OpenClaw + n8n Starter

One-command deployment of OpenClaw AI agent with n8n workflow automation on Digital Ocean.

What You Get

• OpenClaw - AI agent accessible via Telegram
• n8n - Workflow automation with web UI
• Caddy - Automatic HTTPS
• PostgreSQL - Database for n8n
• Redis - Queue for n8n workers

Architecture

Internet
    │
    ├─── Telegram ──────────► OpenClaw (internal only)
    │                              │
    │                              ▼
    └─── HTTPS ──► Caddy ──► n8n ◄─┘
                              │
                              ▼
                    PostgreSQL + Redis (internal)

Security:

• OpenClaw is NOT exposed to the internet (only accessible internally)
• n8n webhooks protected with header authentication
• PostgreSQL/Redis on isolated internal network

Prerequisites

1. Digital Ocean Droplet - Ubuntu 24.04, 2GB+ RAM recommended
2. Telegram Bot Token - Get from @BotFather
3. Telegram User ID - Get from @userinfobot
4. OpenAI API Key - Get from OpenAI

Installation

SSH into your droplet and run:

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Barty-Bart/openclaw-n8n-starter/main/setup.sh -o setup.sh
chmod +x setup.sh
./setup.sh

The script will ask for:

• Telegram Bot Token
• Telegram User ID
• OpenAI API Key
• Droplet IP (auto-detected)

After Installation

1. Access n8n: https://n8n.YOUR_IP.nip.io
2. Message your Telegram bot to start chatting with OpenClaw
3. Create workflows in n8n that OpenClaw can trigger

Connecting n8n ↔ OpenClaw

OpenClaw → n8n (trigger workflows)

OpenClaw has an n8n-webhook skill. Ask it to trigger your workflow and it will call the webhook.

In n8n, create a Webhook node with:

• Authentication: Header Auth
• Header Name: X-Webhook-Secret
• Header Value: (shown after install)

n8n → OpenClaw (send Telegram messages)

Use HTTP Request node in n8n:

• URL: http://openclaw-gateway:18789/tools/invoke
• Method: POST
• Headers:
  • Authorization: Bearer YOUR_GATEWAY_TOKEN
  • Content-Type: application/json
• Body:

{
  "tool": "sessions_send",
  "args": {
    "sessionKey": "agent:main:main",
    "message": "Hello from n8n!",
    "timeoutSeconds": 0
  }
}

Useful Commands

# View logs
cd /opt/openclaw
docker compose logs -f

# Restart services
docker compose restart

# Stop everything
docker compose down

# Start everything
docker compose up -d

# Check OpenClaw skills
docker compose run --rm openclaw-cli skills list

Troubleshooting

Bot not responding?

docker compose logs openclaw-gateway

n8n not loading?

docker compose logs caddy
docker compose logs n8n

Webhook not working?

• Check the webhook path matches
• Check the X-Webhook-Secret header is correct
• Use internal URL: http://n8n:5678/webhook/...

⚠️ Disclaimer

Use at your own risk. I've tried to make this secure, but it is NOT 100% perfect.

This is great for testing and learning. For production use, you'll need to do additional security hardening yourself.

I'm not responsible for any issues, data loss, security breaches, etc.

Credits

• OpenClaw
• n8n
• Setup by Bart S