Deploy and Host OpenClaw + Bright Data on Railway

OpenClaw is a self-hosted AI agent gateway. This template bundles the official Bright Data plugin pre-configured with 66 web automation and data access tools — web search, scraping, browser automation, and structured data from 50+ platforms. Deploy in one click, add your API keys, and your AI agent is ready to use immediately.

About Hosting OpenClaw + Bright Data

This template deploys OpenClaw on Railway with the Bright Data plugin pre-installed and fully configured. On first boot, the container installs the plugin, configures your Bright Data API key, registers your AI provider key, and starts the OpenClaw gateway. A persistent volume mounted at /data stores all configuration and credentials across redeploys. The setup wizard at /setup provides real-time initialization status and displays the generated gateway token after initialization completes. Supports OpenRouter (free), Gemini, OpenAI, and Anthropic as AI providers. No CLI commands or manual plugin setup required.

Features

• OpenClaw Gateway and Control UI — full AI agent dashboard
• Setup wizard at /setup — password-protected initialization page with real-time status
• Bright Data plugin pre-installed — 66 web automation tools ready on first boot
• Persistent state — configuration and credentials survive redeploys via Railway Volume
• Auto-configured AI provider — set your key in Variables, initialization handles the rest

Included Components

• OpenClaw gateway (port 18789) — AI agent runtime with Bright Data plugin loaded
• Node.js wrapper server (port 8080) — handles setup wizard, health checks, and proxying
• Persistent volume at /data — stores all gateway state and plugin configuration

Required Environment Variables

The following variables must be configured before deployment:

Note: At least one AI provider key is required. OpenRouter is recommended — get a free key at openrouter.ai/keys

Get your Bright Data API key: https://brightdata.com/cp/setting/users

Supported AI Providers

Deployment Steps

1. Click Deploy on Railway above
2. Fill in BRIGHTDATA_API_TOKEN, SETUP_PASSWORD, and one AI provider key
3. Add a persistent volume mounted at /data in your service settings
4. Wait for the build to complete (3-5 minutes)
5. Open your Railway-generated URL and navigate to /setup
6. Wait for initialization to complete and copy the gateway token
7. Click Open OpenClaw UI and paste the token to access the dashboard

Post-Deploy Setup

After deployment completes:

1. Open your Railway-generated application URL
2. Navigate to /setup
3. Wait for initialization status to show DONE
4. Copy the generated gateway token displayed on the page
5. Click Open OpenClaw UI and paste the token when prompted
6. Start sending prompts — your agent has 66 Bright Data web tools available

Common Use Cases

• Web research and data extraction — search the web and extract structured data from any site
• E-commerce intelligence — retrieve live product data, prices, and reviews from Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and 10+ platforms
• Social media monitoring — extract posts, profiles, and comments from Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube, Reddit, and more
• Browser automation — navigate websites, fill forms, and interact with pages through residential proxies
• AI-powered insights — query ChatGPT, Grok, and Perplexity directly through the agent

Health Checks

• /setup/healthz — bootstrap and service health endpoint used by Railway

Persistent Storage

A Railway persistent volume mounted at /data is required to retain:

• plugin configuration
• credentials and API keys
• gateway state
• initialization metadata

Initialization runs only once unless the persistent volume is reset.

Dependencies for OpenClaw + Bright Data Hosting

• Bright Data account with API access — required for all 66 web tools
• AI provider API key — OpenRouter (free), Gemini, OpenAI, or Anthropic
• Railway persistent volume mounted at /data — required for gateway state

Deployment Dependencies

• Source code: https://github.com/ReallyGreatTech/brightdata-railway
• OpenClaw documentation: https://docs.openclaw.ai
• Bright Data plugin docs: https://docs.brightdata.com/integrations/openclaw
• Get Bright Data API key: https://brightdata.com/cp/setting/users
• Get free OpenRouter key: https://openrouter.ai/keys
• Bright Data dashboard: https://brightdata.com/cp

Implementation Details

This template deploys a single Docker container running two processes:

1. Node.js wrapper server on port 8080 — handles the setup wizard at /setup, health checks at /setup/healthz, and proxies all traffic to the OpenClaw gateway
2. OpenClaw gateway on port 18789 — runs the AI agent with the Bright Data plugin loaded

On first boot, the bootstrap script copies the pre-configured Bright Data plugin from the Docker image to the persistent volume, configures the API key, registers the AI provider, and generates a persistent gateway token. Initialization runs only once unless the persistent volume is reset.

Why Deploy OpenClaw + Bright Data on Railway?

Railway is a singular platform to deploy your infrastructure stack. Railway will host your infrastructure so you don't have to deal with configuration, while allowing you to vertically and horizontally scale it.

By deploying OpenClaw + Bright Data on Railway, you get a fully configured AI agent with web automation capabilities running on reliable infrastructure with minimal setup burden.