How to Run OpenClaw on Kamatera — #1 for Bot Hosting

Most guides about running bots on the cloud read like they were written by someone who's never actually done it. They hand-wave past the hard parts, skip the pricing details, and leave you staring at a terminal wondering what went wrong.

This isn't that guide.

I'm going to walk you through deploying OpenClaw on Kamatera — from zero to a persistent, always-on bot running in the cloud — in about 15 minutes. No fluff, no filler. Just the stuff that works.

Why OpenClaw, Why Kamatera, Why Now

Let's get the "why" out of the way fast so we can get to the "how."

OpenClaw is an open-source automation framework built for scripting bots — primarily in the OSRS ecosystem, but extensible enough to handle a wide range of automation tasks. It's Java-based, plays nicely with community scripts, and gives you the kind of granular control that premium tools charge monthly for. If you've been duct-taping together scripts on your local machine and alt-tabbing between clients, OpenClaw is the grown-up version of that workflow.

Kamatera consistently ranks as the #1 pick for bot hosting in community reviews, and it's not hard to see why. Flexible hourly billing, 13 global data center locations, 99.95% uptime SLA, and full root access on every VPS. No shared hosting nonsense where your instance gets nuked because some other customer was doing sketchy stuff on the same IP block.

The combination is powerful: OpenClaw handles the automation logic, Kamatera handles the infrastructure. You get always-on bots without draining your local machine, easy IP management across multiple instances, and the ability to scale from a single script to a full farm without changing providers.

If you want to grab OpenClaw scripts, proxies, or preconfigured setups, Claw Mart has listings for all of it — but we'll get into that later. First, let's build.

The Cost Breakdown (Because That's What You Actually Want to Know)

Kamatera uses hourly pay-as-you-go pricing. No contracts, no annual commitments. You pay for what you run. Here's what the numbers look like for OpenClaw specifically:

Config	vCPU	RAM	Storage	Bandwidth	Monthly Cost	Best For
Starter	1	1 GB	20 GB SSD	5 TB	~$4	1–2 bots, single script
Balanced	2	4 GB	50 GB SSD	5 TB	~$18	5–10 bots, light farm
Pro	4	8 GB	100 GB SSD	5 TB	~$36	20+ bots, multi-account
High-End	8	16 GB	200 GB SSD	5 TB	~$73	Full bot farm + proxy rotation

A few things to note:

Additional IPv4 addresses run about $2/month each — useful if you're distributing bots across multiple IPs.
Windows adds ~50% to the price. Don't use Windows. We're deploying on Ubuntu.
Kamatera offers a 30-day free trial with $100 in credit. That's enough to run a Balanced setup for over five months, or test a Pro config for nearly three months. Use it.

For most people reading this, the Balanced tier at $18/month is the sweet spot. Enough headroom for multiple OpenClaw instances, fast SSD for script loading, and 5 TB of bandwidth that you'll never touch running game bots.

If you're planning a proper farm — say, 5 VPS instances running 4–8 bots each — you're looking at roughly $90/month for the whole operation. Compare that to leaving five physical machines running 24/7 and the math isn't even close.

Step-by-Step: OpenClaw on Kamatera in 15 Minutes

Step 1: Create Your Kamatera VPS (2 minutes)

Head to kamatera.com and create an account. You'll need a credit card for the free trial, but you won't get charged until you exceed the $100 credit.

Once you're in the dashboard:

Click Create Server
Select Ubuntu 22.04 LTS as your OS (this is non-negotiable — it has the best Java 17+ support and the most community documentation)
Choose your data center region. Pick the location closest to the game servers you're connecting to. For OSRS NA worlds, New York City. For EU worlds, London or Amsterdam.
Set your specs — start with 2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM / 50 GB SSD (the Balanced tier)
Choose SSH key authentication if you have a key pair ready. If not, password works — just make it strong.
Hit deploy.

Your server will be live in under 60 seconds. Kamatera is genuinely fast here — no waiting around for provisioning queues.

Step 2: SSH In and Prep the System (2 minutes)

Open your terminal and connect:

ssh root@YOUR_VPS_IP

First thing — update everything and install the dependencies OpenClaw needs:

apt update && apt upgrade -y
apt install openjdk-17-jre screen wget unzip git -y

Verify Java is installed correctly:

java -version

You should see something like openjdk version "17.0.x". If you don't, something went wrong with the install. Re-run the apt install openjdk-17-jre command.

That's your foundation. Java 17+, screen for persistent sessions, and the basic utilities for downloading and managing files.

Step 3: Download and Build OpenClaw (3 minutes)

Now we pull down OpenClaw itself:

cd /opt
git clone https://github.com/OpenClaw/OpenClaw.git
cd OpenClaw

If the repo provides a Gradle build:

./gradlew build

If you're working from a prebuilt JAR release (which is faster and what I'd recommend for most people):

wget https://github.com/OpenClaw/OpenClaw/releases/latest/download/OpenClaw.jar
chmod +x OpenClaw.jar

Note: The exact repo URL may vary depending on which community fork you're using. Check Claw Mart for links to verified, up-to-date OpenClaw builds and forks that have been tested for cloud deployment. This saves you the headache of cloning a stale repo that hasn't been updated in six months.

Quick sanity check to make sure it runs:

java -jar OpenClaw.jar --version

If you get output, you're golden. If you get a Java heap error, we'll fix that in the configuration step.

Step 4: Configure for Headless Cloud Operation (5 minutes)

This is where most guides fall apart. Running OpenClaw on your local machine with a GUI is easy. Running it headless on a VPS requires a few extra steps.

Install a virtual framebuffer so Java doesn't throw display errors:

apt install xvfb -y
Xvfb :99 -screen 0 1024x768x24 &
export DISPLAY=:99

This creates a fake display that Java can render to without an actual monitor. Add the export DISPLAY=:99 line to your ~/.bashrc so it persists across sessions:

echo 'export DISPLAY=:99' >> ~/.bashrc

Configure OpenClaw itself. Edit the config file (location varies by build, but usually something like config.properties or settings.yml in the OpenClaw directory):

nano /opt/OpenClaw/config.properties

Key settings to adjust:

# Allocate memory based on your VPS tier
# For 4GB RAM VPS, give OpenClaw 3GB max
jvm.heap.max=3G

# Script directory
scripts.path=/opt/OpenClaw/scripts/

# Proxy settings (if using)
proxy.enabled=true
proxy.type=SOCKS5
proxy.host=YOUR_PROXY_IP
proxy.port=1080

# Headless mode
display.headless=true

Set up proxies if you're running multiple accounts. This is critical for avoiding detection. You have two options:

Per-instance proxies using OpenClaw's built-in proxy settings (shown above)
System-level proxies using proxychains:

apt install proxychains4 -y
nano /etc/proxychains4.conf

Add your proxy list at the bottom of the config:

socks5 PROXY_IP_1 1080 username password
socks5 PROXY_IP_2 1080 username password

Then run OpenClaw through proxychains:

proxychains4 java -jar OpenClaw.jar --script=YourScript

You can find rotating residential proxies and SOCKS5 proxy packs on Claw Mart — the listings there are specifically tested for game bot use, which matters more than you'd think. Generic datacenter proxies from the big providers (BrightData, etc.) work too, but you'll pay $10+/month for rotation.

Step 5: Launch and Run Persistently (2 minutes)

Time to actually run the thing. Use screen so your bot survives SSH disconnections:

screen -S botfarm
java -Xmx3G -jar /opt/OpenClaw/OpenClaw.jar --script=MyFarmScript

Detach from the screen session with Ctrl+A, then D. Your bot keeps running in the background.

To reattach later:

screen -r botfarm

For true persistence (auto-restart on crash or reboot), set up a systemd service:

nano /etc/systemd/system/openclaw.service

Paste this:

[Unit]
Description=OpenClaw Bot Service
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=root
WorkingDirectory=/opt/OpenClaw
ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/Xvfb :99 -screen 0 1024x768x24 &
Environment=DISPLAY=:99
ExecStart=/usr/bin/java -Xmx3G -jar /opt/OpenClaw/OpenClaw.jar --script=MyFarmScript
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start it:

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable openclaw
systemctl start openclaw

Now OpenClaw will automatically start on boot and restart if it crashes. Check status anytime with:

systemctl status openclaw
journalctl -u openclaw -f  # Live logs

Step 6: Lock It Down (1 minute)

Basic security. Don't skip this:

ufw allow ssh
ufw allow 5900/tcp  # Only if you plan to use VNC
ufw enable

Change your SSH port if you're paranoid (I am):

nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
# Change "Port 22" to something like "Port 2222"
systemctl restart sshd
ufw allow 2222/tcp

Connecting a Telegram Bot for Monitoring

You're going to want to know if your bot crashes at 3 AM without having to SSH in and check. Here's the quick version of Telegram alerts:

