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Go to https://agent.near.ai/ and login with your preferred method, then start creating an IronClaw agent.

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Create the Agent

1

Create the Agent

Creating and deploying your agent is as simple as filling the required billing information, adding a SSH key, and clicking the “Activate Agent” button. The agent will then be automatically created and deployed in a private instance, and you will be able to connect to it through SSH.
To use IronClaw, you will need to provide an SSH key. If you don’t have one, you can generate it using the following command in your terminal:
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "you@example.com"
cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
2

Connect to your Private Instance

Connect to your agent’s private instance through SSH using the address provided in the Agent Dashboard:
> ssh -p <PORT> liquid-horse@agent2.near.ai

#Linux 522eab21e8e4 6.9.0-dstack #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu May 30 14:26:20 UTC 2024 x86_64

#Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by applicable law.
agent@1v4d3v23e8f1:~$
Remember to add your SSH key to your device’s SSH agent before connecting:
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa
3

Start the Agent

Once you have successfully connected to your agent’s private instance, you can start your agent for the first time
ironclaw
If you get the error Error: Another IronClaw instance is already running (PID 38). If this is incorrect, remove the stale PID file: /home/agent/.ironclaw/ironclaw.pid, simply run the following command to remove the stale PID file and try starting the agent again:
# Remove the stale PID file
rm /home/agent/.ironclaw/ironclaw.pid

# Then start the agent again
ironclaw
Since this is the first time you are starting your agent, it will ask you to configure your inference provider, and the LLM you want to use.setup
We recommend using NEAR AI as your inference provider for maximum privacy and security, and the Qwen3-30B model for its cost-effectiveness
If you encounter the error Error: Channel webhook_server failed to start: Failed to bind to 0.0.0.0:8080: Address already in use (os error 98), simply try setting a different HTTP port:
# Change the default HTTP port to 8081
export HTTP_PORT=8081

# Then start the agent again
ironclaw
4

Talk with your Agent

Once your agent is up and running, you can start interacting with it through the terminal, simply type your message and the agent will respondhello-ai
5

Update IronClaw

Finally, make sure to regularly update IronClaw to get the latest features and improvements. You can update IronClaw by running the following command in your terminal:
ironclaw-update

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Next Steps

Now that you have your agent up and running, it is time to configure a new channel to interact with your agent from your preferred messaging platform, and add some tools to give your agent more capabilities.

Channels

Connect your agent to your favorite messaging platform.

Tools

Give your agent access to external APIs and services.