Install OpenClaw on Docker

Deploy OpenClaw on servers, NAS, or homelab setups using Docker or Docker Compose.

This page focuses on containerised deployments. For local desktop installs, see the OS-specific pages under Install.

Why Docker?

Easy to deploy on VPS, dedicated servers, and homelabs
Isolated environment with reproducible builds
Simple backups and migration using volumes

Minimal Docker Compose example

A very small example to get you started (adapt this to your environment):

version: \"3.9\"

services:
  openclaw:
    image: ghcr.io/openclaw/openclaw:latest
    container_name: openclaw
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - \"3000:3000\"
    environment:
      # Fill in your model API keys and settings
      ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: your_key_here
      OPENAI_API_KEY: your_key_here
    volumes:
      - ./data:/var/lib/openclaw

Then run:

docker compose up -d

Volumes & persistence

The ./data volume in the example above is where OpenClaw stores its configuration, memory, and logs.

Back up this directory regularly if you care about long-term memory.
Mount it to a persistent path on your server or NAS.

Networking

By default, the example exposes port 3000 on the host. In many setups you’ll want to put a reverse proxy (Nginx, Caddy, Traefik) or a Cloudflare Tunnel in front.

These examples are intentionally minimal. For production-ready setups, tune resource limits, logging, and security according to your environment, and always cross-check with the official documentation.