A few months ago I got obsessed with OpenClaw, an open-source AI chatbot framework. I loved the idea of having my own personal AI assistant on Telegram — one that actually remembers who I am across conversations.
The problem: setting it up is a pain. You need a VPS, Docker, Node.js 22+, a config file, an AI API key, volume mounts, restart policies… you get it. I set it up for myself, then for a friend, and by the third person asking me “can you set this up for me too?” I realized there might be a product here.
So I built LobsterLair.
It’s a managed hosting platform for OpenClaw. You sign up, connect a Telegram bot (takes 30 seconds with BotFather), pick a personality for your bot, and you’re live. The whole thing takes under 2 minutes. No servers, no API keys, no Docker knowledge needed.
How it works under the hood
Each customer gets their own isolated Docker container running OpenClaw. The containers sit on an internal Docker network with no port mapping — they only make outbound connections to the Telegram API. Everything is managed through a Next.js dashboard that talks to Docker via dockerode.
Stack: – Next.js 16 (App Router) + TypeScript – PostgreSQL + Drizzle ORM – dockerode for container orchestration – NextAuth v5 for auth (email + Google OAuth) – Stripe for payments – Nginx + Let’s Encrypt for SSL – SendGrid for transactional emails
The AI model (MiniMax M2.1 with 200k context window) is included — I pay for a central API key so users don’t have to deal with that. Each bot has persistent memory, so it actually learns about you over time and gets better the more you use it.
The business model
Simple: $19/month per bot, with a 48-hour free trial (no credit card required). No free tier. I wanted to keep it sustainable from day one.
Where I’m at after one week
- 39 total signups
- 8 active instances running right now (6 trials, 2 paying customers)
- About 72% of signups never start a trial, which tells me there’s friction in the funnel I need to figure out
- The 2 paying conversions happened organically — no marketing yet
It’s tiny numbers, but seeing real people actually use the thing is incredibly motivating. One user has been chatting with their bot for 3 days straight.
What I learned building this
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Container orchestration is harder than it looks. Getting permissions right between the host app (running as one Linux user) and the containers (running as another) took days of debugging. I ended up needing a specific sudoers rule just for chown.
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Trial-first is the way. Originally I had payment upfront. Nobody converted. The moment I added a 48h no-card trial, signups went from zero to actual users within hours.
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Include the hard part. The biggest barrier for users wasn’t the hosting — it was getting an AI API key. By bundling the AI model centrally, the entire setup became friction-free.
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Internationalization early. I added i18n (English, German, Spanish) from the start using next-intl. Surprisingly, a good chunk of signups came from non-English speakers.
What’s next
- Figuring out why 72% of signups drop off before starting the trial
- Adding Discord and Slack as channels (OpenClaw supports them, I just haven’t wired up the onboarding UI yet)
- Possibly a “bring your own API key” option for power users who want to use different models
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Is $19/month the right price point for something like this? Any ideas on reducing that signup-to-trial drop-off?
Site is at lobsterlair.xyz if you want to check it out.
