Server Deployment Guide

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A complete walkthrough for deploying OpenClaw on a fresh Ubuntu server with Telegram and AIGoCode model integration — 6 steps from zero to a working bot.

Recommended model relay: AIGoCode Pay-as-you-go, supports Claude Opus 4.6 and all major models. New users get a free credit bonus to cover initial exploration.

Prerequisites

• A fresh Ubuntu 22.04+ server
• Git installed: sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y git
• Node.js v22+: curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo bash - && sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
• An aigocode.com account with an API Key (sk-xxx format)
• A Telegram account

Step 1: Install OpenClaw

sudo npm install -g openclaw

Step 2: Create a Telegram Bot

Search for @BotFather on Telegram, send /newbot, follow the prompts to get your Bot Token.

Step 3: Run the Setup Wizard

openclaw onboard

Key choices:

• Model/auth provider → Select Skip for now (we'll manually add AIGoCode)
• Channels → Select Telegram, enter your Bot Token
• Enable hooks → Select all (especially session-memory)
• Install Gateway service → Yes (auto-start on reboot)
• Hatch your bot → Do this later

Step 4: Add AIGoCode Model Config

Open the config file:

nano ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json

Insert inside the root object (replace with your real API Key):

  "models": {
    "providers": {
      "aigocode": {
        "baseUrl": "https://api.aigocode.com",
        "apiKey": "sk-YOUR_AIGOCODE_API_KEY",
        "api": "anthropic-messages",
        "models": [
          {
            "id": "claude-opus-4-6",
            "name": "Claude Opus 4.6 (AIGoCode)",
            "reasoning": true,
            "input": ["text", "image"],
            "contextWindow": 200000,
            "maxTokens": 16384
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": {
        "primary": "aigocode/claude-opus-4-6"
      }
    }
  }

Note: If agents already exists in the file, merge the model key into it — don't add a second agents block.

Step 5: Restart the Gateway

openclaw gateway restart
openclaw gateway status  # should show "active (running)"

Step 6: Pair with Telegram

Send any message to your bot. It will reply with a pairing code. Run in your terminal:

openclaw pairing approve telegram <YOUR_PAIRING_CODE>

Send another message — your bot is now live. Deployment complete.

Troubleshooting

Error	Fix
No API key found for provider anthropic	Check that models and agents in config are correct
Port conflict (EADDRINUSE)	Run ss -tlnp | grep 18789 to find conflicting process
openclaw: command not found	Run npm config get prefix and add the bin dir to $PATH