Running an AI agent on a third-party platform means your data, API keys, and conversation history sit on someone else's server. For developers and small teams who want real privacy or tighter cost control, that's a legitimate concern. Self-hosting OpenClaw on a VPS is a practical fix, and the process is more straightforward than it used to be.
OpenClaw is an open-source AI assistant that connects to messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Slack, and lets an AI model handle real tasks on your behalf. Because the gateway runs on your own server, you decide which AI providers to connect, which Skills to enable, and how much system access the agent gets.
