Most AI assistants store your data on their servers, charge per message, and go offline the moment you close the tab. OpenClaw works differently — it runs on your own VPS, connects to Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack, and Discord, and stays online 24/7.

AvaHost now offers OpenClaw as a one-click template on Ubuntu 22.04. 

What Is OpenClaw?

OpenClaw is an open-source, self-hosted AI assistant. You connect it to your preferred AI provider — Claude (Anthropic) or ChatGPT (OpenAI) — and it becomes your personal assistant across all your messaging apps.

What it supports:

  • Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack, Discord and 10+ platforms
  • Claude, ChatGPT, and local models via Ollama
  • Google Workspace — Calendar, Gmail, Drive
  • Web browsing, file management, terminal commands

Why self-host:

  • Your conversations never leave your server
  • No per-message fees — flat VPS cost only
  • Runs 24/7 without your computer being on
  • You control which AI model it uses

What You’ll Need

  • An active AvaHost account — ava.hosting
  • A VPS plan (minimum 2 GB RAM recommended)
  • An API key from Anthropic or OpenAI

Step 1 — Log Into Your AvaHost Dashboard

Sign in at ava.hosting. You’ll land on the My Dashboard page showing your active services.

Find your VPS under Your Active Products/Services and click Manage.

Step 2 — Open Reinstallation

Inside your VPS panel, look at the Service Management section in the left sidebar. Click Reinstallation.

Heads up: Reinstallation wipes all existing data on the VPS. For a fresh VPS this step is completely safe.

Step 3 — Select the OpenClaw Template

You’ll see a grid of operating systems. Scroll to the Ubuntu section and click Ubuntu-22-04-OpenClaw-WebGateway.

This template installs on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and includes everything pre-configured:

  • OpenClaw (latest stable version)
  • Docker and Docker Compose
  • WebGateway for browser access
  • Firewall rules set up automatically

Confirm the selection. Installation takes 2–5 minutes.

Step 4 — Complete the Onboarding Wizard

Once your VPS is ready, open your browser and go to:

http://YOUR_VPS_IP:18789

You’ll see the OpenClaw onboarding wizard. Follow these steps:

  1. Choose your AI provider — Anthropic (Claude) or OpenAI (ChatGPT)
  2. Enter your API key — paste it from your provider’s dashboard
  3. Create your admin account — set email and password
  4. Connect your first platform — Telegram is the quickest to start

The whole setup takes about 3 minutes.

Step 5 — Connect Telegram

  1. Open Telegram → search @BotFather
  2. Send /newbot and follow the prompts to create a bot
  3. Copy the bot token you receive
  4. In OpenClaw dashboard → Integrations → Telegram → paste the token
  5. Start chatting with your bot

→ Get started with AvaHost VPS