VPS Lite Boot for Openclaw

No separate package installation is specified. Use this skill on a Linux VPS running OpenClaw, with the owner authorized to inspect the system and, if approved, use sudo or root privileges. Before any changes, explain that the workflow can edit openclaw.json, create a swapfile, modify /etc/fstab, and optionally add a systemd drop-in. Wait for explicit confirmation.

1. Collect read-only diagnostics first:

free -m
swapon --show
cat /proc/swaps
journalctl -k --since "3 days ago" 2>/dev/null | grep -iE "oom|killed process" | tail -20
dmesg 2>/dev/null | grep -iE "oom|killed process" | tail -20
ps aux | grep -i openclaw-gateway | grep -v grep

Read the current concurrency settings from the available config path:

python3 - <<'PY'
import json, os
p = os.path.expanduser("~/config/openclaw.json")
if not os.path.exists(p):
    p = os.path.expanduser("~/.openclaw/openclaw.json")
d = json.load(open(p))
ag = (d.get("agents") or {}).get("defaults") or {}
print("config:", p)
print("maxConcurrent:", ag.get("maxConcurrent"))
print("subagents.maxConcurrent:", (ag.get("subagents") or {}).get("maxConcurrent"))
PY

If OOM is confirmed and the owner approves the changes, back up the configuration and set the concurrency fields without overwriting unrelated settings:

cp ~/config/openclaw.json ~/config/openclaw.json.bak.$(date +%F-%H%M)
openclaw config set agents.defaults.maxConcurrent 1
openclaw config set agents.defaults.subagents.maxConcurrent 1
openclaw config validate

Adjust the backup path to match the actual config location. If the CLI cannot set a field, patch only that field after backing up, then validate. Restore the backup if validation fails.

If swap is absent, create and enable a 2 GB swapfile (or choose a size appropriate to the host):

SWAPFILE=/swapfile
SWAPSIZE=2G
sudo fallocate -l "$SWAPSIZE" "$SWAPFILE" || sudo dd if=/dev/zero of="$SWAPFILE" bs=1M count=2048 status=progress
sudo chmod 600 "$SWAPFILE"
sudo mkswap "$SWAPFILE"
sudo swapon "$SWAPFILE"
swapon --show
free -m

To persist swap, back up /etc/fstab, check for an existing swap entry, and append the swapfile entry only if it is not already present. Validate before rebooting; restore the backup if validation fails:

sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.bak.$(date +%F-%H%M)
grep -nE '^[^#]*swap' /etc/fstab
printf '%s\n' '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab
sudo findmnt --verify --verbose
sudo swapon -a

The optional systemd adjustment requires separate approval and the verified gateway service name. After approved changes, restart the gateway and check results:

openclaw gateway restart
sleep 60
free -m
swapon --show
ps aux | grep -i openclaw-gateway | grep -v grep
journalctl -k --since "2 minutes ago" | grep -iE "oom|killed" | tail

The skill does not define a separate database or generated report format. It reads and, only with approval, updates a small set of system configuration files and runtime settings.

The skill's scope excludes unrelated configuration, SSH settings, user data, and software installation. Do not expose secrets or tokens in diagnostic output.