Deploying OpenClaw Gateway on Fly.io

I spent way too much time trying to keep my gateway running on a spare laptop under my desk. Between the random restarts and the nightmare of setting up stable port forwarding for Discord webhooks, it was a mess. I switched to Fly.io because it handles the infra, gives me a public URL with HTTPS automatically, and keeps my data safe on a persistent volume. If you want your gateway to just stay online without babysitting a server, this is the way to do it.

What You’ll Need

Before we start, make sure you have these four things ready:

• flyctl CLI installed and logged in.
• A Fly.io account (the free tier is great, but you’ll need a credit card on file).
• Your model API keys (like Anthropic or OpenAI).
• Your channel tokens (Discord bot token or Telegram bot token).

Quick Start: The 5-Minute Path

This is the fastest way to get your gateway live. We’ll create the app, set up a disk for your data, and push the code.

1. Create the App and Volume

Open your terminal and run these commands:

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw.git
cd openclaw

# Create the app (choose a unique name)
fly apps create my-openclaw

# Create a 1GB volume for your database and config
# I recommend 'iad' (Virginia) or 'lhr' (London)
fly volumes create openclaw_data --size 1 --region iad

2. Configure fly.toml

Create or edit your fly.toml file. I recommend using at least 2GB of RAM. OpenClaw can be hungry when it’s processing lots of messages, and 512MB will likely cause crashes.

app = "my-openclaw"
primary_region = "iad"

[build]
  dockerfile = "Dockerfile"

[env]
  NODE_ENV = "production"
  OPENCLAW_PREFER_PNPM = "1"
  OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR = "/data"
  NODE_OPTIONS = "--max-old-space-size=1536"

[processes]
  app = "node dist/index.js gateway --allow-unconfigured --port 3000 --bind lan"

[http_service]
  internal_port = 3000
  force_https = true
  auto_stop_machines = false
  auto_start_machines = true
  min_machines_running = 1
  processes = ["app"]

[[vm]]
  size = "shared-cpu-2x"
  memory = "2048mb"

[mounts]
  source = "openclaw_data"
  destination = "/data"

3. Set Your Secrets

Don’t put your API keys in the config file. Use Fly secrets instead. It’s safer and prevents you from accidentally leaking them in logs.

# Generate a random token for your Gateway
fly secrets set OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN=$(openssl rand -hex 32)

# Add your provider keys
fly secrets set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
fly secrets set DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN=MTQ...

4. Deploy and Initialize

Now, push it to the cloud:

fly deploy

Once it’s up, you need to create your openclaw.json config file inside the persistent volume. Use SSH to jump into the machine:

fly ssh console

Inside the console, run this to create your basic config:

mkdir -p /data
cat > /data/openclaw.json << 'EOF'
{
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": {
        "primary": "anthropic/claude-3-5-sonnet-latest"
      }
    },
    "list": [{ "id": "main", "default": true }]
  },
  "channels": {
    "discord": { "enabled": true }
  }
}
EOF
exit

Restart the machine to pick up the new config: fly machine restart --all.

Troubleshooting

If things aren’t working, check these common issues:

• Health Checks Failing: This usually happens if your internal_port in fly.toml doesn’t match the --port in your start command. Make sure both are set to 3000.
• Out of Memory (OOM): If you see SIGABRT or the app keeps restarting, 512MB isn’t enough. Update your machine to 2GB using fly machine update <id> --vm-memory 2048.
• “Already Running” Error: If the gateway crashed, it might leave a lock file. Run fly ssh console -C "rm -f /data/gateway.*.lock" then restart.
• Connection Refused: Ensure you have --bind lan in your start command. Without it, the gateway only listens to itself, and Fly’s proxy can’t find it.

Private Deployment (Hardened)

If you don’t need a public URL and want to hide your gateway from internet scanners, you can run a private setup.

1. Remove the [http_service] block from your fly.toml.
2. Deploy with fly deploy.
3. Access the UI by running fly proxy 3000:3000 on your local machine and visiting localhost:3000.

This keeps your gateway off the public internet while still letting you use it for outbound tasks like Discord bots or Telegram.

If you get stuck or need a custom configuration, check out the AI Setup Assistant.

What’s Next

• Setting up Discord Channels
• Configuring Model Fallbacks
• Advanced Persistence Options
• Using ngrok for Private Webhooks