Stand up a private AI assistant on your own server in about 30 minutes. End state: a chat UI at https://ai.your-domain.com running fully on your hardware. No third-party model APIs. Your data never leaves the box.
hetzner.com (or any VPS provider).Ubuntu 24.04 + Docker + Ollama (model runtime) + Open WebUI (chat interface) + Caddy (auto-HTTPS reverse proxy).
hetzner.com/cloud.Ashburn, VA (closest to PR/NYC) or Hillsboro, OR.Ubuntu 24.04.CPX31 (4 vCPU / 8GB RAM, ~$10/mo) for production. For testing only, CX22 (~$4/mo).cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub. If you do not have one, create with ssh-keygen -t ed25519.openclaw-ai-01 and click Create & Buy Now.In Cloudflare (or your registrar), add an A record:
ai.your-domain.com A <server-ip> Proxy: OFF
ssh root@<server-ip>
apt update && apt -y upgrade adduser claw usermod -aG sudo claw rsync --archive --chown=claw:claw ~/.ssh /home/claw
Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config and set:
PermitRootLogin no PasswordAuthentication no
Then reload SSH:
systemctl restart ssh
ufw allow OpenSSH ufw allow 80/tcp ufw allow 443/tcp ufw --force enable
claw not root: ssh claw@<server-ip>curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh sudo usermod -aG docker $USER newgrp docker
docker run --rm hello-world
Should print "Hello from Docker!". If it does, this step is done.
mkdir -p ~/openclaw && cd ~/openclaw
Inside ~/openclaw/, create docker-compose.yml:
services:
ollama:
image: ollama/ollama:latest
container_name: ollama
restart: unless-stopped
volumes:
- ollama:/root/.ollama
expose:
- "11434"
webui:
image: ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui:main
container_name: open-webui
restart: unless-stopped
depends_on: [ollama]
environment:
- OLLAMA_BASE_URL=http://ollama:11434
- WEBUI_AUTH=true
volumes:
- webui:/app/backend/data
ports:
- "127.0.0.1:3000:8080"
volumes:
ollama:
webui:
docker compose up -d
docker exec -it ollama ollama pull llama3.1:8b
sudo apt install -y debian-keyring debian-archive-keyring apt-transport-https curl sudo curl -1sLf https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/gpg.key -o /usr/share/keyrings/caddy.key sudo gpg --dearmor /usr/share/keyrings/caddy.key sudo curl -1sLf https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/debian.deb.txt -o /etc/apt/sources.list.d/caddy.list sudo apt update && sudo apt install caddy
ai.your-domain.com {
reverse_proxy 127.0.0.1:3000
encode zstd gzip
}
sudo systemctl reload caddy
Caddy will automatically obtain a Let's Encrypt certificate on first request. Wait ~30 seconds, then load https://ai.your-domain.com in a browser.
https://ai.your-domain.com → create the first admin account (this becomes the owner; lock it down).cd ~/openclaw && docker compose pull && docker compose up -d
In Hetzner Cloud Console → your server → Snapshots → enable weekly. ~$1/mo extra. Restoring is one click.
Email hola@openclaw.pr or book an in-person setup at /appointments.
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