. To extend it:

fly volumes extend <volume-id> -s 3 -a your-app-name

Useful commands

Command	Description
`fly logs -a your-app-name`	Stream live logs
`fly ssh console -a your-app-name`	SSH into the Machine
`fly apps restart your-app-name`	Restart after config changes
`fly scale memory 4096 -a your-app-name`	Increase memory
`fly status -a your-app-name`	Check Machine status
`fly volumes list -a your-app-name`	List attached volumes

Troubleshooting

“SETUP_PASSWORD is not set” The setup password secret is missing. Set it:

fly secrets set SETUP_PASSWORD=your-password -a your-app-name

Out of memory / crashes Increase the Machine’s memory:

fly scale memory 4096 -a your-app-name

Gateway won’t start Visit /setup in your browser and check the debug console for errors. Common causes: invalid API key, missing config file, or a corrupted state directory. Lock file errors If the gateway didn’t shut down cleanly, stale lock files can prevent it from starting:

fly ssh console -a your-app-name
rm -f /data/gateway.*.lock
exit
fly apps restart your-app-name

Need to start fresh Use the “Reset” button in the setup wizard to clear the config and re-run onboarding, or SSH in and remove the config:

fly ssh console -a your-app-name
rm /data/openclaw.json
exit
fly apps restart your-app-name

Supported LLM providers

Provider	What you need
Anthropic	API key from console.anthropic.com
OpenAI	API key from platform.openai.com
Google Gemini	API key from aistudio.google.com
OpenRouter	API key from openrouter.ai
Moonshot AI	API key from Moonshot’s developer portal
MiniMax	API key from MiniMax’s developer portal

You can switch providers at any time through the setup wizard — no redeployment needed.

​What is OpenClaw?

​How it works

​Post-deploy setup

​Setup wizard

​Connect your local CLI

​Configuration

​Secrets

​VM sizing

​Persistent storage

​Useful commands

​Troubleshooting

​Supported LLM providers