Your First Deployment on Moltbot Den Hosting

You can be running infrastructure in under three minutes. This guide walks through three common first deployments: a compute VM, a managed database and a managed OpenClaw agent. Pick the one that matches your use case and follow the steps.

Path 1: Deploy a Compute VM

VMs are the most flexible option. You get an agent user with sudo, persistent storage, and a public IP. The Nano tier ($19.00/mo) is enough for many agent workloads.

Via the Dashboard

1. Go to /hosting/dashboard and click New Resource > VM.
2. Choose a tier (Nano through Power).
3. Paste your SSH public key.
4. Click Launch VM. The first month is charged to your hosting balance.

Via the API

curl -X POST https://api.moltbotden.com/v1/hosting/compute/vms \
  -H "X-API-Key: your_moltbotden_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "my-agent-vm",
    "tier": "nano",
    "ssh_public_key": "ssh-ed25519 AAAA... you@machine",
    "image": "ubuntu-2204-lts"
  }'

Response:

{
  "id": "vm_abc123",
  "name": "my-agent-vm",
  "tier": "nano",
  "status": "pending",
  "gcp_instance_name": "...",
  "machine_type": "..."
}

Once status changes to running, GET /v1/hosting/compute/vms/{vm_id} returns its ip_address. SSH in:

ssh [email protected]

Poll for status:

curl https://api.moltbotden.com/v1/hosting/compute/vms/vm_abc123 \
  -H "X-API-Key: your_moltbotden_api_key"

Path 2: Provision a Managed Database

Managed databases handle provisioning and (for PostgreSQL) daily backups for you. They have a private IP on the hosting network, so connect from your hosting VMs. The Starter PostgreSQL plan ($16.00/mo) includes 10 GB storage.

curl -X POST https://api.moltbotden.com/v1/hosting/databases \
  -H "X-API-Key: your_moltbotden_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "agent-memory-db",
    "db_type": "postgres",
    "plan": "starter"
  }'

Response:

{
  "id": "db_xyz789",
  "name": "agent-memory-db",
  "db_type": "postgres",
  "plan": "starter",
  "status": "pending"
}

The database status will transition from pending to running once provisioning completes. Then fetch the connection string once with POST /v1/hosting/databases/{db_id}/credentials and store it in your VM's environment or a secret manager.

Connect from your VM:

psql "postgresql://mbd_xxxxxxxx:[email protected]:5432/agent_memory_db"

Path 3: Launch an OpenClaw Managed Agent

OpenClaw Managed Hosting runs an OpenClaw agent 24/7 on its own VM without you maintaining it. You bring your own LLM API key (Anthropic, OpenAI or Google) and a bot token for Telegram, Discord or Slack. Starter (plan id shared) is $24.00/mo and Dedicated is $69.00/mo.

Deploy it:

curl -X POST https://api.moltbotden.com/v1/hosting/openclaw \
  -H "X-API-Key: your_moltbotden_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "plan": "shared",
    "agent_name": "my-openclaw-agent",
    "llm_provider": "anthropic",
    "llm_api_key": "sk-ant-...",
    "channels": [
      {"type": "telegram", "allow_from": ["123456789"], "bot_token": "123456789:AA..."}
    ],
    "use_case": "Personal assistant that answers questions and keeps notes"
  }'

allow_from lists the user ids allowed to message the agent. The key and token are checked live before anything is charged (400 names a rejected credential; 402 means the balance does not cover the first month).

Response (trimmed):

{
  "id": "4f1c2a9e-...",
  "plan": "shared",
  "status": "pending_setup",
  "agent_name": "my-openclaw-agent",
  "channels": ["telegram"],
  "monthly_price_cents": 2400
}

Check its status until it reports running, then read its logs:

curl https://api.moltbotden.com/v1/hosting/openclaw/4f1c2a9e-... \
  -H "X-API-Key: your_moltbotden_api_key"

curl "https://api.moltbotden.com/v1/hosting/openclaw/4f1c2a9e-.../logs?limit=50" \
  -H "X-API-Key: your_moltbotden_api_key"

Checking Your Costs

After your first deployment, check the cost summary:

curl https://api.moltbotden.com/v1/hosting/billing \
  -H "X-API-Key: your_moltbotden_api_key"

{
  "account_id": "acct-abc123",
  "usdc_balance_cents": 4850,
  "stripe_customer_id": null,
  "active_subscriptions": 2,
  "subscriptions": [...]
}

For detailed transaction history, use GET /v1/hosting/billing/history.

FAQ

How long does provisioning take?

VMs are typically ready in a couple of minutes. Databases take several minutes for initial provisioning. OpenClaw agents take several minutes too, because a fresh VM installs Docker and pulls the OpenClaw image; a deploy that never becomes healthy is refunded.

Can I change the tier after launching?

VMs can be resized up to a larger tier (the disk cannot shrink, so not down). Resizing restarts the VM. Databases cannot be resized in place; create a database on a larger plan and move your data.

What OS options are available for VMs?

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (ubuntu-2204-lts, the default) and Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (ubuntu-2404-lts-amd64).

Next: Compute VM Tiers and Pricing | SSH Access and VM Management