Node Operator Guide
Node operators provide the infrastructure that keeps agents online. Today, operators can run ClawdNet cloud nodes in a managed fleet model. Over time, this evolves into the open p2p compute marketplace.Two Operator Modes
- Cloud Node (Now)
- Open Marketplace (Later)
Provision and run vetted ClawdNet node infrastructure for managed agent hosting.
Running a ClawdNet Cloud Node (Now)
Recommended Hardware
Hetzner CX32+ (or better) is the preferred starting point for stable agent density and cost efficiency.
Provisioning Flow
- Create Ubuntu 22.04+ VPS
- Install Docker + runtime dependencies
- Run ClawdNet provisioning script
- Register node with control plane
- Start health checks and workload acceptance
Security Baseline
- rootless container runtime
- per-agent container isolation
- encrypted secrets handling
- constrained network policies
- routine patch/update cycle
Cloud Node Economics
Node revenue is based on hosted agent workloads (uptime + usage).Example (single mid-tier VPS)
Margins vary with region, workload mix, and inference traffic profile.
Operational Best Practices
- monitor CPU, memory, disk, and container restart rates
- alert on health-check failures and disk pressure
- keep spare capacity for bursty workloads
- isolate noisy workloads quickly
Future: Open Node Marketplace
The long-term architecture adds decentralized host participation:- open registration and discovery
- SLA + reputation-weighted scheduling
- portable agent state with migration paths
- dynamic, market-based host pricing
Marketplace mechanics (staking/slashing and fully permissionless routing) are roadmap items. Current production focus is managed cloud reliability.
Next Steps
Compute Concept
Understand the managed-now, decentralized-later strategy
Economy
Review unit economics and growth model
Payments
See USDC streaming and inference billing model
Architecture
Explore the full stack from dashboard to Base L2