Managing Deployments

Once you’ve created deployments, ClawControl provides tools to manage them throughout their lifecycle.

Viewing All Deployments

List deployments

From the main menu:

/list

You’ll see all your deployments:

/list - Deployments (3)

> my-openclaw-server     [deployed]      Hetzner Cloud
  dev-server             [initialized]   DigitalOcean
  old-server             [failed]        Hetzner Cloud

Status meanings:

initialized: Configuration created, not yet deployed
provisioning: Server is being created
configuring: Software is being installed
deployed: Fully operational
failed: Deployment encountered an error

View deployment details

Press Enter on any deployment to see full details:

/list - my-openclaw-server

Deployment Details

Name:         my-openclaw-server
Status:       deployed
Provider:     Hetzner Cloud
Created:      1/15/2026, 2:30:45 PM
Server IP:    159.89.123.45
Server Type:  cpx11
AI Provider:  openrouter
Model:        moonshotai/kimi-k2.5
Channel:      telegram

[E]dit  [F]ork  [D]elete (use /destroy)

Esc: Back to list

Checking Deployment Status

Open status view

/status

This shows all deployments with detailed status information:

/status - Deployment Status

Deployments (2)
> my-openclaw-server     [deployed]
  dev-server             [initialized]

Select a deployment

Use arrow keys to select a deployment:

Details: my-openclaw-server

Status:         deployed
Provider:       hetzner
Server IP:      159.89.123.45
Tailscale IP:   100.64.1.23
Created:        1/15/2026, 2:30:45 PM
Deployed:       1/15/2026, 2:45:12 PM

Run health check

Press Enter to check if the deployment is healthy:

Health Check:
SSH:        Connected
OpenClaw:   Running
Last checked: 3:45:12 PM

This verifies:

SSH connection is working
OpenClaw daemon is running
Server is responsive

Editing Deployments

You can edit deployments that haven’t been deployed yet (status: initialized).

Select deployment

Go to /list, select an initialized deployment, and press E for edit:

[E]dit  [F]ork  [D]elete

You can only edit deployments with status “initialized”. Deployed servers must be destroyed and recreated to change settings.

Update settings

The edit wizard lets you change:

Cloud provider API key
Server size (DigitalOcean only)
AI provider and API key
Model
Telegram bot token
Telegram allowed users

Settings you CANNOT change:

Deployment name
Cloud provider
AI provider

To change these, fork the deployment instead.

Save changes

After making changes, confirm to update the deployment:

Configuration Summary:

Name:         dev-server
Provider:     DigitalOcean
AI Provider:  OpenAI
Model:        gpt-4o-mini

Press Y to confirm, N to go back

The deployment configuration is updated immediately.

Forking Deployments

Forking creates a copy of an existing deployment with a new name. This is useful for:

Creating multiple similar deployments
Testing configuration changes
Migrating between providers

Start fork

From /list, select any deployment and press F:

[E]dit  [F]ork  [D]elete

You can fork any deployment, regardless of status (initialized, deployed, or failed).

Name the fork

Choose a unique name for the forked deployment:

Step 1: Deployment Name
Enter a unique name for this deployment:

Name: my-openclaw-server-2

Customize settings

The fork wizard walks through each setting, pre-filled with values from the original:

Cloud provider API key
Server size (if DigitalOcean)
AI provider API key
Model
Telegram credentials
Tailscale preference

You can keep the same values or change them.

Create fork

Confirm to create the forked deployment:

Configuration Summary:

Name:         my-openclaw-server-2
Provider:     Hetzner Cloud
AI Provider:  OpenRouter
Model:        moonshotai/kimi-k2.5

Press Y to confirm, N to go back

The new deployment is created with status “initialized”.

Deleting Local Configurations

Delete deployments that haven’t been deployed yet:

Select initialized deployment

From /list, select a deployment with status “initialized” and press D:

[E]dit  [F]ork  [D]elete

If a deployment is deployed or failed, use /destroy instead. The [D]elete option won’t work.

Confirm deletion

Type the deployment name to confirm:

Confirm Deletion

You are about to delete:
Deployment: dev-server

This will permanently delete:
  Local configuration files
  SSH keys

Type the deployment name to confirm:

Confirm: dev-server

Deletion complete

The deployment is removed from your local configuration:

Deployment Deleted

The deployment "dev-server" has been permanently deleted.

