OpenClaw on Raspberry Pi: Your Always-On AI Agent

Why Raspberry Pi?

A Raspberry Pi is the perfect OpenClaw host: - Always on — 5W power consumption - Silent — no fans - Cheap — $35-75 for the hardware - Private — runs on your local network

Hardware Requirements

Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB+) or Pi 5
32GB+ microSD card (or SSD via USB for better performance)
Ethernet or WiFi connection
Power supply

Installation

Flash the OS

Use Raspberry Pi Imager to flash Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit). Enable SSH during setup.

Install Node.js

bash
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Install OpenClaw

bash
npm install -g openclaw
mkdir ~/agent && cd ~/agent
openclaw init

Configure LLM

bash
export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."
echo 'export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."' >> ~/.bashrc

Start as Service

bash
sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/openclaw.service > /dev/null <<EOF
[Unit]
Description=OpenClaw Agent
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=pi
WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/agent
ExecStart=$(which openclaw) gateway start
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

sudo systemctl enable --now openclaw

Performance Tips

Use an SSD

MicroSD cards are slow for file I/O. A USB SSD dramatically improves responsiveness:

bash
# After connecting SSD and mounting
sudo raspi-config  # Set USB boot

Optimize Memory

With 4GB RAM, OpenClaw runs comfortably. The agent itself is lightweight — the LLM runs in the cloud.

Monitor Resources

bash
# Check agent status
openclaw status

# System resources
htop

Use Cases

Home automation hub — control smart devices via voice or chat
Family assistant — shared agent on Discord or Telegram
Development helper — always available for coding questions
Network monitor — check service uptime and alert on issues
Learning companion — connected to your CopyPasteLearn courses

Limitations

Browser automation is slower on ARM
Screen recording requires a connected display
Heavy file operations may be slow on SD cards

Despite these, a Pi makes an excellent always-on AI agent host for most personal use cases.