ClawdBot with Docker

🐳 Why Use Docker for ClawdBot?

When to Use Docker

• ✅ Deploying to cloud servers (AWS, DigitalOcean, etc.)
• ✅ Running multiple instances
• ✅ Need clean, reproducible deployments
• ✅ Want easy rollbacks and updates
• ✅ Prefer containerized infrastructure

When NOT to Use Docker

• ❌ Running on personal Mac/PC (native is simpler)
• ❌ Limited system resources
• ❌ Need direct hardware access
• ❌ Unfamiliar with Docker (steep learning curve)

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

# Install Docker
# macOS/Windows: Download Docker Desktop from docker.com
# Linux:
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
# Log out and back in

# Verify installation
docker --version
docker compose version

Run ClawdBot Container (One Command)

docker run -d \
  --name clawdbot \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -v ~/.clawdbot:/root/.clawdbot \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="your-key-here" \
  clawdbot/clawdbot:latest

Check Status

# View logs
docker logs -f clawdbot

# Check if running
docker ps

# Access container shell
docker exec -it clawdbot /bin/bash

Stop and Remove

# Stop container
docker stop clawdbot

# Remove container
docker rm clawdbot

# Remove image
docker rmi clawdbot/clawdbot:latest

📝 Docker Compose Setup (Recommended)

Docker Compose makes managing ClawdBot much easier.

Basic docker-compose.yml

version: '3.8'

services:
  clawdbot:
    image: clawdbot/clawdbot:latest
    container_name: clawdbot
    restart: unless-stopped
    
    # Ports
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    
    # Volumes
    volumes:
      - ./clawdbot-data:/root/.clawdbot
      - ./clawdbot-memory:/root/.clawdbot/memory
    
    # Environment variables
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=${ANTHROPIC_API_KEY}
      - OPENAI_API_KEY=${OPENAI_API_KEY}
      - GOOGLE_API_KEY=${GOOGLE_API_KEY}
    
    # Resource limits
    deploy:
      resources:
        limits:
          cpus: '2'
          memory: 2G
        reservations:
          cpus: '1'
          memory: 512M

Advanced docker-compose.yml with Multiple Services

version: '3.8'

services:
  # ClawdBot Gateway
  clawdbot:
    image: clawdbot/clawdbot:latest
    container_name: clawdbot-gateway
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/root/.clawdbot
      - ./memory:/root/.clawdbot/memory
      - ./logs:/var/log/clawdbot
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - LOG_LEVEL=info
    env_file:
      - .env
    networks:
      - clawdbot-network
    depends_on:
      - redis
  
  # Redis for caching (optional)
  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    container_name: clawdbot-redis
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - redis-data:/data
    networks:
      - clawdbot-network
    command: redis-server --appendonly yes
  
  # Ollama for local AI (optional)
  ollama:
    image: ollama/ollama:latest
    container_name: clawdbot-ollama
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - ollama-data:/root/.ollama
    ports:
      - "11434:11434"
    networks:
      - clawdbot-network

networks:
  clawdbot-network:
    driver: bridge

volumes:
  redis-data:
  ollama-data:

Environment File (.env)

# Create .env file in same directory as docker-compose.yml

# AI Provider API Keys
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-xxx
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-xxx
GOOGLE_API_KEY=xxx

# Telegram Bot
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=xxx
TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USERS=123456789,987654321

# WhatsApp
WHATSAPP_ENABLED=true

# Discord
DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN=xxx

# Gateway Settings
GATEWAY_PORT=3000
LOG_LEVEL=info

# Redis Connection
REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379

Using Docker Compose

# Start all services
docker compose up -d

# View logs
docker compose logs -f

# Stop all services
docker compose down

# Restart specific service
docker compose restart clawdbot

# Update to latest version
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

# Remove everything (including volumes)
docker compose down -v

💾 Volume Management

Important Directories to Persist

Volume Types

1. Bind Mounts (Recommended for Development)

volumes:
  - ./local-config:/root/.clawdbot
  - ./local-memory:/root/.clawdbot/memory

2. Named Volumes (Recommended for Production)

volumes:
  - clawdbot-config:/root/.clawdbot
  - clawdbot-memory:/root/.clawdbot/memory

volumes:
  clawdbot-config:
  clawdbot-memory:

