How to Set Up OpenClaw on Oracle Cloud Free Tier

Create an Oracle Cloud Account

Go to Oracle Cloud and sign up for the Always Free tier. You'll need a credit card for identity verification (you won't be charged for free resources).

https://cloud.oracle.com

Wait for Account Provisioning

Account setup can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. You'll receive an email when your account is ready.

Navigate to Compute Instances

Once logged in, go to Compute → Instances from the main menu. Click 'Create Instance' to begin provisioning.

Configure the Instance

Click 'Edit' next to Image and Shape. Change the shape to Ampere (ARM):

Shape: VM.Standard.A1.Flex
OCPUs: 2 (or 4 for max free tier)
Memory: 12 GB (or 24 GB for max)
Image: Ubuntu 24.04 (Canonical)

Configure Networking

Accept the default VCN configuration. Oracle will create a virtual cloud network for you automatically.

Add SSH Key

Upload your SSH public key or let Oracle generate one. If Oracle generates it, download and save the private key securely — you can't retrieve it later.

Create the Instance

Click 'Create' and wait for provisioning. This typically takes 2-5 minutes for ARM instances.

Open Port 3000 in Security List

By default, Oracle blocks most inbound traffic. Navigate to your VCN's security list and add an ingress rule:

Networking → Virtual Cloud Networks → [Your VCN]
→ Security Lists → Default Security List
→ Add Ingress Rules

Source CIDR: 0.0.0.0/0
IP Protocol: TCP
Destination Port: 3000

Open Port 3000 in Instance Firewall

SSH into your instance and open the port in iptables:

# SSH in (use the public IP from the instance details)
ssh -i your-key.pem ubuntu@YOUR_INSTANCE_IP

# Open port 3000
sudo iptables -I INPUT 6 -m state --state NEW -p tcp --dport 3000 -j ACCEPT
sudo netfilter-persistent save

Install Docker (ARM)

Install Docker on your ARM instance:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
sudo apt install -y docker-compose-plugin
sudo usermod -aG docker ubuntu

# Log out and back in for group change
exit
ssh -i your-key.pem ubuntu@YOUR_INSTANCE_IP

docker --version

Deploy OpenClaw

Create the OpenClaw configuration and start the container:

mkdir -p ~/openclaw && cd ~/openclaw

cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
services:
  openclaw:
    image: ghcr.io/nicepkg/openclaw:latest
    container_name: openclaw
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - ./data:/app/data
    environment:
      - OPENAI_API_KEY=your-api-key-here
      - GATEWAY_TOKEN=your-secret-token
EOF

docker compose up -d

Access OpenClaw Dashboard

Open your browser and navigate to your instance's OpenClaw interface:

http://YOUR_INSTANCE_PUBLIC_IP:3000

Prevent Instance Reclamation (Optional)

To prevent Oracle from reclaiming idle instances, set up a simple keepalive cron job:

(crontab -l 2>/dev/null; echo "*/5 * * * * curl -s http://localhost:3000 > /dev/null") | crontab -