Deploy OpenRouter - Cloud Deployment

Overview

This guide walks you through deploying an AI assistant powered by OpenRouter using Cloud Deployment. You'll configure the provider, set up the deployment environment, and get your assistant running.

Requirements

• Fly.io Account: Account on Fly.io (or similar PaaS)
• flyctl CLI: Fly.io command-line tool
• Persistent Volume: For state persistence
• OpenRouter credentials: API key or authentication

Step 1: Configure OpenRouter

OpenRouter API key

1. Create account at openrouter.ai
2. Generate API key
3. Set OPENROUTER_API_KEY environment variable

Step 2: Prepare Cloud Deployment Environment

1. Install flyctl: Install the Fly.io CLI

   curl -L https://fly.io/install.sh | sh

2. Login to Fly: Authenticate with Fly.io

   fly auth login

3. Create App: Create a new Fly.io app

   fly apps create openclaw-gateway

4. Create Volume: Create persistent volume for state

   fly volumes create openclaw_data --size 1

5. Configure fly.toml: Set up the Fly.io configuration file
6. Set Secrets: Configure environment variables

   fly secrets set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

7. Deploy: Deploy to Fly.io

   fly deploy

Step 3: Configuration

Create your openclaw.json configuration:

{
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": {
        "primary": "openrouter/anthropic/claude-sonnet-4"
      }
    }
  },
  "models": {
    "providers": {
      "openrouter": {
  "models": {
    "providers": {
      "openrouter": {
        "apiKey": "${OPENROUTER_API_KEY}
    }
  }
}

Step 4: Deploy

# fly.toml
app = "openclaw-gateway"
primary_region = "iad"

[build]
  image = "node:22-slim"

[env]
  NODE_ENV = "production"
  OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR = "/data"

[mounts]
  source = "openclaw_data"
  destination = "/data"

[[services]]
  internal_port = 18789
  protocol = "tcp"

  [[services.ports]]
    port = 443
    handlers = ["tls", "http"]

Step 5: Verify

# Check deployment status
openclaw status

# View logs
openclaw logs --follow

# Test with a message
openclaw test "Hello, are you working?"

Connect to Channels

Now connect your deployed OpenRouter assistant to messaging channels: