{"id":30247,"date":"2026-04-27T11:59:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T09:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/contabo.com\/blog\/?p=30247"},"modified":"2026-04-27T11:59:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T09:59:49","slug":"how-to-self-host-paperclip-on-contabo-vps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/contabo.com\/blog\/how-to-self-host-paperclip-on-contabo-vps\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Self-Host Paperclip on a Contabo VPS in 2026 | Contabo Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"630\" src=\"https:\/\/contabo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/blog-head_how2-install-paperclip-on-contabo.webp\" alt=\"How to Self-Host Paperclip on a Contabo VPS in 2026 (head image)\" class=\"wp-image-30242\" srcset=\"https:\/\/contabo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/blog-head_how2-install-paperclip-on-contabo.webp 1200w, https:\/\/contabo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/blog-head_how2-install-paperclip-on-contabo-600x315.webp 600w, https:\/\/contabo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/blog-head_how2-install-paperclip-on-contabo-768x403.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Learn how to self-host Paperclip AI &#8211; the open\u2011source AI orchestration platform &#8211; on a Contabo VPS in 2026, using Ubuntu and Postgres. By the end, you\u2019ll have a working Paperclip VPS secured over HTTPS. Then you\u2019re ready to run AI agents as part of your own orchestration platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-0f98fa5e\"><h2 class=\"uagb-heading-text\">What is Paperclip? The Open-Source AI and LLM Orchestration Platform<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/paperclip.ing\" rel=\"nofollow\">Paperclip <\/a>is an open\u2011source AI orchestrator software that lets you run a whole \u201cAI Paperclip company\u201d composed of Paperclip AI agents with roles, goals, and budgets. Instead of a single chatbot, you define an org chart (CEO, engineers, marketers), then let Paperclip AI coordinate their work on shared projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Agents connect via adapters, for example Claude Code or other CLI\u2011style environments, so Paperclip acts as an AI orchestrator on top of your preferred models and tools. The code lives on Paperclip GitHub, which means you can self-host, inspect, and extend it on your own infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-969a80be\"><h2 class=\"uagb-heading-text\">Why Run a Self-Hosted Paperclip VPS on Contabo?<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Paperclip self-hosted on a VPS gives you control over your data, cost, and runtime environment. You choose where the automation orchestration tools run, which LLM orchestration providers use, and how strict your governance rules and agent budgets should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Contabo is a strong fit for VPS for AI agents because you get predictable pricing, generous RAM and storage, and EU data centers for GDPR-compliant AI agent hosting. If you want a European VPS for self-hosting, hosting Paperclip in an EU datacenter while calling out to external APIs like Claude or Hermes is straightforward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-165a617e\"><h2 class=\"uagb-heading-text\">Best Contabo VPS for hosting Paperclip AI agents<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Paperclip is a Node.js app with Postgres, so you need enough CPU\/RAM for the web app, database, and Docker. Let\u2019s look at what a Paperclip AI VPS server needs in terms of server requirements and setup<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-ec4f4d21\"><h3 class=\"uagb-heading-text\">Minimum Requirements &#8211; From the Paperclip Installation Guide and Docs<\/h3><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>For a development or small internal deployment on Ubuntu, you can run it on hardware as minimal as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>vCPU Cores<\/strong><\/td><td>2 vCPU<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>RAM<\/strong><\/td><td>4 GB<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Storage<\/strong><\/td><td>10 GB SSD<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Operating System<\/strong><\/td><td>Ubuntu 24.04 LTS<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>2 vCPU<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>4 GB RAM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>10 GB SSD storage<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ubuntu 24.04 LTS<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This is enough to try Paperclip AI with a handful of agents and an embedded or local Postgres instance. In Contabo terms, an entry\u2011level plan for VPS hosting will have plenty of ressources for your initial AI Paperclip plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-8f889ab9\"><h3 class=\"uagb-heading-text\">Recommended VPS\/VDS for Paperclip \u2013 Dev vs. Production<\/h3><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>For most teams, any <a href=\"https:\/\/contabo.com\/en\/vps\/\">Contabo Cloud VPS<\/a> is a comfortable starting point for Paperclip. It gives you enough CPU, RAM, and fast NVMe storage to evaluate the Paperclip AI, build a sandbox, and even support small team workloads without overcommitting budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Paperclip becomes part of a larger, always\u2011on production setup, moving to a <a href=\"https:\/\/contabo.com\/en\/vds\/\">Contabo Cloud VDS S<\/a> is usually the safer long\u2011term choice. VDS plans provide dedicated resources and more predictable performance than shared VPS instances, which matters once your AI orchestration platform is running critical agents and jobs around the clock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-4b24d306\"><h2 class=\"uagb-heading-text\">How to Deploy a Self-Hosted Paperclip Instance on Contabo \u2013 Installation Guide<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The steps below assume a fresh Ubuntu 22.04\/24.04 VPS and a basic comfort level with SSH and the shell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-ef48634e\"><h3 class=\"uagb-heading-text\">Step 1 &#8211; Provision a Contabo VPS to Host Paperclip<\/h3><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>First up, you will need a VPS \u2013 skip this step if you already have one ready to be used. Order a Contabo VPS in your preferred region. If GDPR is relevant to your use case, an European VPS for self-hosting is a good fit. Choose a plan that matches the requirements above, select Ubuntu as the OS, then connect from your local machine:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>ssh root@SERVER_IP<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>From here on, this VPS is your Paperclip server and will host both the web app and database unless you offload Postgres elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-d35bcf1c\"><h3 class=\"uagb-heading-text\">Step 2 &#8211; Deploy Paperclip with Docker (or Use the npx Quickstart)<\/h3><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>You have two main options to get Paperclip AI running on your Contabo VPS: a one\u2011command npx quickstart for fast testing, and a Docker deployment for long\u2011term use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Fastest first run &#8211; npx paperclipai onboard<\/strong><br>If you just want to see the Paperclip app in action, first refresh your local package index install Node.js on your Ubuntu VPS:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>sudo apt update<br>sudo apt install nodejs<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Confirm with Y, then install the Node.js package manager:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>sudo apt install npm<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Confirm with Y, then run:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>npx paperclipai onboard --yes<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>More details can be found on the official <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/paperclipai\/paperclip\" rel=\"nofollow\">Paperclip GitHub page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Production path &#8211; Paperclip with Docker on Ubuntu<\/strong><br>For a stable, repeatable Paperclip deploy on your Contabo VPS, use Docker and Docker Compose. After installing Docker, you can use the Paperclip GitHub compose file and configure your environment file, then start the stack with docker compose up -d, which gives you a containerized Paperclip self-hosted orchestration platform suitable for ongoing workloads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-2ebdd9c9\"><h3 class=\"uagb-heading-text\">Step 3 &#8211; Configure a Self-Hosted Postgres Server on Your VPS (Production Only)<\/h3><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>By default, Paperclip uses an embedded PostgreSQL instance when no DATABASE_URL is set, so you can complete your first run without touching databases at all. This zero\u2011config mode is perfect for local development and quick evaluation, but it\u2019s not designed for long\u2011term, production VPS hosting where reliability and observability matter more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a production Postgres VPS deployment on your Contabo server, you should run a dedicated PostgreSQL 17+ instance and point Paperclip at it via DATABASE_URL. You can install a self-hosted Postgres server directly on the same Ubuntu VPS or on a separate database VPS, then use a connection string like postgres:\/\/user:password@host:5432\/dbname so the orchestrator software persists all company, agent, and audit data in that external Postgres instead of the embedded database.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-69f3a1c9\"><h3 class=\"uagb-heading-text\">Step 4 &#8211; Clone the Paperclip AI Repo from GitHub and Configure<\/h3><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>With Postgres ready, fetch the latest code from Paperclip GitHub onto your Contabo VPS. A common pattern on Ubuntu is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>cd \/opt<br>git clone https:\/\/github.com\/paperclipai\/paperclip.git<br>cd paperclip<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Paperclip reads most deployment settings from environment variables, often managed via a .env file or your container platform\u2019s env configuration. At minimum, set a DATABASE_URL pointing to your self\u2011hosted Postgres instance, plus authentication secrets and optional LLM API keys (for example ANTHROPIC_API_KEY for Claude or other provider keys) so your AI Paperclip agent adapters can talk to external models while the AI orchestration platform itself stays fully self\u2011hosted on your VPS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-13ba3076\"><h3 class=\"uagb-heading-text\">Step 5 &#8211; Deploy the Paperclip App and Verify Your Setup<\/h3><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re using Docker, start the Paperclip App by running<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>docker compose up -d<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>in the cloned repository on your Contabo VPS. The containers will boot the web UI, background workers, and any supporting services defined in the compose file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the npx paperclipai onboard path, the local server is started automatically once onboarding finishes, so you don\u2019t need an extra paperclip deploy command. It will run by default on localhost and connection will only work with an SSH tunnel. Bear in mind that the server will run in the foreground, and both the paperclipai onboard and paperclipai run commands will require the shell to stay active. They can also be run as a service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-1bf31cf3\"><h3 class=\"uagb-heading-text\">Step 6 &#8211; Secure Your Self-Hosted Paperclip Server (HTTPS + Firewall)<\/h3><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Once your Paperclip server is running on Ubuntu, lock it down with a firewall and HTTPS so your self-host AI agents and dashboard are not exposed more than necessary. On a Contabo VPS, the typical stack is UFW for the host firewall plus Nginx as a reverse proxy in front of the Paperclip app on port 3100.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Start by enabling UFW and allowing only SSH, HTTP, and HTTPS:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>apt install -y ufw<br>ufw allow ssh<br>ufw allow http<br>ufw allow https<br>ufw enable<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Next, install Nginx and configure it as a reverse proxy that forwards your domain to Paperclip on http:\/\/localhost:3100, so users never see the internal port. Finally, add a free Let\u2019s Encrypt certificate with Certbot (certbot &#8211;nginx -d your-domain.example) to serve your Paperclip self-hosted orchestration platform over HTTPS, keeping traffic to your platform encrypted while it runs on your Contabo VPS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On top of UFW on the server itself, Contabo also includes a free, network\u2011level firewall you can manage from the Customer Control Panel. From there, you define traffic rules (for example allowing only HTTP\/HTTPS and SSH to your Paperclip server) before connections even reach your VPS, which adds another layer of protection without extra cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-83897dfb\"><h2 class=\"uagb-heading-text\">Managing Your Paperclip AI Agents