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Quickstart

Get Lite Claw running on Railway with Telegram access.
This guide covers the minimum setup. For production hardening, see Deployment.

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Prerequisites

You’ll need accounts on these services (all have free tiers):

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Step 1: Get Your API Keys

1

Create a Telegram Bot

  1. Message @BotFather on Telegram
  2. Send /newbot and follow the prompts
  3. Copy the bot token (looks like 123456:ABC-DEF...)
2

Get OpenRouter API Key

  1. Sign up at openrouter.ai
  2. Add $5-10 credits
  3. Create an API key
3

Create Neon Database

  1. Create a new project at neon.tech
  2. Copy the connection string
4

Create Upstash Redis

  1. Create a new database at upstash.com
  2. Copy the REST URL and token

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Step 2: Deploy to Railway

1

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/jachian22/lite-claw.git
cd lite-claw
2

Install dependencies and run checks

pnpm install
pnpm check
3

Create Railway project

  1. Go to railway.app and create a new project
  2. Connect your GitHub repo or use Railway CLI
4

Set environment variables

In Railway, add these variables:
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=your_bot_token
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=your_openrouter_key
DATABASE_URL=your_neon_connection_string
UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_URL=your_upstash_url
UPSTASH_REDIS_REST_TOKEN=your_upstash_token
OWNER_CLAIM_CODE=your_secret_claim_code
OWNER_CLAIM_PEPPER=random_string_for_hashing
Generate a strong OWNER_CLAIM_CODE — this is how you prove ownership of the bot.
5

Deploy

Push to trigger deployment, or use Railway CLI:
railway up

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Step 3: Claim Your Bot

Once deployed, open Telegram and message your bot: 
/start
The bot will respond with your Telegram ID. Now claim ownership: 
/claim your_secret_claim_code
You should see a success message. Your bot is now locked to your Telegram account.

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Step 4: Test It

Try a few commands: 
What's the weather in San Francisco?

/integrations

/help

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Next Steps

Connect Google

Add Calendar and Gmail integration.

Enable Heartbeats

Set up morning briefings and weekly reviews.

Security Deep Dive

Understand the full security model.

Production Setup

Full deployment guide with all options.