exe.dev

exe.dev

Goal: Velaclaw Gateway running on an exe.dev VM, reachable from your laptop via: https://<vm-name>.exe.xyz

This page assumes exe.dev’s default exeuntu image. If you picked a different distro, map packages accordingly.

Beginner quick path

1. https://exe.new/velaclaw
2. Fill in your auth key/token as needed
3. Click on “Agent” next to your VM and wait for Shelley to finish provisioning
4. Open https://<vm-name>.exe.xyz/ and authenticate with the configured shared secret (this guide uses token auth by default, but password auth works too if you switch gateway.auth.mode)
5. Approve any pending device pairing requests with velaclaw devices approve <requestId>

What you need

• exe.dev account
• ssh exe.dev access to exe.dev virtual machines (optional)

Automated Install with Shelley

Shelley, exe.dev’s agent, can install Velaclaw instantly with our prompt. The prompt used is as below:

Set up Velaclaw (https://docs.velaclaw.ai/install) on this VM. Use the non-interactive and accept-risk flags for velaclaw onboarding. Add the supplied auth or token as needed. Configure nginx to forward from the default port 18789 to the root location on the default enabled site config, making sure to enable Websocket support. Pairing is done by "velaclaw devices list" and "velaclaw devices approve <request id>". Make sure the dashboard shows that Velaclaw's health is OK. exe.dev handles forwarding from port 8000 to port 80/443 and HTTPS for us, so the final "reachable" should be <vm-name>.exe.xyz, without port specification.

Manual installation

1) Create the VM

From your device:

ssh exe.dev new

Then connect:

ssh <vm-name>.exe.xyz

Tip: keep this VM stateful. Velaclaw stores velaclaw.json, per-agent auth-profiles.json, sessions, and channel/provider state under ~/.velaclaw/, plus the workspace under ~/.velaclaw/workspace/.

2) Install prerequisites (on the VM)

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y git curl jq ca-certificates openssl

3) Install Velaclaw

Run the Velaclaw install script:

curl -fsSL https://velaclaw.ai/install.sh | bash

4) Setup nginx to proxy Velaclaw to port 8000

Edit /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default with

server {
    listen 80 default_server;
    listen [::]:80 default_server;
    listen 8000;
    listen [::]:8000;

    server_name _;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:18789;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;

        # WebSocket support
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";

        # Standard proxy headers
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;

        # Timeout settings for long-lived connections
        proxy_read_timeout 86400s;
        proxy_send_timeout 86400s;
    }
}

Overwrite forwarding headers instead of preserving client-supplied chains. Velaclaw trusts forwarded IP metadata only from explicitly configured proxies, and append-style X-Forwarded-For chains are treated as a hardening risk.

5) Access Velaclaw and grant privileges

Access https://<vm-name>.exe.xyz/ (see the Control UI output from onboarding). If it prompts for auth, paste the configured shared secret from the VM. This guide uses token auth, so retrieve gateway.auth.token with velaclaw config get gateway.auth.token (or generate one with velaclaw doctor --generate-gateway-token). If you changed the gateway to password auth, use gateway.auth.password / VELACLAW_GATEWAY_PASSWORD instead. Approve devices with velaclaw devices list and velaclaw devices approve <requestId>. When in doubt, use Shelley from your browser!

Remote Access

Remote access is handled by exe.dev’s authentication. By default, HTTP traffic from port 8000 is forwarded to https://<vm-name>.exe.xyz with email auth.

Updating

npm i -g velaclaw@latest
velaclaw doctor
velaclaw gateway restart
velaclaw health

Guide: Updating