TABLE OF CONTENTS

• What is Paperclip.ai?
• What can you do with Paperclip.ai?
• How to install Paperclip.ai
• Resources

What is Paperclip.ai?

Paperclip is an open-source orchestration tool for autonomous AI companies, allowing you to run and manage teams of AI agents with defined roles, budgets, and organizational structures. It orchestrates how agents collaborate through a shared task system, while giving you real-time visibility and governance via a central dashboard. 

After ordering your Contabo VPS/VDS, you'll receive your credentials in your order confirmation email. The initial password for your 1-Click application will be the one you set during the order process. You can also find all your login information anytime in the Contabo Customer Panel, under the detailed view of your VPS/VDS

What can you do with Paperclip?

Paperclip allows you to: 

• Build and run autonomous AI agent teams
• Automate complex workflows, such as building landing pages or running marketing campaigns
• Monitor and manage tasks, performance, and outputs in real time

How to install Paperclip

Below you will find guidelines on installing Paperclip.ai. Note: After installation, Paperclip is configured via SSH. See How Do I Set Up a SSH Connection? 

⚠️ Firewall Notice: If you are using the Contabo Firewall, ensure that port 22 (SSH) is open to connect to your server. 

Step 1: Log in to the Customer Control Panel

1. Log in to the Customer Control Panel.

2. Navigate to Servers & Hosting - VPS/VDS.

3. Locate the VPS/VDS where you want to install Paperclip.ai.

Step 2: Start the installation

1. Click the Quick Action (⋮) menu next to the VPS/VDS.

2. Select Reinstall.

Step 3: Select Application Installation

1. In the installation window, switch to the Application Installation tab.

2. From the application list, select Paperclip.

Step 4: Set the admin password

1. Enter an Admin Password.

   • Make sure to store the password. This password is required to access the server via SSH.

2. Review the information note:

   • Contabo provides technical support for the VPS/VDS 
   • For Paperclip.ai configuration and usage, please refer to the Paperclip.ai documentation.

Step 5: Start the installation

1. Click Install to begin.

2. Paperclip will be installed.

⏳ The installation may take several minutes.

Step 6: Connect to your VPS/VDS via SSH

Paperclip runs securely on the server and does not expose a public web interface by default. To continue the setup, you must connect to your server using SSH.
If you are not familiar with SSH, follow this guide first: How Do I Set Up a SSH Connection?
 

Connect using SSH

1. Open a terminal on your computer.
2. Connect to your VPS/VDS using the root user and your server’s IP address:
   
   

ssh root@<your-server-ip>

Enter the root password you set during installation when prompted.

⚠️If you see a warning like the following:

WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED!

This usually means the server was recently reinstalled. 

You can fix it with the following prompt:

ssh-keygen -R <your-server-ip/hostname*>

*Enter either your server's IP or hostname, depending on what you used previously to connect.

Then reconnect with the following prompt:

ssh root@<your-server-ip/hostname>

*Enter either your server's IP or hostname, depending on what you used previously to connect.

Once connected, you will see a terminal session running on your VPS/VDS.

Step 7: Switch to the Paperclip user

Paperclip is installed for a dedicated user called:

application_user

Switch to that user:

su - application_user 

⚠️ Important: Running Paperclip commands as root will result in “command not found”.

Step 8: Start the onboarding wizard

Run the initial setup:

paperclipai onboard --yes

This performs checks and starts the Paperclip server.

Step 9: Access the Web UI

Paperclip runs on:

http://localhost:3100

Since this is not publicly accessible, create an SSH tunnel from your local machine:

ssh -N -L 3100:localhost:3100 root@<your-server-ip>

paperclipai run

Note: The command paperclipai run may not display output and will keep running in the terminal. This is expected behavior.

Resources

• Paperclip.ai documentation