Configuring the OpenClaw Application

The OpenClaw application image provided by FlexusL can be integrated with multiple mainstream AI models. You can easily build a personal AI assistant by connecting it to Telegram, Discord, and WhatsApp. For more best practices, see Summary of OpenClaw Best Practices.

If you need to configure and manage OpenClaw, you can perform operations described in this section on the FlexusL console.

Prerequisites

You have purchased a FlexusL instance with the OpenClaw application image installed.

Application Management

Log in to the FlexusL console.
Click Configure Now on the target FlexusL instance card.
If Configure Now is not displayed, click the resource card to go to the resource details page and choose Application Management from the left navigation pane.

Some functions of the OpenClaw application image (such as querying gateway status and updating models and application configurations) depend on Cloud Operations Center (COC). You need to enable and authorize COC before using these functions. If the content in the following figure is displayed, enable and authorize COC as prompted.

In the Application Management card, view the application details and manage the application as needed.

If the page has not been refreshed for a long time or you need to check whether the gateway status has been changed, click to view the latest version and status.

**Table 1** Application details
Application Details	Example	Description
Version	2026.3.2	OpenClaw version.
Status	Running	OpenClaw gateway status. Running: The OpenClaw service is working normally. Unknown/Unhealthy: The initial status of the OpenClaw gateway is Loading. If the status changes to Unknown or Unhealthy after several minutes, click Restart. The restart takes some time. After the gateway is restarted successfully, the status changes to Running. NOTE: If the gateway status is still Unknown or Unhealthy after you click Restart, submit a service ticket.

Application management operations

OpenClaw Web UI access

If you want to use the OpenClaw Web UI to manage OpenClaw, click Enable. Confirm security risks and click OK.

Enabling public IP address access to the OpenClaw Web UI may expose your server to network attacks. After enabling this function, configure the security group rules to reduce risks.
Click OpenClaw Web UI access. In the displayed dialog box, a message is displayed, requiring you to keep the information secure to prevent privacy leakage or asset loss.
- Web UI Access URL: The URL for accessing the OpenClaw Web UI.
- Port: The gateway port of the OpenClaw Web UI.
  
  To prevent the server from being maliciously scanned, the system will change the default port 18789 to another unused port and enable access to this port. In this case, the port's source IP address in the security group inbound rule is 0.0.0.0/0, indicating that all external IP addresses are allowed to access your server. This may cause severe consequences such as network intrusion, service interruption, data breach, or data ransomware. You should only configure trusted IP addresses for the source in security group rules.
  
  In the upper right corner of the page, click Configure Security Group Rule. In the inbound rules, find the target port and change the source IP address of the port to a trusted IP address.
- Token: The token of the OpenClaw Web UI. To prevent malicious access, you need to add the token when accessing the UI.
Click Access Now or the Web UI access URL to open the OpenClaw Web UI.
This OpenClaw Web UI is displayed. For details, see OpenClaw documentation.
After you finish the operations, disable OpenClaw Web UI access. Once disabled, the OpenClaw Web UI will be inaccessible and the security group rules that allow access to the port will be automatically deleted. This can reduce data breach and other security risks.

Version Upgrade

If the OpenClaw gateway status is Running and a new version is available, click Version upgrade.
If the OpenClaw gateway status is Running and Version upgrade is grayed out, the current version is already the latest.

For more details, see Upgrading the OpenClaw Version.

Auto-repair

If OpenClaw cannot be started due to incorrect API keys, plug-ins, or channel configurations in the OpenClaw configuration files, click Auto-repair. The system automatically runs the OpenClaw repair command (openclaw doctor --repair --force) to detect and repair the fault.
After auto-repair is complete, it only indicates that the repair command has been executed, but the OpenClaw gateway status may not be Running. If the OpenClaw gateway status is still Unknown or Abnormal, or the configured bot is unavailable, remotely log in to the FlexusL instance and run the commands below to view OpenClaw logs. If the fault persists, submit a service ticket.
```
su - openclaw
cd /tmp/openclaw
ll
```
Find the target log file and run the vi file-name command to view the log content.

