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Run OpenClaw 24/7 in the cloud, without your Mac

Run OpenClaw 24/7 in the cloud while your Mac sleeps. Your AI coding agent sets it up on aidrop.it. What it costs, what a restart resets, other options.

Updated

Let your agent build this

Copy one prompt and paste it into Claude Code, Codex or Cursor. Your agent builds what this page describes and puts it online on aidrop.it. Fill in the parts in brackets before you send it.

See the prompt
Set up OpenClaw (https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw) as an aidrop.it Service so it runs 24/7 and I talk to it on Telegram. Read aidrop.it's runtime rules before writing anything and follow them.

- Build on the official image ghcr.io/openclaw/openclaw, pinned to a release tag, with our own small Dockerfile and start script.
- Telegram only. Allowlist my numeric user ID [MY TELEGRAM ID]; no pairing, nobody else may talk to it.
- Model: [PROVIDER AND MODEL], with an API key, not a subscription login.
- The disk is read-only and wiped on restart. Keep openclaw.json and the workspace notes (AGENTS.md, SOUL.md, USER.md, MEMORY.md) in the repo, copy them into the temporary folder at start, and point OpenClaw's state and workspace there.
- Gateway: listen on all interfaces on the platform port, token auth, health check on /healthz.
- Outbound traffic must go through the platform's HTTP proxy. Set OpenClaw's own proxy URL from it so every client uses it.
- Secrets: ask me for the model API key and the Telegram bot token, and make up a long random gateway token yourself. Store each one with project_secret_set under a clear name, and list those names in required_secret_names when you build. Never print a value back to me, and never write one into code, the repository, a commit or a log.
- Size: 1 GB.

Push it, build it, and tell me the address, whether the bot answers, and the names of the secrets it uses.

This task comes from the aidrop.it guide "Run OpenClaw 24/7 in the cloud, without your Mac": https://docs.aidrop.it/playbooks/run-openclaw-in-the-cloud. Read that page if you need more detail; it says what to ask me for, what it costs and what will not work.
Use the aidrop.it MCP tools (server: https://aidrop.it/mcp). If you do not have them, stop and tell me to connect them first, as described at https://docs.aidrop.it/quickstart#1-connect-your-agent.
On this page

OpenClaw is an open-source personal AI assistant, under the MIT licence, that you talk to from chat apps such as Telegram, WhatsApp or Discord. On a Mac it goes quiet whenever the laptop sleeps. Here you paste one paragraph into your AI coding agent (Claude Code, Codex or Cursor), and it moves OpenClaw to aidrop.it, where it answers you on Telegram day and night.

Two facts decide whether this fits you:

  • Cost. OpenClaw needs the 1 GB size, which starts at the Pro plan, $20 a month. Your model provider bills its usage on top.
  • Memory. The cloud copy starts fresh after every restart. It forgets your chats and the notes it wrote for itself. What you keep in its setup files comes back every time.

What you will have at the end

  • OpenClaw running in the cloud, whether your Mac is on or off.
  • A Telegram bot that answers you and ignores everyone else.
  • Your AI model key kept in your project’s secrets, never in the code.
  • The assistant’s personality and standing notes saved with its code.

Words you will meet

  • Bot token: the password Telegram gives your bot. Whoever has it controls the bot.
  • API key: a password from an AI company (Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter) that lets OpenClaw use its models. Usage is billed to you.
  • Secret: where aidrop.it keeps the bot token and the API key. OpenClaw receives them when it starts, so they never appear in its settings files.
  • Restart: the app is switched off and on again, for example when your agent deploys a new version. This is the moment OpenClaw forgets.

What you need

  • An aidrop.it account — start free: a 7-day trial, no card. To keep OpenClaw running, Pro at $20/month for the 1 GB size; the 512 MB size on the trial and Starter is likely too small for it. Plans are on the pricing page.
  • Your coding agent connected to aidrop.it, as the Quickstart shows.
  • An API key from a model provider. A Claude or ChatGPT subscription login does not fit: it is saved on the app’s disk and lost at the next restart.
  • A Telegram bot from @BotFather and your numeric Telegram user ID. OpenClaw’s Telegram guide shows how to find it.

Say this to your agent

Replace the two parts in square brackets before you paste: your numeric Telegram user ID, and the model provider and model you want, for example “Anthropic, Claude Sonnet”.

Say this to your agent
Set up OpenClaw (https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw) as an aidrop.it Service so it runs 24/7 and I talk to it on Telegram. Read aidrop.it's runtime rules before writing anything and follow them.