on the Orchestration Platform<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>You can access the dashboard through SSH on your local machine\u2019s localhost. The MOTD will guide the user through setup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Inside the dashboard, you define your \u201ccompany\u201d and create agents with different roles and adapters. For example, you might start with a CEO\u2011style paperclip ai agent connected to Claude via MCP, then add engineering agents that pick up tickets from the board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Running this on Contabo in 2026 means you can scale your VPS for AI agents as needs grow &#8211; either by upgrading the VPS tier or by splitting Postgres to its own Postgres VPS. The result is an orchestration platform you fully control, instead of a closed SaaS where you can\u2019t tune resource usage or data flows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-a9c1411f\"><h2 class=\"uagb-heading-text\">Conclusion<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-732f7fec\"><h3 class=\"uagb-heading-text\">Host a Self-Hosted Paperclip AI Orchestration Platform on Contabo<\/h3><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Paperclip plus a Contabo VPS gives you a practical way to experiment with AI Paperclip today and grow into more serious deployments over time. You get open\u2011source orchestration software that orchestrates agents like a company, and infrastructure you can resize or move when your requirements change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pick a <a href=\"https:\/\/contabo.com\/en\/vps\/\">Contabo VPS<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/contabo.com\/en\/vds\/\">VDS <\/a>that matches your projected workload, follow the Ubuntu steps above, and you\u2019ll be ready to host Paperclip for real AI projects instead of toy demos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-advanced-heading uagb-block-384df0f5\"><h2 class=\"uagb-heading-text\">Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"schema-faq wp-block-yoast-faq-block\"><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1777272367139\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">Can Paperclip connect to Claude or Hermes via MCP on a self-hosted VPS?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Yes. Paperclip supports adapters and MCP-style integrations, so agents can call Claude, Hermes, and other LLMs as long as you configure valid API keys and env variables.<\/p> <\/div> <div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1777272376159\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">How do I deploy, update, or scale a Paperclip Docker server on Contabo?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Deploy by cloning the GitHub repo, setting env variables, and running docker compose up -d. To update, pull new images or code and restart containers; to scale, upgrade your Contabo VPS or move Postgres to a dedicated instance.<\/p> <\/div> <div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1777272391374\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">Is Paperclip GDPR-compliant for self-hosting AI agents on a self-hosted European VPS?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Paperclip is open source, so GDPR compliance depends on your setup and providers. Hosting on a European VPS helps with data locality, but you must handle logging, retention, and external LLM use according to GDPR best practices.<\/p> <\/div> <div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1777272401179\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">Is Paperclip free for any company? How companies build AI-run businesses<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">The core Paperclip project is open source with no license fees; you pay only for infrastructure and LLM usage. Companies use it to model AI-run \u201cPaperclip companies\u201d while keeping infrastructure costs predictable on a Contabo VPS.<\/p> <\/div> <div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1777272409357\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">How does Paperclip AI compare as an alternative to other LLM orchestration tools?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Paperclip focuses on companies, roles, and goals rather than just pipeline workflows, so it feels more like running a team of agents than wiring tasks. That makes it a distinctive alternative to many other LLM orchestration tools.<\/p> <\/div> <div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1777272421542\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">Can you host Paperclip with Docker on any VPS or cloud hosting provider?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\">Yes, as long as the VPS runs Linux, supports Docker, and has sufficient resources. Contabo\u2019s value-focused VPS plans are a practical option to host Paperclip with room to grow.<\/p> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn how to self-host Paperclip &#8211; the open-source AI company platform &#8211; on a Contabo VPS. Covers VPS setup, Docker config, and launching your first AI company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[1489],"class_list":["post-30247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tutorials"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Julia Mink","author_link":"https:\/\/contabo.com\/blog\/author\/julia-mink\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Learn how to self-host Paperclip - the open-source AI company platform - on a Contabo VPS. Covers VPS setup, Docker config, and launching your first AI company.","authors":[{"term_id":1489,"user_id":65,"is_guest":0,"slug":"julia-mink","display_name":"Julia Mink","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/26ce5d4ae17d160425d842da4ea00c56716ffb5d4c58ee0cfb73de57b1de5272?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/contabo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/contabo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/contabo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/contabo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/contabo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30247"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/contabo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30252,"href":"https:\/\/contabo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30247\/revisions\/30252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/contabo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/contabo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/contabo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30247"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/contabo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=30247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}