Daytona

Run a persistent OpenClaw Gateway in a Daytona cloud sandbox: an isolated Linux environment with SSH access and built-in preview URLs, no VPS management required. OpenClaw comes pre-installed in the daytona-medium snapshot, so setup starts immediately after SSH. Keep the Gateway on loopback and reach the dashboard through Daytona’s signed preview URLs. Do not expose the Gateway port directly to the public internet.

What you need

Daytona account (free tier available)
Daytona API key from the Daytona dashboard
API key for your model provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, etc.)

Install the Daytona CLI

macOS / Linux
Windows

brew install daytonaio/cli/daytona

powershell -Command "irm https://get.daytona.io/windows | iex"

Verify the installation:

daytona --version

Older CLI versions miss newer sandbox commands; keep it current (for example brew upgrade daytonaio/cli/daytona).

Authenticate

daytona login --api-key=YOUR_API_KEY

Create a sandbox

daytona sandbox create --name openclaw --snapshot daytona-medium --auto-stop 0

Flag	Why
`--snapshot daytona-medium`	Provides enough memory headroom to run the Gateway
`--auto-stop 0`	Keeps the sandbox running until manually stopped

Connect via SSH

daytona ssh openclaw

Run onboarding

Inside the sandbox, configure OpenClaw in one command:

openclaw onboard --non-interactive --accept-risk \
  --anthropic-api-key YOUR_ANTHROPIC_KEY \
  --skip-daemon --skip-channels --skip-skills --skip-hooks --skip-health

--skip-daemon matters: Daytona sandboxes do not run a service manager, so you start the Gateway manually below. Swap the key flag for your provider (--openai-api-key, --openrouter-api-key, and so on); openclaw onboard --help lists them all. Channels, skills, and hooks are skipped here and configured later. Running openclaw onboard without flags starts a conversational setup assistant instead and requires an interactive terminal; openclaw onboard --classic runs the older step-by-step wizard. Onboarding configures a gateway auth token. Print it any time from the sandbox:

node -p "require(process.env.HOME + '/.openclaw/openclaw.json').gateway.auth.token"

openclaw config get gateway.auth.token returns __OPENCLAW_REDACTED__ rather than the value, because the CLI masks secrets in its output.

Allow the preview URL origin

The Gateway accepts browser connections only from allowed origins, and Daytona’s preview proxy sits in front of it. Configure both before starting the Gateway. From your local terminal (not the sandbox SSH session), generate a signed preview URL for the Gateway port:

daytona preview-url openclaw --port 18789

Copy the URL it prints. Back in the sandbox SSH session, allow that origin and trust the in-sandbox preview proxy, replacing the example URL with your own:

openclaw config set gateway.controlUi.allowedOrigins '["PASTE_YOUR_PREVIEW_URL"]'
openclaw config set gateway.trustedProxies '["127.0.0.1"]'

Paste the URL exactly as printed: scheme and host only, with no trailing slash and no path. The Gateway compares the browser origin literally, and browsers send https://host without a trailing slash, so https://host/ fails to match and the connection is rejected. Browser address bars often display that trailing slash, so copy from the terminal instead.

Start the Gateway

nohup openclaw gateway run > /tmp/gateway.log 2>&1 &

The Gateway runs in the background and survives SSH disconnects. Verify it is up:

openclaw gateway health

The command reports the Gateway status, so OK means you are good to continue. To restart the Gateway later (after config changes or updates):

pkill -f "openclaw gateway" || true
nohup openclaw gateway run > /tmp/gateway.log 2>&1 &

Open the dashboard

Open the preview URL you generated earlier in your browser. The Control UI asks for the gateway token on first connect; paste the value you printed after onboarding.

Approve your device

The first browser connection queues a device pairing request. Back in your sandbox SSH session:

# List pending requests and copy the request id
openclaw devices list

# Approve it
openclaw devices approve REQUEST_ID

Security

Access to the Gateway is protected in three layers:

Layer	Description
Preview URL	Time-limited signed URL (expires after 1 hour)
Gateway token	Required to connect via the Control UI
Device approval	Each new browser or client must be explicitly approved

Keep your gateway token and preview URLs private. The Gateway stays bound to loopback; Daytona’s preview proxy handles external access.

Channel setup

Unknown senders require pairing approval by default; see Pairing.

