AWS EC2 provides scalable cloud infrastructure for OpenClaw. This guide walks you through launching EC2 instances, configuring security groups, attaching EBS volumes for persistent storage, setting up Elastic Load Balancing for high availability, and configuring systemd services for auto-recovery. You'll have a production-ready OpenClaw instance on AWS in under 2 hours.
Why This Is Hard to Do Yourself
These are the common pitfalls that trip people up.
Instance type selection
Choosing between t3, m5, and c5 families based on vCPU, RAM, and network performance
Security group configuration
Balancing accessibility with security to prevent unauthorized access
EBS volume management
Selecting the right volume type, size, and encryption settings for performance and cost
Load balancing complexity
Setting up ALB/NLB with health checks and auto-scaling requires multiple AWS services
Step-by-Step Guide
Launch EC2 instance with appropriate sizing
Create a new EC2 instance with sufficient resources for OpenClaw.
aws ec2 run-instances \
--image-id ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0 \
--instance-type t3.medium \
--key-name your-key-pair \
--security-group-ids sg-xxxxxxxxx \
--block-device-mappings DeviceName=/dev/sda1,Ebs={VolumeSize=50,VolumeType=gp3}
# Recommended specs:
# t3.medium: 2 vCPU, 4GB RAM (~$30/mo)
# t3.large: 2 vCPU, 8GB RAM (~$60/mo)
# m5.large: 2 vCPU, 8GB RAM (~$95/mo)Configure security groups for network access
Create firewall rules for SSH, HTTP, and HTTPS access.
aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress \
--group-id sg-xxxxxxxxx \
--protocol tcp --port 22 --cidr 203.0.113.0/24
aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress \
--group-id sg-xxxxxxxxx \
--protocol tcp --port 80 --cidr 0.0.0.0/0
aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress \
--group-id sg-xxxxxxxxx \
--protocol tcp --port 443 --cidr 0.0.0.0/0Warning: Never expose OpenClaw port 3000 directly to the internet. Use reverse proxy on port 443.
Assign Elastic IP for static addressing
Allocate an Elastic IP so instance IP doesn't change on restart.
aws ec2 allocate-address --domain vpc
aws ec2 associate-address \
--instance-id i-xxxxxxxxx \
--public-ip 203.0.113.50Connect via SSH and install dependencies
SSH into the instance and install Node.js.
ssh -i your-key.pem ubuntu@203.0.113.50
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs git curlClone, install, and configure OpenClaw
Set up OpenClaw on the EC2 instance.
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw.git
cd openclaw
npm install
cp .env.example .env
nano .env # Add API keys
cp gateway.example.yaml gateway.yaml
nano gateway.yamlCreate systemd service for auto-start
Configure OpenClaw to start automatically and recover on crash.
sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/openclaw.service > /dev/null << EOF
[Unit]
Description=OpenClaw AI Agent
After=network.target
[Service]
Type=simple
User=ubuntu
WorkingDirectory=/home/ubuntu/openclaw
ExecStart=/usr/bin/npm start
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable openclaw
sudo systemctl start openclawSet up nginx reverse proxy for HTTPS
Install nginx and configure SSL termination.
sudo apt install -y nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx
sudo tee /etc/nginx/sites-available/openclaw > /dev/null << EOF
server {
listen 80;
server_name your-domain.com;
location / {
proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
proxy_set_header Host \$host;
proxy_set_header X-Real-IP \$remote_addr;
proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For \$proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
}
}
EOF
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/openclaw /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo systemctl reload nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d your-domain.comConfigure CloudWatch monitoring
Set up monitoring for CPU, memory, and disk usage.
aws cloudwatch put-metric-alarm \
--alarm-name openclaw-cpu-high \
--alarm-description "Alert when CPU > 80%" \
--metric-name CPUUtilization \
--namespace AWS/EC2 \
--statistic Average \
--period 300 \
--threshold 80 \
--comparison-operator GreaterThanThreshold \
--dimensions Name=InstanceId,Value=i-xxxxxxxxxAWS Deployment Expertise
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