Benefits of VPS-based Moltbot deployment

Running Moltbot on a dedicated VPS rather than your laptop or desktop provides several practical advantages:

24/7 availability: AI assistant runs even when laptop is closed
Security isolation: Keep powerful agent separate from main machine
Access from anywhere: Connect via messaging apps from any device
Consistent environment: No interruptions from system updates or restarts

Prerequisites

VPS with at least 2 GB RAM and 20 GB disk space
Ubuntu 22.04 or newer
API key from Anthropic (Claude) or OpenAI
Basic Linux command line familiarity

Step 1: Provision your server

Deploy a Linux VPS through ColossusCloud control panel. Ubuntu 24.04 LTS is recommended.

SSH into server:

ssh root@your-server-ip

Step 2: Initial server setup

Update system and create non-root user:

apt update && apt upgrade -y
adduser moltbot
usermod -aG sudo moltbot
su - moltbot

Step 3: Node.js runtime

Moltbot requires Node.js 18 or newer:

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs
node --version

Step 4: Install Moltbot

Install globally:

sudo npm install -g clawdbot
clawd onboard

Onboarding prompts for:

Anthropic or OpenAI API key
Messaging platform connections (WhatsApp, Telegram, etc.)
Memory and preferences configuration

Step 5: Locking down network access

Critical: Never expose Moltbot’s gateway port (18789) to public internet.

sudo ufw default deny incoming
sudo ufw default allow outgoing
sudo ufw allow ssh
sudo ufw enable

Step 6: Install Tailscale for secure remote access

Tailscale provides zero-trust network for secure access without exposing ports:

curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
sudo tailscale up

Follow authentication link to connect server to Tailscale network.

Step 7: Hardening configuration files

Set proper permissions:

chmod 700 ~/.config/moltbot
chmod 600 ~/.config/moltbot/config.json

Generate strong gateway token:

openssl rand -hex 32

Add to configuration at ~/.config/moltbot/config.json:

{
  "gateway": {
    "bind": "127.0.0.1",
    "port": 18789,
    "token": "your-generated-token-here"
  }
}

Step 8: Run as service

Create systemd service:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/moltbot.service

Add:

[Unit]
Description=Moltbot AI Assistant
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=moltbot
WorkingDirectory=/home/moltbot
ExecStart=/usr/bin/clawd
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable moltbot
sudo systemctl start moltbot

Monthly expenses

VPS: Starting around $8/month at ColossusCloud
Moltbot: Free (open source)
API usage: Pay-per-use for Claude/OpenAI
Tailscale: Free for personal use

Deploy a VPS and run your own secure Moltbot instance.

Self-hosting Moltbot (Clawdbot) on your VPS