This BrainHost guide adapts the community “full setup in ~30 minutes” flow to a clean, repeatable VPS installation: deploy Ubuntu, install Moltbot, run the onboarding wizard, connect Telegram, and secure access.

What you’ll build

A BrainHost Ubuntu VPS (KVM + NVMe) hosting your always-on Moltbot Gateway
A Telegram bot as your chat interface (works well for remote control)
A private dashboard reachable via SSH tunnel (no public dashboard port)

Requirements

A BrainHost VPS with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (recommended)
SSH access to the server
Telegram account (to create a bot token)
Node.js 22+ (Moltbot runtime requirement)

Recommended sizing:

1 vCPU / 1–2GB RAM is fine for a basic personal setup
Go bigger if you plan multiple channels, heavy tools, or lots of logs

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Step 1 — Create a BrainHost Ubuntu VPS

In BrainHost, choose Ubuntu VPS Hosting
Select Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
Deploy (BrainHost advertises ~30s instant deploy on Ubuntu VPS plans)

When the VPS is ready, note your:

Public IP
SSH username (often root or ubuntu depending on image/panel)
SSH password or SSH key

Step 2 — SSH in and do basic server prep

SSH into the server:

ssh root@YOUR_VPS_IP

Update packages:

apt update && apt -y upgrade

(Optional but recommended) Create a non-root user:

adduser clawdbot
usermod -aG sudo clawdbot
su - clawdbot

Step 3 — Install Moltbot (fast path)

The community “30-minute setup” uses the official installer script:

curl -fsSL https://clawd.bot/install.sh | bash

This installer helps ensure Node 22+ is available and installs the latest Moltbot CLI.

If you want to see installer options:

curl -fsSL https://clawd.bot/install.sh | bash -s -- --help

Step 4 — Run the onboarding wizard and install the service

Moltbot’s recommended setup is the onboarding wizard. On Linux VPS, you typically want it installed as a background service so it stays running after logout/reboot.

Run:

clawdbot onboard --install-daemon

In the wizard, you’ll generally configure:

Gateway mode (remote/VPS)
Your model/provider auth (OAuth or API key depending on provider)
Channel (Telegram in this guide)
Background service install (systemd user service by default)

After onboarding, the Gateway should be running.

Quick checks:

clawdbot --version
clawdbot gateway status

Step 5 — Open the dashboard safely (SSH tunnel)

Moltbot’s Control UI is typically on loopback:

http://127.0.0.1:18789/

Instead of exposing this port publicly, tunnel it from your laptop:

ssh -N -L 18789:127.0.0.1:18789 clawdbot@YOUR_VPS_IP

Now open on your local machine:

http://127.0.0.1:18789/

This keeps the dashboard private and is the recommended “remote VPS” workflow.

Step 6 — Create a Telegram bot token (BotFather)

In Telegram:

Open @BotFather
Send: /newbot
Pick a bot name and username (must end with bot)
Copy the token (keep it secret)

You’ll paste this token into the onboarding wizard if you selected Telegram there.

Step 7 — Restrict access (pairing + allowlist)

7.1 Pairing (default for Telegram DMs)

With Telegram DMs, Moltbot defaults to a pairing flow: unknown senders get a short pairing code and messages won’t be processed until you approve.

List pending pairing requests:

clawdbot pairing list telegram

Approve a pairing code:

clawdbot pairing approve telegram <CODE>

7.2 Add an allowlist (recommended)

The “30-minute setup” walkthrough suggests grabbing your Telegram user ID (commonly via a helper bot like @userIDbot) and using it so only you can talk to your Moltbot.

If you use the wizard, it may ask for your user ID and apply this automatically.

If configuring manually later, look for Telegram channel settings like:

channels.telegram.dmPolicy: "pairing"
allowlist/allow-from settings (per the docs)

Also note: pairing + allowlists are stored under ~/.clawdbot/credentials/ on the Gateway host—treat that directory as sensitive.

Step 8 — (Optional) Telegram in groups

If you want your bot in a Telegram group:

Add the bot to the group
Decide whether it should see all messages
- Telegram has “Privacy Mode” for bots; disabling privacy or granting admin changes what the bot receives

In Moltbot config, you can enforce group safety behaviors like “require mention” and allowlists per group.