[delete-me] | Friends of the Crustacean 🦞🤝 | Page 1

fleet lakeBOT Jan 20, 2026, 12:38 AM

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heady hedge Jan 20, 2026, 12:39 AM

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hetzner clawdbot - both gateway and client

true escarpBOT Jan 20, 2026, 12:39 AM

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Your setup sounds correct! Here's the deal for a headless VPS setup:

API Keys for MiniMax

Two options work:

Via env vars (simplest for headless):

# In ~/.clawdbot/.env or export before gateway start
MINIMAX_API_KEY="sk-your-key-here"

Via clawdbot configure:
```
clawdbot configure --section models.minimax
```
This writes to ~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json under the models section.

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Either approach works. The env var route is cleaner for Docker — just pass it in via -e MINIMAX_API_KEY=... or set it in your container's environment.

The Telegram Flow (headless)

Once your Gateway + Telegram channel are up:

You → text the Telegram bot
Telegram → sends webhook to Gateway
Gateway → routes to your default agent
Agent → calls MiniMax (or configured model), thinks, responds
Gateway → sends reply back to Telegram
You → see the response on your phone

No laptop, no UI needed. The Gateway handles everything. Just make sure:

channels.telegram.allowFrom has your Telegram user ID (not bot username)
Gateway is reachable by Telegram (webhook needs public IP/URL, or use polling)

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Quick check

# Verify MiniMax is recognized
clawdbot models list | grep minimax

# Check gateway sees Telegram
clawdbot health

Docs: https://docs.clawd.bot/providers/minimax, https://docs.clawd.bot/concepts/models

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Hey! 🦐 Your headless VPS setup is exactly how it's meant to work — you're on the right track!

API Keys (MiniMax) — Best Approach for Docker

Env vars are the cleanest way for Docker:

# Option A: Pass to Docker
docker run -e MINIMAX_API_KEY="sk-..." ...

# Option B: Set in ~/.clawdbot/.env on the VPS
MINIMAX_API_KEY="sk-your-key"

Or use the CLI (also works headlessly):

#

clawdbot configure --section models.minimax

Both end up doing the same thing. The env approach is simpler for Docker since you can manage secrets outside the container.

The Flow (works headless)

Once Gateway + Telegram are configured:

You → message Telegram bot
Gateway → receives via webhook (or polling)
Agent → gets routed the message, calls MiniMax
Response → comes back through Gateway → Telegram

No laptop needed at all. The whole thing runs server-side.

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Quick Headless Checklist

# Verify MiniMax is recognized
clawdbot models list | grep minimax

# Check your Telegram config
clawdbot configure --section channels.telegram

# Make sure allowFrom has YOUR Telegram user ID (numeric)

Important Note on Telegram Webhooks

Since you're headless on a VPS:

Webhooks need a public URL (Telegram calls back to it)
Polling works without a public URL but uses more resources

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For webhooks, you might need a reverse proxy (Caddy, nginx) or use Tailscale Serve to expose 127.0.0.1:18789 to Telegram.

Happy to help troubleshoot the Telegram setup once you get there! 🦐

https://docs.clawd.bot/providers/minimax · https://docs.clawd.bot/concepts/models

heady hedge Jan 20, 2026, 12:43 AM

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how do i test - telegram send me msg? how do i test if minimax works?

true escarpBOT Jan 20, 2026, 12:43 AM

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heady hedge how do i test - telegram send me msg? how do i test if minimax works?

Test Telegram

Option A: Send a message to your bot

Open Telegram, find your bot, send /start
The bot should reply (if properly configured)

Option B: Check via CLI

# Check Telegram channel status
clawdbot status --channels

# Tail logs to see incoming messages
clawdbot logs --follow

Test MiniMax

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# List available models (should show MiniMax)
clawdbot models list | grep minimax

# Quick model probe
clawdbot models status --verbose

# Test a simple completion (from the VPS CLI)
clawdbot eval --model minimax/MiniMax-M2.1 "Say hi in exactly 3 words"

End-to-End Test (headless)

Message your Telegram bot: test
Check logs: clawdbot logs --follow
You should see:
- Incoming message from Telegram

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Agent routing
- MiniMax API call
- Response sent back

If MiniMax fails, check:

# Verify API key is set
echo $MINIMAX_API_KEY

# Or check agent auth profiles
cat ~/.clawdbot/agents/*/agent/auth-profiles.json

heady hedge Jan 20, 2026, 12:51 AM

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i dont know. nothing works - telegram does not work, minimax does not wrok - i'm confused about what's running in docker and what's a clawdbot command that's seperate;

Here’s a clean, paste-ready condensed version that keeps the most useful diagnostic info and stays well under 2,000 chars. I focused on status, errors, and actionable signals and removed UI tables + repetition.