Deployment States

Understanding deployment states helps you manage them effectively:

Initialized

Status: initialized
Server: Not created
Actions: Edit, Deploy, Fork, Delete

Configuration exists locally but no cloud resources have been created. What you can do:

Edit configuration
Deploy to cloud
Fork to create copy
Delete locally

Provisioning

Status: provisioning
Server: Being created
Actions: Monitor progress

Cloud server is being created. ClawControl is:

Creating VPS instance
Uploading SSH keys
Waiting for server to boot

What you can do:

Watch deployment progress
Wait for completion

Configuring

Status: configuring
Server: Installing software
Actions: Monitor progress

Server is created and ClawControl is:

Installing system updates
Installing Node.js, Chrome
Installing and configuring OpenClaw
Setting up Tailscale (if enabled)

What you can do:

Watch deployment progress
Wait for completion

Deployed

Status: deployed
Server: Fully operational
Actions: SSH, Logs, Status, Fork, Destroy

Deployment is complete and OpenClaw is running. What you can do:

SSH into server
View logs
Check health status
Fork for similar deployment
Destroy when done

Failed

Status: failed
Server: Deployment error
Actions: View logs, Retry, Destroy

Deployment encountered an error and stopped. What you can do:

Check error message in status
Run /deploy to retry (resumes from last checkpoint)
Run /logs to diagnose
Run /destroy to clean up and start over

Finding Deployments

As you create more deployments, use these strategies to stay organized:

Naming Conventions

Good examples:
- prod-telegram-bot
- dev-testing-server
- personal-assistant-1
- team-demo-instance

Bad examples:
- server
- test
- asdf
- openclaw-1

Status Filtering

In /list and /status, deployments are shown with their status. Use this to quickly identify:

Active deployments: [deployed]
Ready to deploy: [initialized]
Need attention: [failed]

Multiple Deployments

Common patterns:

Development + Production: dev-server and prod-server
Multiple models: server-gpt4 and server-claude
Regional: server-us and server-eu
Testing: test-new-model (temporary)

Managing SSH Keys

ClawControl generates unique SSH keys for each deployment:

~/.clawcontrol/
├── deployments/
│   └── my-openclaw-server/
│       ├── ssh/
│       │   ├── id_ed25519          # Private key
│       │   └── id_ed25519.pub      # Public key
│       ├── config.json             # Deployment config
│       └── state.json              # Deployment state

SSH keys are:

Automatically generated during deployment
Unique to each deployment
Deleted when you destroy a deployment
Not reused across deployments

If you manually delete deployment files, you’ll lose access to the server. Always use /destroy to clean up properly.

Configuration Files

Deployment data is stored locally:

config.json

Stores your deployment configuration:

{
  "name": "my-openclaw-server",
  "provider": "hetzner",
  "createdAt": "2026-01-15T14:30:45.123Z",
  "hetzner": {
    "apiKey": "...",
    "serverType": "cpx11",
    "location": "ash",
    "image": "ubuntu-24.04"
  },
  "openclawAgent": {
    "aiProvider": "openrouter",
    "aiApiKey": "...",
    "model": "moonshotai/kimi-k2.5",
    "channel": "telegram",
    "telegramBotToken": "...",
    "telegramAllowFrom": "123456789"
  }
}

state.json

Tracks deployment progress:

{
  "status": "deployed",
  "serverId": "12345678",
  "serverIp": "159.89.123.45",
  "tailscaleIp": "100.64.1.23",
  "deployedAt": "2026-01-15T14:45:12.456Z",
  "checkpoints": [
    {
      "name": "server_created",
      "completedAt": "2026-01-15T14:31:23.789Z",
      "retryCount": 0
    },
    ...
  ]
}

Next Steps

Destroying Deployments - Clean up cloud resources
SSH Access - Connect to your servers
Monitoring Logs - View OpenClaw logs

Get Started

Core Concepts

Guides

Cloud Providers

Configuration

Viewing All Deployments

Checking Deployment Status

Editing Deployments

Forking Deployments

Deleting Local Configurations

Deployment States

Initialized

Provisioning

Configuring

Deployed

Failed

Finding Deployments

Naming Conventions

Status Filtering

Multiple Deployments

Managing SSH Keys

Configuration Files

config.json

state.json

Next Steps

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get Started

Core Concepts

Guides

Cloud Providers

Configuration

​Viewing All Deployments

​Checking Deployment Status

​Editing Deployments

​Forking Deployments

​Deleting Local Configurations

​Deployment States

​Initialized

​Provisioning

​Configuring

​Deployed

​Failed

​Finding Deployments

​Naming Conventions

​Status Filtering

​Multiple Deployments

​Managing SSH Keys

​Configuration Files

​config.json

​state.json

​Next Steps

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Viewing All Deployments

Checking Deployment Status

Editing Deployments

Forking Deployments

Deleting Local Configurations

Deployment States

Initialized

Provisioning

Configuring

Deployed

Failed

Finding Deployments

Naming Conventions

Status Filtering

Multiple Deployments

Managing SSH Keys

Configuration Files

config.json

state.json

Next Steps