Restart

If the OpenClaw gateway status is Unknown or Abnormal and is not in the auto-repair or version upgrade state, you can click Restart to reload the OpenClaw gateway.

Enable/Disable

If the OpenClaw gateway status is Running and is not in the auto-repair or version upgrade state, you can click Stop to stop the running OpenClaw gateway.
After the gateway is stopped, OpenClaw will be inaccessible, the status becomes Abnormal, and the configured bot cannot be used.
After the gateway is stopped, you can click Enable to start OpenClaw again. When the OpenClaw gateway status is Running, OpenClaw becomes accessible and the configured bot can be used.

Model Configuration

Log in to the FlexusL console. Click Configure Now on the target FlexusL instance card.
In the Models card, select Custom and enter required model parameters in JSON format in the text box.
- base_url: The API address of the model.
  Custom models only support OpenAI-compatible API addresses, for example, https://api.openai.com/v1. Obtain the OpenAI-compatible API address from the model provider.
- api_key: The API key of the model provider.
- model_id: The unique identifier of the model.
Click Add Model. After the models are added, you can view them in the model list.

You can perform the following operations on added models.

**Table 2** Model operations
Operation	Description
Modifying the model alias	Hover over on the right of the target model and click Modify Alias. In the displayed dialog box, specify a new alias that is easy to identify.
Changing the default model	Click Set as Default on the right of the target model to set it as the new default model. The new default model will not be used unless you start a new session. You can enter /new model-alias (start a new session) or /model model-alias (retain the context) in the chat box. CAUTION: When you enter /new in the chat box to start a new session, the bot will lose its memory. Exercise caution when performing this operation.
Deleting a model	Click Delete on the right of the target model. If the model to be deleted is the default model, you can choose to retain or forcibly delete it. If the default model is forcibly deleted, the system will randomly set another existing model as the new default model. You can change the default model as needed. CAUTION: After a model is deleted, the bot cannot use it anymore. To reuse the same model, add it again.

Channel Configuration

In the Channels card, configure required parameters and click Add Bot.

**Table 3** Bot configuration parameters
Parameter	Example	Description
Channel	Telegram	Select the channels to be connected. Discord Telegram
Bot details	Bxxxxxxtoken	Bot credentials: See the corresponding best practices to obtain the required credentials. Step 2: Create a Discord Bot Step 2: Create a Telegram Bot NOTE: The WhatsApp channel cannot be configured on the current page. To configure it, go to Step 3: Integrate WhatsApp into OpenClaw.

After the bot is configured, view it in the connected channels list.
- You can add more bots as needed. A maximum of 10 bots are allowed for all channels.
Expand bot details and click Role Settings to configure the bot's persona (SOUL.md) and instructions (AGENTS.md). Markdown is supported. You can edit content in the left pane and check the displayed content in the right pane. For example, to create a heading, add number signs (#) in front of a word or phrase. The number of number signs indicates the heading level. Each number sign must be followed by a space.
We provide templates for role settings. You can click Templates, select a template as needed, and click Apply. After the template is applied, you can modify it as needed. For details, see Example OpenClaw Role Setting.
To modify a bot alias, click the edit button next to the alias and specify a new one that is easy to identify.
To delete a bot, click the delete button on the right of the target bot. Once deleted, the bot will be unavailable. Exercise caution when performing this operation.

Skill Installation

Log in to the FlexusL console. Click Configure Now on the target FlexusL instance card.
In the Skills card, view the installed skills in the installed skills list, including the skills preconfigured in the OpenClaw application image.
Install official skills online. For details about the skills, see ClawHub Skills. Click the target skill to go to the skill details page and obtain the skill name from the CLI commands. For example, if you want to install Skill Vetter, obtain the skill name skill-vetter from the CLI commands. If you use Skill Vetter as the skill name, the installation will fail.
Enter the name of the skill to be installed in the text box and click Install Skills.
Confirm the skill name and click OK.
After the installation is successful, view the installed skills in the installed skills list.

If the system displays a message indicating that the ClawHub community is busy and the installation fails, see What Should I Do If Skills Failed to Be Installed?