OpenClaw Railway Template (1‑click deploy)

This repo packages OpenClaw for Railway with a small /setup web wizard so users can deploy and onboard without running any commands.

What you get

• OpenClaw Gateway + Control UI (served at / and /openclaw)
• A friendly Setup Wizard at /setup (protected by a password)
• Persistent state via Railway Volume (so config/credentials/memory survive redeploys)
• One-click Export backup (so users can migrate off Railway later)
• Import backup from /setup (advanced recovery)

How it works (high level)

• The container runs a wrapper web server.
• The wrapper protects /setup with SETUP_PASSWORD.
• During setup, the wrapper runs openclaw onboard --non-interactive ... inside the container, writes state to the volume, and then starts the gateway.
• After setup, / is OpenClaw. The wrapper reverse-proxies all traffic (including WebSockets) to the local gateway process.

Railway deploy instructions (what you’ll publish as a Template)

In Railway Template Composer:

1. Create a new template from this GitHub repo.
2. Add a Volume mounted at /data.
3. Set the following variables:

Required:

• SETUP_PASSWORD — user-provided password to access /setup

Recommended:

• OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR=/data/.openclaw
• OPENCLAW_WORKSPACE_DIR=/data/workspace

Optional:

• OPENCLAW_GATEWAY_TOKEN — if not set, the wrapper generates one (not ideal). In a template, set it using a generated secret.

Notes:

• This template pins OpenClaw to a released version by default via Docker build arg OPENCLAW_GIT_REF (override if you want main).

4. Enable Public Networking (HTTP). Railway will assign a domain.
   • This service listens on Railway’s injected PORT at runtime (recommended).
5. Deploy.

Then:

• Visit https://<your-app>.up.railway.app/setup
• Complete setup
• Visit https://<your-app>.up.railway.app/ and /openclaw

Support / community

• GitHub Issues: https://github.com/vignesh07/clawdbot-railway-template/issues
• Discord: https://discord.com/invite/clawd

If you’re filing a bug, please include the output of:

• /healthz
• /setup/api/debug (after authenticating to /setup)

Getting chat tokens (so you don’t have to scramble)

Telegram bot token

1. Open Telegram and message @BotFather
2. Run /newbot and follow the prompts
3. BotFather will give you a token that looks like: 123456789:AA...
4. Paste that token into /setup

Discord bot token

1. Go to the Discord Developer Portal: https://discord.com/developers/applications
2. New Application → pick a name
3. Open the Bot tab → Add Bot
4. Copy the Bot Token and paste it into /setup
5. Invite the bot to your server (OAuth2 URL Generator → scopes: bot, applications.commands; then choose permissions)

Troubleshooting

“disconnected (1008): pairing required” / dashboard health offline

This is not a crash — it means the gateway is running, but no device has been approved yet.

Fix:

• Open /setup
• Use the Debug Console:
  • openclaw devices list
  • openclaw devices approve <requestId>

“unauthorized: gateway token mismatch”

The Control UI connects using gateway.remote.token and the gateway validates gateway.auth.token.

Fix:

• Re-run /setup so the wrapper writes both tokens.
• Or set both values to the same token in config.

“Application failed to respond” / 502 Bad Gateway

Most often this means the wrapper is up, but the gateway can’t start or can’t bind.

Checklist:

• Ensure you mounted a Volume at /data and set:
  • OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR=/data/.openclaw
  • OPENCLAW_WORKSPACE_DIR=/data/workspace
• Ensure Public Networking is enabled (Railway will inject PORT).
• Check Railway logs for the wrapper error: it will show Gateway not ready: with the reason.

Build OOM (out of memory) on Railway

Building OpenClaw from source can exceed small memory tiers.

Recommendations:

• Use a plan with 2GB+ memory.
• If you see Reached heap limit Allocation failed - JavaScript heap out of memory, upgrade memory and redeploy.

Local smoke test

docker build -t clawdbot-railway-template .

docker run --rm -p 8080:8080 \
  -e PORT=8080 \
  -e SETUP_PASSWORD=test \
  -e OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR=/data/.openclaw \
  -e OPENCLAW_WORKSPACE_DIR=/data/workspace \
  -v $(pwd)/.tmpdata:/data \
  clawdbot-railway-template

# open http://localhost:8080/setup (password: test)

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Official template / endorsements

• Officially recommended by OpenClaw: https://docs.openclaw.ai/railway

• Railway announcement (official): Railway tweet announcing 1‑click OpenClaw deploy

  

• Endorsement from Railway CEO: Jake Cooper tweet endorsing the OpenClaw Railway template

  

• Created and maintained by Vignesh N (@vignesh07)

• 1800+ deploys on Railway and counting Link to template on Railway