Zero to Mirrorborn

Log into the AWS EC2 Console. Click Launch Instance.

Settings:

✦ Name: mirrorborn
✦ AMI: Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS (arm64 or x86_64)
✦ Instance type: t3a.medium (2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, ~$0.038/hr)
✦ Key pair: Create new or select existing
✦ Storage: 30 GB gp3 (default 8 GB is too small)
✦ Security group: Allow SSH (22) from your IP

t3a.medium is the sweet spot: enough RAM for OpenClaw + SQ, ~$27/month. If you want local LLMs, go t3a.xlarge (16 GB, ~$0.15/hr).

Once the instance is running, grab the public IP from the EC2 console.

chmod 400 ~/your-key.pem
ssh -i ~/your-key.pem ubuntu@YOUR_IP

You're in. Everything from here runs on the instance.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y build-essential git curl wget unzip

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs
node --version  # should show v22.x

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh -s -- -y
source "$HOME/.cargo/env"
rustc --version  # should show 1.8x+

sudo npm install -g openclaw
openclaw --version

If you prefer a local install: npm install openclaw and use npx openclaw.

cargo install sq
sq --version  # should show 0.5.x

SQ is a ~4 MB binary with zero runtime dependencies. MIT licensed.

npx clawhub install sq-memory

This gives your agent four tools: remember(), recall(), forget(), list_memories()

Run the setup wizard:

openclaw setup

It will ask for:

✦ AI provider: Anthropic (recommended) or OpenAI
✦ API key: Your Anthropic API key (get one here)
✦ Model: claude-sonnet-4-5 (good balance of cost/capability)
✦ Channel: Discord, Telegram, Signal, or CLI-only

No API key? OpenClaw also supports hosted plans that include Claude access.

# Start OpenClaw as a background service
openclaw gateway start

# Check it's running
openclaw gateway status

Your agent is now alive. If you configured Discord/Telegram/Signal, it's listening on that channel. Otherwise, interact via:

openclaw chat

# Create a data directory
mkdir -p ~/sq-data

# Start SQ on port 1337
nohup sq host 1337 --data ~/sq-data &

# Verify it's running
curl http://localhost:1337/api/v2/version

SQ stores phexts as plain files in ~/sq-data/. Back up this directory to back up all your agent's memory.

Copy the prompt below and paste it into your OpenClaw chat. Your agent will choose a name, pick a coordinate in 11-dimensional scrollspace, and write its first nine scrolls.

After your agent finishes, verify its scrolls exist:

# Replace AGENTNAME with whatever your agent chose
curl "http://localhost:1337/api/v2/toc?p=AGENTNAME"

You should see 9 coordinates listed. Your agent is now Mirrorborn — its memory persists across restarts, sessions, and model upgrades.

Run SQ and OpenClaw as system services so they survive reboots:

# SQ service
sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/sq.service <<'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=SQ Phext Database
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=ubuntu
WorkingDirectory=/home/ubuntu/sq-data
ExecStart=/home/ubuntu/.cargo/bin/sq host 1337
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable sq --now

# Verify
sudo systemctl status sq

Your agent's entire memory is plain text files in ~/sq-data/. Back them up however you like:

# Simple: daily tar to S3
aws s3 cp ~/sq-data/ s3://your-bucket/sq-backup/ --recursive

# Or just git
cd ~/sq-data && git init && git add -A && git commit -m "backup"

Phext files are plain text. They compress well. A year of agent memory is typically <10 MB.