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Goal: OpenClaw Gateway running on an exe.dev VM, reachable at https://<vm-name>.exe.xyz. This guide assumes exe.dev’s default exeuntu image. Map packages accordingly on other distros.

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What you need

  • exe.dev account
  • ssh exe.dev access to exe.dev VMs (optional, for manual setup)

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Beginner quick path

  1. Open https://exe.new/openclaw
  2. Fill in your auth key/token as needed
  3. Click “Agent” next to your VM and wait for Shelley to finish provisioning
  4. Open https://<vm-name>.exe.xyz/ and authenticate with the configured shared secret (token auth by default; password auth also works if you switch gateway.auth.mode)
  5. Approve pending device pairing requests with openclaw devices approve <requestId>

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Automated install with Shelley

Shelley, exe.dev’s agent, can install OpenClaw from a prompt: 
Set up OpenClaw (https://docs.openclaw.ai/install) on this VM. Use the non-interactive and accept-risk flags for openclaw onboarding. Add the supplied auth or token as needed. Configure nginx to forward from the default port 18789 to the root location on the default enabled site config, making sure to enable Websocket support. Pairing is done by "openclaw devices list" and "openclaw devices approve <request id>". Make sure the dashboard shows that OpenClaw's health is OK. exe.dev handles forwarding from port 8000 to port 80/443 and HTTPS for us, so the final "reachable" should be <vm-name>.exe.xyz, without port specification.

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Manual installation

1

Create the VM

From your device:
ssh exe.dev new
Then connect:
ssh <vm-name>.exe.xyz
Keep this VM stateful. OpenClaw stores openclaw.json, per-agent auth-profiles.json, sessions, and channel/provider state under ~/.openclaw/, plus the workspace under ~/.openclaw/workspace/.
2

Install prerequisites (on the VM)

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y git curl jq ca-certificates openssl
3

Install OpenClaw

curl -fsSL https://openclaw.ai/install.sh | bash
4

Configure nginx to proxy to port 8000

Edit /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default:
server {
    listen 80 default_server;
    listen [::]:80 default_server;
    listen 8000;
    listen [::]:8000;

    server_name _;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:18789;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;

        # WebSocket support
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";

        # Standard proxy headers
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;

        # Timeout settings for long-lived connections
        proxy_read_timeout 86400s;
        proxy_send_timeout 86400s;
    }
}
Overwrite forwarding headers instead of preserving client-supplied chains. OpenClaw trusts forwarded IP metadata only from explicitly configured proxies, and append-style X-Forwarded-For chains are treated as a hardening risk.
5

Access OpenClaw and approve devices

Open https://<vm-name>.exe.xyz/ (see the Control UI output from onboarding). If it prompts for auth, paste the configured shared secret from the VM.This guide uses token auth by default, so retrieve gateway.auth.token with openclaw config get gateway.auth.token, or generate a new one with openclaw doctor --n. If you switched the gateway to password auth, use gateway.auth.password / OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_PASSWORD instead.Approve devices with openclaw devices list and openclaw devices approve <requestId>. When in doubt, use Shelley from your browser.

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Remote channel setup

For remote hosts, prefer one config patch call over many SSH calls to config set. Keep real tokens in the VM environment or ~/.openclaw/.env, and put only SecretRefs in openclaw.json. See Secrets management for the full SecretRef contract. On the VM, make the service environment contain the secrets it needs: 
cat >> ~/.openclaw/.env <<'EOF'
SLACK_BOT_TOKEN=xoxb-...
SLACK_APP_TOKEN=xapp-...
DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN=...
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
EOF
From your local machine, create a patch file and pipe it to the VM: 
// openclaw.remote.patch.json5
{
  secrets: {
    providers: {
      default: { source: "env" },
    },
  },
  channels: {
    slack: {
      enabled: true,
      mode: "socket",
      botToken: { source: "env", provider: "default", id: "SLACK_BOT_TOKEN" },
      appToken: { source: "env", provider: "default", id: "SLACK_APP_TOKEN" },
      groupPolicy: "open",
      requireMention: false,
    },
    discord: {
      enabled: true,
      token: { source: "env", provider: "default", id: "DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN" },
      dmPolicy: "disabled",
      dm: { enabled: false },
      groupPolicy: "allowlist",
    },
  },
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      model: { primary: "openai/gpt-5.5" },
      models: {
        "openai/gpt-5.5": { params: { fastMode: true } },
      },
    },
  },
}

ssh <vm-name>.exe.xyz 'openclaw config patch --stdin --dry-run' < ./openclaw.remote.patch.json5
ssh <vm-name>.exe.xyz 'openclaw config patch --stdin' < ./openclaw.remote.patch.json5
ssh <vm-name>.exe.xyz 'openclaw gateway restart && openclaw health'
Use --replace-path when a nested allowlist should become exactly the patch value, for example replacing a Discord channel allowlist: 
ssh <vm-name>.exe.xyz 'openclaw config patch --stdin --replace-path "channels.discord.guilds[\"123\"].channels"' < ./discord.patch.json5
See Discord and Slack for full channel config reference.

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Remote access

exe.dev handles authentication for remote access. By default, HTTP traffic from port 8000 is forwarded to https://<vm-name>.exe.xyz with email auth.

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Updating

openclaw update
See Updating for channel switches and manual recovery.