Clawdbot status summary (condensed)

Version: 2026.1.16-2
OS: Linux 6.8.0-90-generic (x64)
Node: 22.22.0
Config: /root/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json
Gateway: ws://127.0.0.1:18789 (local, reachable ~31ms)
Dashboard: http://127.0.0.1:18789
Tailscale: OFF (tailscale binary missing: ENOENT)
Daemon: systemd not installed

Agents

1 agent (main) → BOOTSTRAP: PENDING
1 session (last active ~17m ago)
0 active agents

Channels

Telegram: OK (1/1 account configured)
WhatsApp: WARN (missing credentials file)
Discord / Slack / Signal / iMessage: SETUP (not configured)

Telegram

default account OK (token configured, allowlist set)

Critical Diagnosis

⚠ Port 18789 already in use
- pid 14918: docker-proxy listening on 127.0.0.1:18789
- Container: clawdbot-clawdbot-gateway-1
Gateway bound to loopback only
No channel runtime errors detected

Logs (recent)

Gateway received SIGUSR1 → restarting
Gmail watcher stopped
Cron started (0 jobs)

CLI issue

clawdbot eval → unknown command

Docker

clawdbot container running
Port mapping: 127.0.0.1:18789 → 18789/tcp

true escarpBOT Jan 20, 2026, 12:51 AM

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heady hedge i dont know. nothing works - telegram does not work, minimax does not wrok - i'm...

Got it — the confusion is common! Let me untangle it:

The Setup (Simplified)

[VPS]
├── Docker container (clawdbot-gateway) → running the actual Gateway
│   └── Gateway listens on: 127.0.0.1:18789 (inside container)
└── clawdbot CLI (on VPS) → connects TO the gateway as a client

The CLI is not a separate gateway — it's a client that talks to the Docker gateway.

Your Problems

1. Port Conflict

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Port 18789 already in use: docker-proxy (pid 14918) → container

The gateway inside Docker and the docker-proxy are fighting. Fix:

# Remove the existing container and recreate without host port binding
docker rm -f clawdbot-clawdbot-gateway-1

# Recreate with proper networking - don't map port 18789 to host
docker run -d --name clawdbot-gateway \
  -v /root/.clawdbot:/root/.clawdbot \
  -v /root/clawd:/root/clawd \
  clawdbot/clawdbot:latest

2. Agent BOOTSTRAP: PENDING

Your main agent hasn't been initialized. Fix:

#

# Run the onboarding wizard inside Docker
docker exec -it clawdbot-clawdbot-gateway-1 pnpm clawdbot onboard

Or manually create the required files in ~/.clawdbot/agents/main/.

3. Test Commands

# Check if gateway is actually reachable
curl http://127.0.0.1:18789/health

# List models (inside container)
docker exec clawdbot-clawdbot-gateway-1 pnpm clawdbot models list

# Check agent status

#

docker exec clawdbot-clawdbot-gateway-1 pnpm clawdbot status

4. Telegram Test

# Inside container, check Telegram
docker exec clawdbot-clawdbot-gateway-1 pnpm clawdbot status --channels

Quick Fix Sequence

# 1. Stop the broken container
docker rm -f clawdbot-clawdbot-gateway-1

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# 2. Check what's on port 18789
ss -tlnp | grep 18789

# 3. Start fresh (let Docker handle internal port, don't map to host)
docker run -d --name clawdbot-gateway \
  -v /root/.clawdbot:/root/.clawdbot \
  -v /root/clawd:/root/clawd \
  -e MINIMAX_API_KEY="sk-your-key" \
  clawdbot/clawdbot:latest

# 4. Check it's running
docker ps | grep clawdbot

# 5. Initialize agent
docker exec -it clawdbot-gateway pnpm clawdbot onboard

#


# 6. Check logs
docker logs -f clawdbot-gateway

What does docker ps | grep clawdbot show right now?

#[delete-me]