ClawHosters
Yixn.io
ES Futures Bot
Hester NG
SparkChambers
Kofferly
Anti-Baby-Shower
SipQuest
PintRush
Linkster.co
Golem Overlord
Splex.gg
ProPhy
RLTracker
ClawHosters.com
I got tired of helping people debug Docker configs on Saturday nights. So I built a hosting platform that does it all for them.
Visit ClawHosters
Jan–Feb 2026
PROVISION
<60s
From signup to running instance
PLATFORMS
4+
Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack
The Problem
OpenClaw is genuinely impressive as an open-source AI agent framework, but the setup process is rough. You need Docker running, ports configured, firewalls open in the right places, API keys wired up, and some way to keep the whole thing updated. Most people I helped spent 4+ hours just getting it running - and then came back a week later when something broke.
"After helping the 7th person debug their OpenClaw Docker setup on a Saturday night, I realized I was solving the same problem over and over. These weren't dumb people - they just wanted the AI assistant, not the DevOps homework."
MAINTENANCE
0
Fully managed, zero customer ops
RUBY
~2K
Lines of provisioning code
Rails 8
PostgreSQL
Sidekiq
Hetzner Cloud API
Docker
Traefik
Redis
Cloudflare
ClawHosters takes the pain out of running OpenClaw. Instead of spending hours wrestling with Docker, ports, firewalls, and API keys, you click a button and get a running instance in under a minute. Each customer gets their own dedicated VPS with everything pre-installed. I built the whole thing in about 6 weeks, from the first Hetzner API call to the first paying customer.
Founder & Developer
Jan–Feb 2026
Snapshot-Based Provisioning
The first version used cloud-init to install everything from scratch on each new server. It worked, but took 5+ minutes. Switching to pre-baked snapshots with Docker, OpenClaw, Playwright browsers, and all security hardening already installed brought that down to under 60 seconds.
<60s
Deploy Time
5x
Faster Than v1
Works Where People Already Are
Nobody wants to check yet another web dashboard. OpenClaw connects to the messaging apps people already use - Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack. Each instance is fully isolated on its own VPS.
- • Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack
- • Full VPS isolation per customer
4-Layer Security
Running customer containers on the internet is scary. So I built four layers of protection: Hetzner Cloud Firewall at the network level, iptables on the host, fail2ban with key-only SSH, and Docker daemon hardening. If one layer fails, the others still hold.
- • Network firewall + host iptables
- • fail2ban + Docker hardening
Pre-Warmed VPS Pool
Even 60 seconds felt too long. So I added a pool of pre-booted VPS instances that sit idle, waiting to be claimed. When a new customer signs up, we just assign one of these warm servers - provisioning drops to 15-20 seconds.
15s
Claim Time
auto
Replenish
Bring Your Own API Key
Some people want to use their own OpenAI or Anthropic key instead of paying for managed LLM access. BYOK mode lets them plug in their own credentials with zero markup. Their key, their usage, their bill.
- • OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, Google
- • Zero markup on API costs
Zero Maintenance
The whole point is that customers never have to SSH into anything. Updates, security patches, backups, monitoring - it's all handled. If something breaks at 3am, that's my problem, not theirs.
- • Auto-updates and security patches
- • 24/7 monitoring with Prometheus
What Came Out of It
<60s
Provisioning went from 5+ minutes to under 60 seconds
€19–59
3 pricing tiers from €19 to €59 per month
What I Learned
Pre-baking everything into a snapshot is dramatically faster than installing on the fly. Sounds obvious in hindsight, but the first version used cloud-init and I thought it was fine until I actually timed it.
I built a credit system called 'Claws' for daily billing before anyone even asked for it. Should have shipped with simple monthly plans first and added complexity later.
Sidekiq workers hold code in memory. I deployed new provisioning logic but forgot to restart the workers - they kept running the old code. Took hours to figure out why new instances were broken.
Need something like this built?
I build production infrastructure from scratch. If you need a managed hosting platform, a SaaS backend, or just someone who knows their way around Rails and servers - let's talk.
Get in touch