Setting Up OpenClaw on a Headless VPS with Claude Pro Subscription

Running OpenClaw on a headless VPS gives you 24/7 availability, better uptime, and the ability to access your AI assistant from anywhere. This guide walks through deploying OpenClaw on a remote server and—crucially—configuring it to use your Claude Pro subscription instead of pay-per-use API billing.

Why Use Claude Pro Instead of API Billing?

Anthropic offers two ways to access Claude:

1. API Key → Pay-per-token billing (can get expensive with heavy usage)
2. Claude Pro/Max Subscription → Fixed monthly fee (~$20-25/month) with higher rate limits

For personal use, the subscription is typically more cost-effective. OpenClaw supports both methods, and this guide focuses on the subscription approach.

Prerequisites

• A VPS or cloud server (AWS, DigitalOcean, Linode, Hetzner, etc.)
• Debian/Ubuntu-based system (this guide uses Debian 12)
• Node.js 24+ installed
• Your personal machine with Claude CLI installed (npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-cli)

Step 1: Install OpenClaw on Your VPS

SSH into your server and install OpenClaw:

# Install Node.js 24 if not present
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_24.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

# Install OpenClaw globally
npm install -g openclaw

# Verify installation
openclaw --version

Step 2: Initial Configuration

Run the onboarding wizard to set up the basic configuration:

openclaw onboard

This creates the initial config at ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json. For a headless server, you’ll want minimal configuration to start:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace"
    }
  }
}

Step 3: Generate the Setup Token (On Your Local Machine)

Important: The claude setup-token command must be run on a machine where you’re already authenticated with Claude—not on the headless VPS.

On your local machine (laptop/desktop with Claude CLI installed):

# Make sure you're logged into Claude
claude auth login

# Generate a setup token for your VPS
claude setup-token

This outputs something like:

Your setup token (expires in 30 minutes):

sk-ant-setup-token-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Copy this token and paste it into your OpenClaw configuration.

Note: This token is temporary (expires in 30 minutes) and can only be used once.

Step 4: Configure OpenClaw with the Setup Token

Back on your VPS, paste the token into OpenClaw:

openclaw models auth paste-token --provider anthropic

You’ll be prompted to paste the token. After pasting, verify the authentication:

openclaw models status

You should see Anthropic listed with a green checkmark and your account email.

Alternative: Manual Token Entry

If the interactive paste doesn’t work on your headless server, you can add it directly to the auth profiles file:

# Create the auth profiles file
mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/agents/main/agent
cat > ~/.openclaw/agents/main/agent/auth-profiles.json << 'EOF'
{
  "anthropic:your-email@example.com": {
    "provider": "anthropic",
    "mode": "token",
    "token": "sk-ant-setup-token-xxxxxxxx...",
    "email": "your-email@example.com"
  }
}
EOF

Replace your-email@example.com with your Anthropic account email and the token with your actual setup token.

Step 5: Set Claude as Your Default Model

Configure OpenClaw to use Claude by default:

# Set the default model
openclaw models set anthropic/claude-opus-4-6

# Or for Sonnet (faster, cheaper)
openclaw models set anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5

# Verify
openclaw models list

Your config should now look like:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      workspace: "~/.openclaw/workspace",
      model: {
        primary: "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6"
      }
    }
  }
}

Step 6: Set Up a Channel (WhatsApp Example)

To actually use OpenClaw, you need to configure a messaging channel. Here’s a WhatsApp setup:

# Install the WhatsApp channel dependencies
openclaw plugins enable whatsapp

# Configure WhatsApp
openclaw config set channels.whatsapp.enabled true
openclaw config set channels.whatsapp.dmPolicy "allowlist"
openclaw config set channels.whatsapp.allowFrom '["+1234567890"]'  # Your phone number

For the first WhatsApp connection, you’ll need to scan a QR code. On a headless server, OpenClaw will display the QR code in the terminal—screenshot it and scan with WhatsApp on your phone.

Step 7: Running OpenClaw as a Service

To keep OpenClaw running after you disconnect SSH, use systemd:

# Create systemd service file
sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/openclaw.service << 'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=OpenClaw Gateway
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=your-username
WorkingDirectory=/home/your-username
Environment="PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin"
Environment="HOME=/home/your-username"
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/openclaw gateway start
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

# Enable and start the service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable openclaw
sudo systemctl start openclaw

# Check status
sudo systemctl status openclaw

Replace your-username with your actual Linux username.

Step 8: Connecting Remotely

To interact with your headless OpenClaw instance, you have several options:

Option A: Control UI via SSH Tunnel

# On your local machine, tunnel the Control UI
ssh -L 18789:localhost:18789 your-vps-ip

# Then open http://localhost:18789 in your browser

Option B: Use the CLI Remotely

# Set the gateway URL
openclaw config set gateway.url "http://your-vps-ip:18789"

# Or use environment variable
export OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_URL="http://your-vps-ip:18789"

Option C: Telegram Bot (Recommended for Mobile)

Configure Telegram for easy mobile access:

openclaw config set channels.telegram.enabled true
openclaw config set channels.telegram.botToken "your-bot-token"
openclaw config set channels.telegram.dmPolicy "allowlist"
openclaw config set channels.telegram.allowFrom '["tg:your-user-id"]'

Troubleshooting

”Model is not allowed” Error

If you see:

Model "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6" is not allowed

Add the model to your allowlist:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: {
        primary: "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6",
        models: {
          "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6": { alias: "Opus" },
          "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5": { alias: "Sonnet" }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Token Expired

Setup tokens expire after 30 minutes. If yours expires, generate a new one on your local machine and paste it again.

Rate Limits

Claude Pro has rate limits (typically ~45 messages per 3 hours on Opus). If you hit limits:

• Switch to Sonnet (higher limits)
• Add fallbacks in your config:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: {
        primary: "anthropic/claude-opus-4-6",
        fallbacks: [
          "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5",
          "kimi-coding/k2p5"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Auth Profile Not Found

If OpenClaw can’t find your auth:

# Check the auth profiles file exists
cat ~/.openclaw/agents/main/agent/auth-profiles.json

# Verify models status
openclaw models status --verbose

Security Considerations

1. Protect your setup tokens — they provide full access to your Claude subscription
2. Use allowlists — never leave channels in “open” mode on a public server
3. Firewall rules — restrict port 18789 to your IP only:

   sudo ufw allow from your-home-ip to any port 18789

4. Regular updates — keep OpenClaw updated:

   npm update -g openclaw

Comparison: API Key vs Subscription

Feature	API Key	Claude Pro Subscription
Cost	Pay per token	Fixed monthly fee
Rate Limits	Higher	Lower (~45 msg/3hr Opus)
Setup	Simple key	Requires setup-token flow
Best For	Heavy usage, apps	Personal use, experimentation

Conclusion

Setting up OpenClaw on a headless VPS with Claude Pro subscription gives you a powerful, always-on AI assistant without the variable costs of API billing. The setup-token flow bridges the gap between Anthropic’s consumer subscription and headless server deployment.

Next steps:

• Configure additional channels (Telegram, Discord, Slack)
• Set up cron jobs for automated tasks
• Explore multi-agent setups for different workspaces
• Add skills from ClawHub

---

Last updated: February 11, 2026. OpenClaw version 2026.2.9.