Backup and Restore

# Backup volumes
docker run --rm \
  -v clawdbot-config:/data \
  -v $(pwd):/backup \
  alpine tar czf /backup/clawdbot-backup-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /data

# Restore volumes
docker run --rm \
  -v clawdbot-config:/data \
  -v $(pwd):/backup \
  alpine tar xzf /backup/clawdbot-backup-20260127.tar.gz -C /

🌐 Networking

Port Mapping

# Default gateway port
ports:
  - "3000:3000"

# Custom port mapping
ports:
  - "8080:3000"  # Access on host:8080

# Bind to specific interface
ports:
  - "127.0.0.1:3000:3000"  # Localhost only

Reverse Proxy Setup (Nginx)

Add Nginx to docker-compose.yml:

  nginx:
    image: nginx:alpine
    container_name: clawdbot-nginx
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:ro
      - ./ssl:/etc/nginx/ssl:ro
    networks:
      - clawdbot-network
    depends_on:
      - clawdbot

nginx.conf example:

events {
    worker_connections 1024;
}

http {
    upstream clawdbot {
        server clawdbot:3000;
    }

    server {
        listen 80;
        server_name your-domain.com;

        location / {
            proxy_pass http://clawdbot;
            proxy_http_version 1.1;
            proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
            proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
            proxy_set_header Host $host;
            proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
        }
    }
}

🏭 Production Deployment

Production-Ready docker-compose.yml

version: '3.8'

services:
  clawdbot:
    image: clawdbot/clawdbot:${CLAWDBOT_VERSION:-latest}
    container_name: clawdbot-prod
    restart: always
    
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:3000:3000"
    
    volumes:
      - clawdbot-config:/root/.clawdbot:rw
      - clawdbot-memory:/root/.clawdbot/memory:rw
      - clawdbot-logs:/var/log/clawdbot:rw
    
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - LOG_LEVEL=warn
      - MAX_MEMORY=2048
    
    env_file:
      - .env.production
    
    networks:
      - clawdbot-network
    
    # Health check
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:3000/health"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 3
      start_period: 40s
    
    # Resource limits
    deploy:
      resources:
        limits:
          cpus: '2'
          memory: 2G
        reservations:
          cpus: '0.5'
          memory: 512M
    
    # Security
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true
    cap_drop:
      - ALL
    cap_add:
      - NET_BIND_SERVICE
    read_only: true
    tmpfs:
      - /tmp

networks:
  clawdbot-network:
    driver: bridge

volumes:
  clawdbot-config:
    driver: local
  clawdbot-memory:
    driver: local
  clawdbot-logs:
    driver: local

Deployment Checklist

• ✅ Use specific version tags (not :latest)
• ✅ Set resource limits
• ✅ Configure health checks
• ✅ Use named volumes for persistence
• ✅ Enable restart policies
• ✅ Set up log rotation
• ✅ Use secrets for sensitive data
• ✅ Configure reverse proxy
• ✅ Set up monitoring
• ✅ Plan backup strategy

Monitoring with Watchtower (Auto-Updates)

  watchtower:
    image: containrrr/watchtower
    container_name: watchtower
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
    environment:
      - WATCHTOWER_CLEANUP=true
      - WATCHTOWER_POLL_INTERVAL=86400  # Check daily
    command: clawdbot-prod

🔧 Troubleshooting

Container Won't Start

# Check logs
docker logs clawdbot

# Inspect container
docker inspect clawdbot

# Check if port is in use
sudo lsof -i :3000

# Try running interactively
docker run -it --rm clawdbot/clawdbot:latest /bin/bash

Permission Issues

# Fix volume permissions
sudo chown -R 1000:1000 ./clawdbot-data

# Or run as specific user
docker run --user 1000:1000 ...

Out of Disk Space

# Clean up unused images
docker image prune -a

# Remove stopped containers
docker container prune

# Remove unused volumes
docker volume prune

# Complete cleanup
docker system prune -a --volumes

Networking Issues

# Test network connectivity
docker exec clawdbot ping google.com

# Check DNS
docker exec clawdbot nslookup google.com

# Recreate network
docker compose down
docker network prune
docker compose up -d

❓ Docker FAQ