Clawdbot Minimalist Deployment Guide: 0 Cost 24/7 AI Assistant with Qwen

In this era of AI explosion, owning a standby private AI assistant is no longer a plot from science fiction movies. Clawdbot is such a powerful open-source AI assistant that can run on your own device (Mac, Windows, Linux) and seamlessly integrate with the chat apps you use daily (such as Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, etc.).

Best of all, you can access the Qwen (Tongyi Qianwen) model to get top-tier AI experience at extremely low or even zero cost.

This article will guide you through the simplest steps to build your own Clawdbot on a Linux server.

What is Clawdbot?

Clawdbot is an open-source AI assistant. Unlike the web version of ChatGPT, it runs on your local machine or server, can directly operate devices, and interacts with you through chat software.

• 24/7 Online: Deployed on a server, standby 24/7.
• Multi-Platform Support: Supports Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack, Discord, etc.
• Low Resource Consumption: Does not require expensive high-performance graphics cards; ordinary Linux hosts can run it.

Clawdbot Deployment Preparation

To avoid network connection issues, it is recommended to use an overseas server (VPS) for deployment.

• A basic Linux server (Ubuntu/Debian/CentOS all work).
• A Telegram account.

Clawdbot Linux Minimalist Deployment Guide

We will demonstrate on a VPS (Ubuntu/Debian) server; steps for other Linux systems are similar.

1. One-Click Installation

Connect to your server terminal and run the official one-click installation script:

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

During installation, prompts will appear:

1. Confirm Installation: Type Yes and press Enter.
2. Select Mode: Select QuickStart mode, which will automatically configure the basic environment for you.

2. Select AI Model

The installation script will ask which model you wish to use. Clawdbot supports multiple models. For cost-effective users, we recommend selecting Qwen.

• Why choose Qwen? The Qwen in Clawdbot actually calls the Qwen Code capability, which is not only free but also has a large quota, fully sufficient for handling daily tasks and coding assistance.

Select Qwen from the list.

3. Authorize Login to Qwen

After selecting the model, the terminal will display an authorization link.

1. Copy the URL and open it in your browser.
2. Login to your Qwen/Aliyun account to authorize.
3. After successful authorization, return to the terminal to continue.

4. Configure Telegram Bot

Clawdbot needs a chat window to interact with you. Here we use Telegram as an example.

1. Open the Telegram App.
2. Search for BotFather (This is Telegram’s official bot management account, with a blue verification tick).
3. Send the command /newbot.
4. Follow BotFather’s prompts to give your bot a Name (display name) and Username (unique ID, must end with bot).
5. After successful creation, BotFather will give you an API Token.

Return to the server terminal, paste this API Token, and press Enter.

5. Configure Skills and Hooks (Optional)

The script will ask whether to add Skills and Hooks.

• Skills: Give AI extra capabilities, such as web searching, reading/writing files, etc.
• Hooks: Actions triggered when specific events occur.

For the first setup, it is recommended to Skip (press Enter directly or select Skip), and add them as needed after becoming familiar.

6. Verify Service Status

After installation, we need to confirm if the service is running. Clawdbot listens on port 18789 by default.

Run the following command to check:

ss -lntp | grep 18789

• Success: If you see output similar to LISTEN 0 128 *:18789, it means Clawdbot has started successfully.
• Failure: If there is no output, the service has not started. You may need to check logs or re-run the installation script.

7. Telegram Pairing

The final step is to pair your Telegram account with the Clawdbot server, ensuring only you can control it.

1. Open Telegram and find the bot you just created.
2. Send the command /start.
3. The bot will reply with a Pairing Code.
4. Return to the server terminal and enter the following command (replace ZEGWXXXX with your actual pairing code):

clawdbot pairing approve telegram ZEGWXXXX

Note: If prompted clawdbot: command not found, please try restarting the terminal or re-logging into the server before executing the above command.

8. Start Using

After successful pairing, send a message to your Telegram bot, such as “Hello” or “What can you do?”. If it replies, congratulations! You now own a 7x24 hour private AI assistant.

Advanced Gameplay: Private Financial Assistant

Clawdbot is not just a chatbot; it can extend infinite possibilities through Skills.

Example: You can make it your private financial assistant, recording every expense via natural language, and letting it automatically organize reports. It can even connect to your Notion or Google Sheets for automatic data synchronization.

More advanced gameplay and Skills development for Clawdbot will be shared in detail in subsequent articles. Stay tuned!