So you've heard about OpenClaw — maybe from a dev community, maybe from a friend who won't stop talking about their "AI butler" — and you want in. But you're starting from absolute zero. No prior experience with AI agents, no cloud server running, maybe not even sure what a "daemon" is.
Perfect. This guide takes you from nothing to a fully operational, skill-enhanced AI assistant running 24/7 in the cloud. We'll cover installation, basic configuration, channel integration, skill management, and advanced optimization. Buckle up.
OpenClaw (also known as Clawdbot or Moltbot) is an open-source AI agent framework. Think of it as a bridge between a large language model (like DeepSeek, GPT, or Claude) and the real world. On its own, an LLM can only chat. OpenClaw gives it hands — the ability to browse the web, manage files, execute commands, send messages across platforms, and more.
You deploy it on a cloud server, connect it to your preferred messaging app, and interact with it like a personal assistant that never sleeps.
Running OpenClaw on your personal machine is technically possible but strongly discouraged for anything beyond testing. The agent has system-level access, and mixing that with your personal data is a recipe for trouble.
Tencent Cloud Lighthouse is the recommended environment — it's pre-optimized for OpenClaw with a one-click application template.
Head to the Tencent Cloud Lighthouse Special Offer:
Configuration tips:
Your instance comes with OpenClaw pre-installed. Now you need to give it a brain (model) and a mouth (channel).
In the Tencent Cloud Console, go to your instance → Application Management → Models. Paste your API key and click Add and Apply.
Supported providers include DeepSeek, Tencent Hunyuan, OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, xAI Grok, and more. See the full list in the Custom Model Tutorial.
# You can also configure via CLI after SSHing in:
clawdbot onboard
# The wizard handles model setup interactively
Security note: Never store API keys in plain text files or shell history. Use the console panel or secure environment variable injection.
Run the onboarding wizard:
clawdbot onboard
Select your messaging platform when prompted. Detailed guides for each:
After channel setup, pair your bot by sending it a message and approving the code:
openclaw pairing approve <channel> <code>
Enable the daemon so OpenClaw runs persistently:
loginctl enable-linger $(whoami) && export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/$(id -u)
clawdbot daemon install
clawdbot daemon start
clawdbot daemon status
Healthy status = you can close the terminal. The agent lives on.
This is where OpenClaw goes from "chatbot" to "autonomous agent." Skills are plugins that extend the agent's capabilities. The default installation includes agent-browser, which lets the AI browse websites, click elements, fill forms, and take screenshots.
To install additional skills (like email, McDonald's ordering, or custom integrations), you can do it through conversation:
You: "Please install a skill for me using Clawhub; its name is mail."
OpenClaw: [installs the skill, confirms success]
To manage skills:
You: "Check which skills you have currently installed."
You: "Please help me delete the mail skill."
For a deep dive, read the Skills Installation Guide.
Important: Some skills are flagged as "high risk" on Clawhub. Only install them if you fully understand what they do.
OpenClaw sends full conversation context with each API call, which means token usage grows with conversation length. Here's how to keep costs manageable:
One OpenClaw instance can serve multiple messaging platforms simultaneously. Run clawdbot onboard again and add another channel. Your agent maintains separate conversation contexts per channel while sharing the same model and skills configuration.
This is powerful for businesses that need presence on WhatsApp, Telegram, and Discord all at once.
You've gone from zero to a fully configured, skill-enhanced, multi-channel AI assistant running 24/7 in the cloud. Not bad for a single guide.
To get started (or upgrade your existing setup), visit the Tencent Cloud Lighthouse Special Offer:
The zero-to-advanced journey starts with one click. The rest is just configuration.