How to Run Claude While You Sleep

What if Claude could work on your tasks while you sleep? Process emails, monitor systems, generate content, and have everything ready when you wake up.

This isn't science fiction — it's possible today.

The secret: Run Claude on a VPS with an autonomous agent framework. Your AI assistant stays online 24/7, executing scheduled tasks and responding to triggers even when your laptop is closed.

Why Run Claude 24/7?

Most people use Claude through the web interface — type a question, get an answer, close the tab. But that's like having an employee who only works when you're watching.

With a 24/7 setup, Claude can:

• 📧 Process and draft responses to overnight emails
• 📊 Generate daily reports before you wake up
• 🔍 Monitor websites for changes and alert you
• 📝 Write content on a schedule (blog posts, social media)
• 🛠️ Run maintenance tasks on your servers
• 💬 Respond to messages on Telegram/Discord/Slack

The key insight: Claude doesn't need to sleep. You do.

What You Need

Component	Purpose	Cost
VPS Server	Runs 24/7	$5-15/mo
Claude API	AI brains	Pay per use
OpenClaw	Agent framework	Free

Total: ~$10-20/month for an AI that works while you sleep.

Best VPS for Running Claude

Your VPS needs to be:

• Always online (99.9%+ uptime)
• Fast enough for API calls (1GB RAM minimum)
• Affordable (you're paying for Claude API separately)

Our Top Picks

1. Hostinger VPS — Best Value

From $5.99/month →

• 4GB RAM, 1 vCPU at entry tier
• 99.9% uptime guarantee
• One-click OS install
• 24/7 support

Perfect for running OpenClaw + Claude. The KVM2 plan ($7.99/mo) handles multiple agents easily.

2. Hetzner — Best for Europe

From €4.51/month →

• German data centers (GDPR compliant)
• Incredible price/performance
• CX22 (2 vCPU, 4GB) handles heavy workloads

3. DigitalOcean — Developer Favorite

From $6/month →

• Simple interface
• Great documentation
• $200 free credit for new users

Step-by-Step Setup

1. Get a VPS

Sign up for Hostinger (or your preferred provider) and create an Ubuntu 22.04 server.

# SSH into your new server
ssh root@your-server-ip

2. Install OpenClaw

OpenClaw is an open-source framework that turns Claude into an autonomous agent.

# Install Node.js
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | bash -
apt-get install -y nodejs

# Install OpenClaw
npm install -g openclaw

# Run the setup wizard
openclaw setup

The wizard will ask for your Claude API key.

3. Configure Your Agent

Create a workspace for your sleeping assistant:

mkdir ~/night-shift && cd ~/night-shift
openclaw init

Edit AGENTS.md to define what Claude should do:

# Night Shift Agent

## Scheduled Tasks

### Every morning at 6:00 AM:
- Check email inbox for urgent messages
- Summarize overnight notifications
- Prepare daily briefing

### Every hour:
- Monitor website uptime
- Check for new GitHub issues

### On message received:
- If urgent: send Telegram notification
- Otherwise: queue for morning summary

4. Set Up Heartbeats

OpenClaw uses "heartbeats" to wake Claude periodically:

# config.yaml
heartbeat:
  enabled: true
  intervalMinutes: 30

Every 30 minutes, Claude wakes up, checks for tasks, and goes back to "sleep" (waiting state).

5. Start the Service

# Run as a background service
openclaw gateway start

# Or use systemd for auto-restart
openclaw service install
openclaw service start

That's it. Claude is now running 24/7 on your VPS.

Real Use Cases

📧 Overnight Email Processing

# In HEARTBEAT.md
Check my email inbox. For each new email:
1. If from a VIP sender → draft a response and notify me on Telegram
2. If spam → archive it
3. Otherwise → add to morning summary

Wake up to a clean inbox with draft responses ready.

📊 Daily Report Generation

# Cron job at 5:00 AM
Generate my daily report:
- Pull analytics from Google Analytics API
- Summarize key metrics
- Compare to yesterday
- Send to my email

🔍 Price Monitoring

# Check every 2 hours
Monitor these product URLs for price drops:
- [Product 1 URL]
- [Product 2 URL]

If price drops below $X, send Telegram alert immediately.

💬 Customer Support Bot

Connect Claude to your Telegram/Discord and let it handle common questions overnight:

# On new message
If the question is about pricing, shipping, or returns:
  → Answer directly from our FAQ
If it's a complaint or complex issue:
  → Acknowledge and escalate to morning queue

Cost Breakdown

Running Claude 24/7 is cheaper than you think:

Item	Monthly Cost
Hostinger VPS (KVM2)	$7.99
Claude API (light usage)	$5-15
Total	~$15-25/mo

Compare to:

• Claude Pro subscription: $20/mo (but no automation)
• Hiring a VA: $500+/mo
• Your lost sleep: Priceless

Optimizing API Costs

Use different models for different tasks:

# config.yaml
agents:
  defaults:
    model: anthropic/claude-haiku  # Cheap for simple tasks
  
  complex_tasks:
    model: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4  # Smart for hard problems

Haiku costs ~10x less than Sonnet. Use it for monitoring and simple responses.

Monitoring Your Night Shift

Check Logs

openclaw logs --tail 50

View Activity

openclaw status

Get Notified

Set up Telegram notifications for important events:

# config.yaml
channels:
  telegram:
    token: "your-bot-token"
    chatId: "your-chat-id"

Now Claude can ping you if something urgent happens overnight.

Security Considerations

Running an AI agent 24/7 requires trust:

1. API Key Security — Store keys in environment variables, not files
2. Limited Permissions — Don't give Claude access to production databases
3. Rate Limits — Set spending caps on your Claude API account
4. Audit Logs — Review what Claude did each morning

# Set a monthly spending limit
# In your Anthropic console settings

FAQ

How much does the Claude API cost?

Claude API pricing:

• Haiku: ~$0.25 per million tokens
• Sonnet: ~$3 per million tokens
• Opus: ~$15 per million tokens

A typical overnight session uses 10-50k tokens = pennies.

Can I use ChatGPT instead?

Yes! OpenClaw supports multiple providers. But Claude tends to be better at following complex instructions and maintaining context over long sessions.

What if Claude makes a mistake overnight?

Start with low-risk tasks (summaries, drafts). Don't let it send emails directly until you trust its judgment. Use "draft mode" where it prepares actions for your morning approval.

Will my VPS handle this?

A $6 VPS easily handles OpenClaw + Claude API calls. The heavy lifting happens on Anthropic's servers — your VPS just orchestrates.

Can I run multiple agents?

Yes! Run different agents for different tasks:

• Email agent
• Social media agent
• Monitoring agent

Each can have different schedules and permissions.

Get Started Tonight

1. Get a VPS — 5 minutes
2. Get Claude API access — 2 minutes
3. Install OpenClaw — 10 minutes
4. Configure your first task — 15 minutes

Total setup time: ~30 minutes

Tonight, you sleep. Claude works.

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Summary

Running Claude while you sleep isn't complicated:

Step	Action
1	Get a cheap VPS (Hostinger $5.99)
2	Install OpenClaw agent framework
3	Add your Claude API key
4	Define tasks in markdown
5	Start the service and go to bed

Wake up to completed tasks, processed emails, and generated reports. Your AI assistant worked an 8-hour night shift while you dreamed.

The future of productivity isn't working harder — it's working while you sleep.