Run a persistent, always-on OpenClaw Gateway on a Raspberry Pi for ~$35-80 one-time cost (no monthly fees).

Perfect for:

• 24/7 personal AI assistant
• Home automation hub
• Low-power, always-available Telegram/WhatsApp bot

Minimum specs: 1GB RAM, 1 core, 500MB disk Recommended: 2GB+ RAM, 64-bit OS, 16GB+ SD card (or USB SSD)

• Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 (2GB+ recommended)
• MicroSD card (16GB+) or USB SSD (better performance)
• Power supply (official Pi PSU recommended)
• Network connection (Ethernet or WiFi)
• ~30 minutes

Use Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit) — no desktop needed for a headless server.

1. Download Raspberry Pi Imager
2. Choose OS: Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit)
3. Click the gear icon (⚙️) to pre-configure:
   • Set hostname: gateway-host
   • Enable SSH
   • Set username/password
   • Configure WiFi (if not using Ethernet)
4. Flash to your SD card / USB drive
5. Insert and boot the Pi

ssh user@gateway-host
# or use the IP address
ssh user@192.168.x.x

# Update system
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

# Install essential packages
sudo apt install -y git curl build-essential

# Set timezone (important for cron/reminders)
sudo timedatectl set-timezone America/Chicago  # Change to your timezone

# Install Node.js via NodeSource
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs

# Verify
node --version  # Should show v22.x.x
npm --version

Swap prevents out-of-memory crashes:

# Create 2GB swap file
sudo fallocate -l 2G /swapfile
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile

# Make permanent
echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

# Optimize for low RAM (reduce swappiness)
echo 'vm.swappiness=10' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

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

git clone https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw.git
cd openclaw
npm install
npm run build
npm link

The hackable install gives you direct access to logs and code — useful for debugging ARM-specific issues.

openclaw onboard --install-daemon

Follow the wizard:

1. Gateway mode: Local
2. Auth: API keys recommended (OAuth can be finicky on headless Pi)
3. Channels: Telegram is easiest to start with
4. Daemon: Yes (systemd)

# Check status
openclaw status

# Check service
sudo systemctl status openclaw

# View logs
journalctl -u openclaw -f

Since the Pi is headless, use an SSH tunnel:

# From your laptop/desktop
ssh -L 18789:localhost:18789 user@gateway-host

# Then open in browser
open http://localhost:18789

Or use Tailscale for always-on access:

# On the Pi
curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
sudo tailscale up

# Update config
openclaw config set gateway.bind tailnet
sudo systemctl restart openclaw

SD cards are slow and wear out. A USB SSD dramatically improves performance:

# Check if booting from USB
lsblk

See Pi USB boot guide for setup.

# Disable GPU memory allocation (headless)
echo 'gpu_mem=16' | sudo tee -a /boot/config.txt

# Disable Bluetooth if not needed
sudo systemctl disable bluetooth

# Check memory
free -h

# Check CPU temperature
vcgencmd measure_temp

# Live monitoring
htop

Most OpenClaw features work on ARM64, but some external binaries may need ARM builds:

If a skill fails, check if its binary has an ARM build. Many Go/Rust tools do; some don’t.

Always use 64-bit OS. Node.js and many modern tools require it. Check with:

uname -m
# Should show: aarch64 (64-bit) not armv7l (32-bit)

Since the Pi is just the Gateway (models run in the cloud), use API-based models:

{
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": {
        "primary": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-20250514",
        "fallbacks": ["openai/gpt-4o-mini"]
      }
    }
  }
}

Don’t try to run local LLMs on a Pi — even small models are too slow. Let Claude/GPT do the heavy lifting.

The onboarding wizard sets this up, but to verify:

# Check service is enabled
sudo systemctl is-enabled openclaw

# Enable if not
sudo systemctl enable openclaw

# Start on boot
sudo systemctl start openclaw

# Check memory
free -h

# Add more swap (see Step 5)
# Or reduce services running on the Pi

• Use USB SSD instead of SD card
• Disable unused services: sudo systemctl disable cups bluetooth avahi-daemon
• Check CPU throttling: vcgencmd get_throttled (should return 0x0)

# Check logs
journalctl -u openclaw --no-pager -n 100

# Common fix: rebuild
cd ~/openclaw  # if using hackable install
npm run build
sudo systemctl restart openclaw

If a skill fails with “exec format error”:

1. Check if the binary has an ARM64 build
2. Try building from source
3. Or use a Docker container with ARM support

For headless Pis on WiFi:

# Disable WiFi power management
sudo iwconfig wlan0 power off

# Make permanent
echo 'wireless-power off' | sudo tee -a /etc/network/interfaces

Break-even: A Pi pays for itself in ~6-12 months vs cloud VPS.

• Linux guide — general Linux setup
• Docker setup
• Nodes — pair your laptop/phone with the Pi gateway