openclaw-starter
openclaw-starter is a minimal, opinionated starter kit for deploying a 24/7 autonomous AI agent on a VPS using OpenClaw. It solves the problem of setting up a persistent agent with memory and scheduled tasks quickly. It is for developers who want to run their own AI agent for content creation, research, or operations.
✨ Key features
- Pre-configured markdown files for agent personality, memory, and tasks
- Heartbeat system for hourly autonomous actions
- Memory system using markdown files, no vector database
- Simple setup script and clear configuration steps
- Supports Telegram and WhatsApp channels
- Cost-effective: runs on a ~$5/mo VPS
🎯 Use cases
- Autonomous content creation (YouTube, tweets, blog posts)
- Monitoring news, trends, GitHub, and Hacker News
- Spawning sub-agents for coding tasks
- Server operations like monitoring, backups, and alerts
📦 Installation
🧰 Requirements: Requires a VPS with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, OpenClaw installed, and an Anthropic API key for Claude.
curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bashopenclaw config set agents.defaults.model anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6
echo "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-..." >> ~/.openclaw/.envgit clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/openclaw-starter ~/clawd
cd ~/clawdopenclaw channels login --channel telegramopenclaw gateway start🚀 Usage
# After installation, start the gateway
openclaw gateway start
# The agent will read SOUL.md, AGENTS.md, and USER.md automatically.
# Say hello to your agent via the configured channel.
⚠️ Good to know
The agent wakes up fresh every session and relies on curated markdown files for memory; MEMORY.md must stay under 5k tokens to work effectively.
❓ FAQ
How does the memory system work?
It uses markdown files (MEMORY.md, daily logs) instead of a vector database. The agent reads these files each session and updates them as it learns.
What is the heartbeat system?
OpenClaw pings the agent every hour, and the agent reads HEARTBEAT.md to decide what to do, such as checking email or working on tasks.
What channels are supported?
Telegram and WhatsApp are supported via openclaw channels login.
What is the minimum cost to run this?
Around $25/month: a Hetzner CX22 VPS (~$5/mo) plus Claude API usage (~$20/mo).
📊 Repository
🤖 Overview, features, install steps and FAQ were generated from the project's README on Sep 4, 2026. Always check the original source before running commands.