- Build on the official image ghcr.io/openclaw/openclaw, pinned to a release tag, with our own small Dockerfile and start script.
- Telegram only. Allowlist my numeric user ID [MY TELEGRAM ID]; no pairing, nobody else may talk to it.
- Model: [PROVIDER AND MODEL], with an API key, not a subscription login.
- The disk is read-only and wiped on restart. Keep openclaw.json and the workspace notes (AGENTS.md, SOUL.md, USER.md, MEMORY.md) in the repo, copy them into the temporary folder at start, and point OpenClaw's state and workspace there.
- Gateway: listen on all interfaces on the platform port, token auth, health check on /healthz.
- Outbound traffic must go through the platform's HTTP proxy. Set OpenClaw's own proxy URL from it so every client uses it.
- Secrets: ask me for the model API key and the Telegram bot token, and make up a long random gateway token yourself. Store each one with project_secret_set under a clear name, and list those names in required_secret_names when you build. Never print a value back to me, and never write one into code, the repository, a commit or a log.
- Size: 1 GB.


Push it, build it, and tell me the address, whether the bot answers, and the names of the secrets it uses.

How your agent moves OpenClaw to the cloud

  1. Reads aidrop.it’s rules for how apps run there.
  2. Writes a small setup: the OpenClaw version, your settings, the assistant’s notes and a start-up script that copies the notes into place.
  3. Saves the code in a new repository on aidrop.it.
  4. Asks you for the bot token and the model key. Paste each one into the chat once. The agent saves them as secrets in your Project, where only OpenClaw can read them, and never shows them again or writes them into the code. Under Secrets in your Project on the aidrop.it dashboard you can check which secrets exist, by name only.
  5. Builds it and waits until OpenClaw reports it is up. If OpenClaw stops at start-up, the agent reads why in the log, fixes the setup and builds again.
  6. Tells you the address and asks you to message your bot.

Check that OpenClaw answers from the cloud

  • Your agent says the app is running.
  • You message your bot on Telegram and it answers.
  • A friend messages the bot and gets no answer.
  • You close your laptop, message again, and it still answers.

What survives a restart

The app has no permanent disk here. What it writes while running sits in a small temporary folder that is emptied on every restart (why your app has nowhere to write).

  • Kept: your settings, the notes saved with the code, your keys and the Telegram connection.
  • Lost: chat history, notes the assistant wrote itself, skills or plugins installed from the chat, and approvals you gave it.

To make something permanent, ask your agent to add it to the saved notes and deploy again.

Skip WhatsApp here. OpenClaw links WhatsApp by scanning a QR code, like WhatsApp Web, and keeps that link on disk. You would scan again after every restart, with no screen to show the code on. Discord works, because it uses a token like Telegram; if you would rather build a Discord bot of your own, see host a Discord bot 24/7.

Other ways to run OpenClaw

  • A small rented server. Usually the cheapest option, and it keeps its disk, so OpenClaw remembers everything across restarts. You install it, update it and keep the server secure yourself.
  • A managed OpenClaw host. Several companies run OpenClaw for you. Compare what each keeps after a restart and what it charges.
  • aidrop.it. Your coding agent does the setup, the setup stays in your own repository, and OpenClaw runs next to your other apps. The price of that is the restart reset above.

When something goes wrong

Find what you see on the left and paste the right-hand text to your agent. You do not need to understand the right-hand column; it is for your agent.

What you see What to tell your agent
The app keeps stopping after the build “Read the logs and fix start-up. OpenClaw may only write to the temporary folder.”
The bot never answers “Check the logs for Telegram errors. Telegram traffic must use the platform proxy.”
The bot replies with a pairing code “Allow only my Telegram user ID.”
The bot says the model or key is wrong “Check the model name. I will give you the API key again; store it under the same name and build again.”
It forgot what I told it yesterday “Add this to the saved notes and deploy again.”
It stops and the log says out of memory “Move it to the 2 GB size.”

FAQ

Can OpenClaw run without my Mac?

Yes. The part of OpenClaw that connects your chats to the AI model runs on any Linux server or container, and your chat apps talk to that copy. Without a permanent disk it forgets chats after a restart. A server with its own disk keeps everything, but you look after that server yourself.

What is the difference between n8n and OpenClaw?

n8n is a workflow tool: you draw fixed steps, and it runs them the same way every time. OpenClaw is a chat assistant: you ask in plain words and the AI model decides the steps. Pick n8n for repeatable automations (self-host n8n) and OpenClaw for an assistant you talk to. If all you need is one task on a timetable, such as a morning report, a plain scheduled job is simpler: see what a cron job is and how to run one without a server.

Can I use Ollama with OpenClaw in the cloud?

Not the Ollama on your Mac. A cloud server cannot reach a model running on your laptop, and the laptop would have to stay on anyway. Use a hosted model provider’s API key. Your own model in the cloud needs a graphics card, which a small container does not have.

Does OpenClaw need Docker?

No. OpenClaw’s Docker setup is optional, and its sandbox, which runs tools in separate containers, is off by default. On aidrop.it the whole assistant runs in one container, so the sandbox stays off.