I Self-Hosted PewDiePie's Odysseus AI on a Cheap Server (Full Setup 2026)

In Part 1 I ran PewDiePie's Odysseus on my own Mac. The problem with that: it only runs while the laptop is on, and only I can reach it. This time I put it on a cheap cloud server so it runs 24/7 and I can open my own private AI from my phone, my laptop, or anywhere.

Still no GPU. Just like Part 1, it runs on a Claude API key. This works on any Ubuntu VPS; I am using DigitalOcean here.

Odysseus AI running on a cloud server, reachable from any browser — Odysseus running on a cloud server, online 24/7 and reachable from any device.

Step 1: Create a Server

Sign in to DigitalOcean and create a droplet. Pick a region close to you, and under the Marketplace choose the Docker image so Docker is already installed. For the plan, a regular droplet with 2 vCPUs and 2 GB RAM (about $12/month) is enough to start; Odysseus runs a few containers, so do not go below that.

Creating a DigitalOcean droplet and choosing a plan — Create a droplet with the Docker Marketplace image, then pick a plan with enough RAM.

For authentication, add an SSH key. If you do not have one yet, generate it locally and copy the public key to your clipboard:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519
pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Adding a public SSH key to the DigitalOcean droplet — Paste your public SSH key into the droplet, give it a name, then create the droplet.

Step 2: SSH In and Clone Odysseus

Once the droplet is up, copy its IP address and connect over SSH:

ssh root@YOUR_SERVER_IP

Then clone the repo, move into the folder, and create the .env file:

git clone https://github.com/pewdiepie-archdaemon/odysseus.git
cd odysseus
cp .env.example .env

Step 3: Run It With Docker

Build and start everything:

docker compose up -d --build

Docker building and starting Odysseus on the server — Docker pulls the layers and starts the app, plus the ChromaDB and SearXNG containers.

When it finishes, check that the containers are healthy:

docker compose ps

docker compose ps showing all Odysseus containers running and healthy — All containers up and healthy on the server.

Step 4: The One Change That Makes It Reachable

Try to open http://YOUR_SERVER_IP:7000 now and it will not load. By default Odysseus binds only to 127.0.0.1 (localhost), so it refuses connections from outside the server. This is the one step everyone misses.

Open the .env file:

nano .env

Find the APP_BIND line (it is commented out by default), uncomment it, and change the address to 0.0.0.0 so the server accepts outside connections:

Editing the .env file to set APP_BIND to 0.0.0.0 — Set APP_BIND=0.0.0.0 (highlighted) so Odysseus accepts connections from outside the box.

Save the file, then restart the stack so it picks up the change:

docker compose down
docker compose up -d

Step 5: Create Your Admin Account

Reload http://YOUR_SERVER_IP:7000 and it loads. On first run you create an admin account. Because this is now on the public internet, use a strong password.

Creating the Odysseus admin account over the internet — Create your admin account. It is on the public internet now, so use a strong password.

Step 6: Add Your Claude API Key

Once you are in, Odysseus suggests typing /setup to get started. It asks you to add your first AI endpoint by pasting an API key in the chat (you can also do this from Settings). Pick Anthropic, grab a key from console.anthropic.com, paste it, and Odysseus configures the provider automatically. No GPU, no local model.

Odysseus setup prompting to add a Claude API key endpoint — Run /setup and add your Claude API key to connect the provider.

Step 7: Chat, With Free Web Search

Send a message and Claude answers instantly. Ask it to search the internet and it uses the bundled SearXNG container, so web search works out of the box with no search API key and no cost, returning live results with citations.

Odysseus answering with live web search results and citations via SearXNG — Claude answering with live web results and citations, via the free SearXNG search.

Open It From Anywhere

That is the whole point of putting it on a server. The same http://YOUR_SERVER_IP:7000 works from your phone, a second laptop, or any machine on the internet. Your own private AI, online 24/7.

A Quick Security Note

This exposes a login page on the public internet, so keep authentication on and use a strong admin password. Right now it is plain HTTP on a raw IP. For a real setup you would put it behind a domain with HTTPS (a reverse proxy), and you can restrict the firewall to your own IP. That HTTPS-and-domain step is a good follow-up once you have this working.

From Laptop to Server

Part 1 got Odysseus running locally; this took it to a server so it is always on and reachable anywhere. Same no-GPU Claude setup, just on a box that never sleeps. If you want more Odysseus walkthroughs (a real domain with HTTPS next), subscribe to AyyazTech on YouTube.

Tools I Use

Hostinger for VPS and hosting: ayyaztech.com/go/hostinger
Claude and Claude Code, my daily AI pair-programmer: claude.ai
VS Code, my editor: code.visualstudio.com

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