Run PicoClaw on a Low‑Memory Linux Device (Raspberry Pi / Orange Pi + Telegram + Free API)
Turn a cheap Raspberry Pi / Orange Pi / low‑RAM VPS into a self‑hosted AI assistant using PicoClaw, OpenRouter (free LLM API), and Telegram.
In this video, I show step by step how to:
Create a free Telegram bot
Get a free API key and model from OpenRouter
Install and launch PicoClaw on a low‑memory Linux device
Configure PicoClaw and connect it to Telegram
If you get stuck, drop a comment and I’ll try to help.
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 – Intro
00:08 – PicoClaw vs OpenClaw
01:17 – Tutorial Overview
01:44 – Step 1: Create Telegram Bot (Free)
03:30 – Step 2: OpenRouter API (Free LLM)
05:00 – Step 3: Deploy PicoClaw + Web UI Launcher
08:07 – Step 4: Configure PicoClaw
10:35 – Step 5: Connect Telegram to PicoClaw
13:48 – Summary
📦 Links
PicoClaw installation docs:
https://docs.picoclaw.io/docs/install...
PicoClaw download:
https://picoclaw.io/download/
PicoClaw FAQ:
https://picoclaw.club/picoclaw-faq.html
OpenRouter main site:
https://openrouter.ai/
OpenRouter API base URL:
https://openrouter.ai/api/v1
OpenRouter models list (filter for free text models):
https://openrouter.ai/models
💻 Key commands (Linux)
Create directory and update:
bash
mkdir picoclaw
cd picoclaw
sudo apt update
Download ARM64 build (change if you’re on another platform):
bash
wget https://github.com/sipeed/picoclaw/re...
Extract and test:
bash
tar -xzf picoclaw_Linux_arm64.tar.gz
./picoclaw onboard
Launch web UI on local network:
bash
./picoclaw-launcher -public -no-browser
hostname -I
Then open in your browser (replace with your IP):
text
http://192.168.1.15:18800
🤖 Telegram bot basics
Create bot with BotFather:
text
/newbot
Check bot updates (replace "YOUR_TOKEN"):
text
https://api.telegram.org/bot"YOUR_TOKEN"/getUpdates
Use your bot token and OpenRouter API key inside the PicoClaw dashboard (Models + Telegram channel settings).
🧷 Notes
Tokens shown in the video are for demo only and will be revoked.
Free models on OpenRouter change over time; if one stops working, just swap it for another :free model.