Create a bot via @BotFather on Telegram. Save the token.
Get your chat ID by messaging @userinfobot.
Create a simple notification script:

nano /opt/OpenClaw/notify.sh

#!/bin/bash
TOKEN="YOUR_BOT_TOKEN"
CHAT_ID="YOUR_CHAT_ID"
MESSAGE="⚠️ OpenClaw alert: $1"
curl -s -X POST "https://api.telegram.org/bot$TOKEN/sendMessage" \
  -d chat_id="$CHAT_ID" \
  -d text="$MESSAGE"

chmod +x /opt/OpenClaw/notify.sh

Add a health check cron job:

crontab -e

*/5 * * * * systemctl is-active --quiet openclaw || /opt/OpenClaw/notify.sh "OpenClaw is DOWN — restarting" && systemctl restart openclaw

Every 5 minutes, this checks if OpenClaw is running. If it's not, it sends you a Telegram message and restarts the service. Set it and forget it.

Scaling Up: From One Bot to a Farm

Once you've got one VPS running smoothly, scaling on Kamatera is straightforward:

Option 1: Vertical scaling. Just resize your existing VPS. Kamatera lets you add CPU and RAM on-demand through their dashboard. Going from 4 GB to 8 GB takes a reboot and about 30 seconds.

Option 2: Horizontal scaling. Clone your VPS as a template, then spin up identical instances across different data centers and IPs. This is the better approach for bot farms because:

Each VPS gets a unique IP address
You can spread across geographic regions
If one instance gets flagged, the others keep running

The sweet spot for a serious farm: 5× Balanced VPS ($18 each = $90/month total), each running 4–8 OpenClaw instances with unique proxies. That's 20–40 bots running 24/7 for less than the cost of a gym membership.

Kamatera also has an API for automated deployment, so you can script the entire process — spin up a new VPS, install dependencies, deploy OpenClaw, start the bot — with a single command. That's overkill for most people, but it's there if you need it.

What to Grab from Claw Mart

Claw Mart is the marketplace where the OpenClaw ecosystem lives. A few things worth looking at:

Verified OpenClaw scripts — Farm scripts, combat scripts, skilling scripts that have been tested on cloud deployments and optimized for headless operation
Proxy packs — SOCKS5 proxies specifically validated for game bot use, sold in bundles that make more economic sense than rolling your own
Preconfigured VPS templates — If you don't want to go through this entire setup manually, there are ready-to-deploy images
Account management tools — Bulk account creation, world-hop configurations, ban detection scripts

The scripts marketplace is particularly useful because community-tested scripts save you hours of debugging. When a script says "cloud-verified" on Claw Mart, it means someone's actually run it headless on a VPS and confirmed it works — not just tested it locally with a GUI.

Common Issues and How to Fix Them

Java heap errors (OutOfMemoryError): You allocated too little memory. Increase the -Xmx flag. On a 4 GB VPS, use -Xmx3G. On 8 GB, use -Xmx6G. Always leave at least 1 GB for the OS.

Display/rendering errors: Your Xvfb isn't running. Check with ps aux | grep Xvfb. If it's dead, restart it: Xvfb :99 -screen 0 1024x768x24 &

High CPU usage: Each bot instance typically uses 10–50% of a vCPU. If you're pegging 100%, you have too many instances for your tier. Scale up or distribute across VPS.

IP bans: This isn't Kamatera's fault — it's a game-side detection. Use proxy rotation, randomize play patterns in your scripts, and don't run 20 bots on the same IP. Multiple cheap $4 VPS instances are better than one beefy server for IP diversity.

Scripts not loading: Check your scripts.path in the config. Permissions matter: chmod -R 755 /opt/OpenClaw/scripts/

The Bottom Line

Total setup time: 15 minutes if you type fast, 20 if you don't.

Monthly cost: $4–$73 depending on scale, with a $100 free trial to start.

What you get: Always-on OpenClaw bots running in the cloud, automatic restart on failure, Telegram alerts when things go sideways, and a clear path to scaling when you're ready.

Kamatera earns its #1 ranking for bot hosting because it hits the intersection of cheap, reliable, and flexible that bot operators actually need. No overpaying for resources you don't use, no getting kicked off for running automation, and no babysitting a local machine.

Next steps:

Grab the Kamatera free trial and deploy your first VPS
Follow the setup steps above to get OpenClaw running
Browse Claw Mart for scripts and proxies that match your use case
Start with one bot, verify it's stable for 24 hours, then scale

Stop running bots on your laptop. It's 2026. Put them in the cloud where they belong.