Answers

Straight answers on OpenClaw, building and self-hosting AI agents, and what it takes to run a personal AI chief of staff — from the team behind Liv, OpenClaw as a service.

Liv has shut down. The service that paid for these pages shut down on 26 September 2026. The answers stay up because they are still accurate and still useful: OpenClaw is open source, and the self-hosting guides here work whether or not anyone is selling you a managed version. read the shutdown notice →

OpenClaw

How to Deploy OpenClaw Deploy OpenClaw with Docker or Node on any server in about 15 minutes, or use the Railway one-click template in about 5. You then add an LLM API key, connect a chat channel, and write its SOUL.md.
How to Run OpenClaw Without DevOps Use a one-click host like Railway, OneClaw, or Blink Claw to skip server admin, or use a fully managed service like Liv that removes deployment and maintenance entirely. Either route avoids hands-on DevOps.
Is OpenClaw Free? Yes. OpenClaw is free and open-source under the MIT licence. The software costs nothing; you only pay for the server it runs on and your LLM API usage, typically under $100/month combined.
OpenClaw Hosting: Self-Host vs Managed Options You can self-host OpenClaw on any VPS, use a cheap managed host like OneClaw or Blink Claw (~$12–22/month), or use a managed service like Liv that adds real integrations and security on top of the same agent.
OpenClaw Setup Guide Set up OpenClaw by provisioning a server, installing via Docker or Node (~15 min) or the Railway one-click template (~5 min), adding an LLM API key, connecting a chat channel, and writing your SOUL.md.
OpenClaw SOUL.md Explained SOUL.md is OpenClaw's identity file: a plain-text Markdown document that defines the agent's personality, tone, values, and operating rules. It's the single most important file you write, and a good one takes 20–45 minutes.
OpenClaw System Requirements OpenClaw needs roughly 2 CPU cores, 2 GB RAM, and 2 GB storage, and runs on any OS, with Ubuntu 24.04 recommended. It's lightweight because the heavy lifting happens in the LLM API, not on your server.
What is OpenClaw? OpenClaw is a free, MIT-licensed open-source personal AI agent you self-host. It runs an agentic loop with persistent memory, connects to chat apps like Telegram and WhatsApp, and works with any major LLM.

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