Create a bot with @BotFather (/newbot), copy the token, then configure OpenClaw from the sandbox SSH session:

openclaw config set channels.telegram.enabled true
openclaw config set channels.telegram.botToken YOUR_BOT_TOKEN

Restart the Gateway (see above), send your bot a DM, then approve the pairing code it reports:

openclaw pairing list telegram
openclaw pairing approve telegram PAIRING_CODE

Pairing codes expire after 1 hour. Full reference: Telegram.

WhatsApp ships as a separate plugin, so install and enable it first:

openclaw plugins install clawhub:@openclaw/whatsapp --acknowledge-clawhub-risk
openclaw plugins enable whatsapp

Installing does not enable a plugin, so the enable step is required; otherwise the Gateway reports the channel as configured but untrusted. Running the login command below without installing first prompts you to download the plugin from ClawHub or npm instead. Then link the account by scanning a QR code from the sandbox SSH session:

openclaw channels login --channel whatsapp

On your phone: Settings → Linked Devices → Link a Device, then scan the QR code shown in the terminal. Restart the Gateway after linking, then message yourself on WhatsApp and OpenClaw replies in that chat. No pairing approval is needed: with no allowlist configured, the linked account’s own number is allowed by default. Pairing applies to unknown senders, which is why Telegram needs it and self-chat does not. Allowlists, personal-number mode, and self-chat details: WhatsApp.

Updating

The snapshot’s global npm tree is owned by root, so plain openclaw update cannot write to it. Update from the sandbox SSH session with:

sudo env "PATH=$PATH" npm install --global openclaw@latest
openclaw doctor

openclaw doctor migrates any older config after the update. Restart the Gateway afterwards (see above).

Stop and resume the sandbox

# Stop
daytona sandbox stop openclaw

# Resume
daytona sandbox start openclaw

Sandbox state persists across stop/start cycles, but the Gateway process does not auto-start. After a resume, reconnect and start it again:

daytona ssh openclaw
nohup openclaw gateway run > /tmp/gateway.log 2>&1 &

Troubleshooting

Gateway not running after sandbox restart

The Gateway process does not survive a sandbox restart. Reconnect with daytona ssh openclaw and start it again with the nohup command above.

Preview URL expired

Preview URLs are time-limited (default 3600 seconds). Regenerate from your local terminal, optionally with a longer expiry:

daytona preview-url openclaw --port 18789 --expires 86400

Each generated URL has a different host, so it is a new origin. After regenerating, update gateway.controlUi.allowedOrigins with the new URL and restart the Gateway, or the Control UI is rejected with origin not allowed.

Sandbox auto-stopped

If the sandbox was created without --auto-stop 0, it stops automatically when idle. Resume it with daytona sandbox start openclaw.

Gateway port not reachable

Confirm the Gateway is running and listening:

openclaw gateway health
tail -20 /tmp/gateway.log

If you changed the Gateway port, pass the same port to daytona preview-url.

Notes

For programmatic sandbox provisioning, see the Daytona OpenClaw SDK guide

Install overview

Maintenance

Containers

Hosting

Advanced setup

What you need

Install the Daytona CLI

Authenticate

Create a sandbox

Connect via SSH

Run onboarding

Allow the preview URL origin

Start the Gateway

Open the dashboard

Approve your device

Security

Channel setup

Telegram

WhatsApp

Updating

Stop and resume the sandbox

Troubleshooting

Gateway not running after sandbox restart

Preview URL expired

Sandbox auto-stopped

Gateway port not reachable

Notes

​What you need

​Install the Daytona CLI

​Authenticate

​Create a sandbox

​Connect via SSH

​Run onboarding

​Allow the preview URL origin

​Start the Gateway

​Open the dashboard

​Approve your device

​Security

​Channel setup

​Telegram

​WhatsApp

​Updating

​Stop and resume the sandbox

​Troubleshooting

​Gateway not running after sandbox restart

​Preview URL expired

​Sandbox auto-stopped

​Gateway port not reachable

​Notes

​Related

What you need

Install the Daytona CLI

Authenticate

Create a sandbox

Connect via SSH

Run onboarding

Allow the preview URL origin

Start the Gateway

Open the dashboard

Approve your device

Security

Channel setup

Telegram

WhatsApp

Updating

Stop and resume the sandbox

Troubleshooting

Gateway not running after sandbox restart

Preview URL expired

Sandbox auto-stopped

Gateway port not reachable

Notes

Related