Deploy OpenClaw on Vercel
https://github.com/vercel-labs/vercel-openclaw- Category
- Developer Tools
- Rank
- No. 1625Tools index
- Pricing
- Open Source
- Type
- TOOL
- Builder
- vercel-labs
- GitHub
- 5 stars
- Date
About
Template and tooling to deploy OpenClaw on Vercel.
What it does
It runs OpenClaw inside a persistent Vercel Sandbox, then adds a headless control plane for webhook ingress, health checks, idle suspension, snapshot-backed recovery, and gateway restarts. The supplied container image boots directly, without a Dockerfile or application build pipeline.
Why it's ranked here
The project goes beyond a launch example. It handles sleeping compute, busy-work fences, restart health checks, signature-preserving forwarding, and durable activity tracking. Live lifecycle probes and focused tests support those claims. Still, the documented upstream suspension issue and production plan requirements make this a credible proof of concept, not a carefree default.
What's good
The host refuses idle suspension while OpenClaw reports active work, validates external responses before stopping compute, and snapshots persistent disk on shutdown. Webhooks preserve raw bytes and selected headers for signature checks. Wake requests are deduplicated per instance, and gateway failures include retained log output for diagnosis.
Tradeoffs
Cold and snapshot wakes take about ten seconds, which conflicts with Slack's three-second acknowledgement window because forwarding currently blocks. Production idle suspension needs an external Redis-compatible activity store. The deployment assumes Vercel Pro or Enterprise limits. A documented upstream bug also prevents lease cancellation or status calls after suspension becomes ready.
How to use it well
Choose it for a Vercel-based, API-only OpenClaw deployment where messages arrive through webhooks and reducing idle compute matters. Pair it with durable Redis storage, gateway tokens, channel signature verification, and monitoring around wake failures. It does not provide a user interface, anonymous container pulls, Hobby-plan compatibility, or instant webhook acknowledgement during cold starts.
Technical notes+
README.md describes a Next.js host rooted at host/ and a public VCR image targeting linux/amd64. host/lib/wake.ts uses @vercel/sandbox, persistent named sandboxes, explicit gateway startup, in-VM port polling, health confirmation, retry handling for image preparation, and an allowlist for forwarded headers. host/lib/suspend.ts normalizes gateway RPC responses and implements ready, busy, conflict, recovering, retry, and force-stop branches. host/lib/activity-store.ts selects an Upstash-compatible REST Redis store when configured and otherwise warns that production idle suspension cannot work across serverless instances. host/app/api/cron/idle-check/route.ts runs idle and session-ceiling paths. host/lib/suspend.test.ts and host/lib/activity.test.ts cover decision logic and idle timing, while host/scripts/e2e-lifecycle.ts exercises two full wake, suspend, stop, snapshot, and resume cycles.
Observed
- License
- MIT
- Primary language
- TypeScript
- Install surface
- npm-based example plus a Vercel project configured with the host directory as its root
- Interfaces
- Headless Next.js API with webhook and scheduled cron endpoints
- Platform support
- Vercel Sandbox using linux/amd64 container images
- Persistence
- Named persistent sandboxes snapshot disk on stop and restore it on resume
- Tests
- Vitest coverage is present for suspension decisions and idle-clock behavior
Read from README.md, docs/upstream-ci.md, docs/suspension-spec.md, host/next-env.d.ts, host/lib/wake.ts, host/lib/suspend.ts, host/lib/activity.ts, host/lib/suspend.test.ts, host/lib/activity.test.ts, host/scripts/sdk-probe.ts, host/lib/activity-store.ts, host/scripts/e2e-lifecycle.ts, host/scripts/verify-stopped.ts, host/scripts/probe-legacy-gateway.ts, host/app/api/cron/idle-check/route.ts.
What it can do
Deploy OpenClaw application to Vercel platform
OpenClaw application code and configuration → Live web application hosted on Vercel
Provision serverless infrastructure for OpenClaw
Deployment configuration and requirements → Configured serverless environment with auto-scaling
Set up continuous deployment pipeline
Git repository with OpenClaw code → Automated deployment workflow triggered by code changes
Configure custom domain for deployed application
Domain name and DNS settings → OpenClaw application accessible via custom URL
Generate deployment templates and configuration files
OpenClaw project specifications → Vercel-compatible configuration files and deployment templates
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