spawn/contabo

Contabo Cloud

Deploy AI agents on Contabo - a budget-friendly European VPS provider with affordable CPU instances starting at $4.95/month.

Why Contabo?

• Budget-friendly: VPS plans starting at $4.95/month
• European provider: Multiple European data centers (Germany, UK, etc.)
• Full root access: Complete control over your instances
• REST API: Full API support for automation
• Cloud-init support: Easy provisioning with user_data
• Fast provisioning: Instances typically ready in 2-5 minutes

Prerequisites

API Credentials

Get your API credentials from the Contabo Customer Control Panel:

1. Log in to https://my.contabo.com
2. Navigate to API → API Details
3. Note down all 4 required values:
   • Client ID: OAuth2 client identifier
   • Client Secret: OAuth2 client secret
   • API User: Your API username (email)
   • API Password: Your API password

Set them as environment variables:

export CONTABO_CLIENT_ID="your_client_id"
export CONTABO_CLIENT_SECRET="your_client_secret"
export CONTABO_API_USER="your_api_user@example.com"
export CONTABO_API_PASSWORD="your_api_password"

Or the script will prompt you interactively and save them to ~/.config/spawn/contabo.json.

SSH Key

The scripts will automatically:

• Generate an SSH key at ~/.ssh/spawn_ed25519 (if it doesn't exist)
• Register it with Contabo as a secret
• Use it to access your instances

Usage

Deploy Claude Code

bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OpenRouterTeam/spawn/main/contabo/claude.sh)

Deploy Aider

bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OpenRouterTeam/spawn/main/contabo/aider.sh)

Deploy OpenClaw

bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OpenRouterTeam/spawn/main/contabo/openclaw.sh)

Environment Variables

Required (if not set, you'll be prompted):

• CONTABO_CLIENT_ID - OAuth2 client ID from Contabo API details
• CONTABO_CLIENT_SECRET - OAuth2 client secret
• CONTABO_API_USER - API username (email address)
• CONTABO_API_PASSWORD - API password

Optional:

• CONTABO_SERVER_NAME - Instance display name (default: prompt)
• CONTABO_PRODUCT_ID - VPS product ID (default: V45 = 2 vCPU, 8GB RAM)
• CONTABO_REGION - Region code (default: EU)
• CONTABO_IMAGE_ID - OS image (default: ubuntu-24.04)
• CONTABO_PERIOD - Billing period in months (default: 1)
• OPENROUTER_API_KEY - Your OpenRouter API key (or use OAuth)

Common Product IDs

Product ID	vCPUs	RAM	Disk	Price/month
V8	4	6 GB	50 GB	~$6.99
V45	2	8 GB	100 GB	~$8.99
V16	6	16 GB	400 GB	~$14.99
V32	8	30 GB	800 GB	~$26.99

Check Contabo VPS pricing for current rates.

Available Regions

• EU - European data centers (Germany, UK)
• US-east - US East Coast
• US-central - US Central
• US-west - US West Coast
• SIN - Singapore

How It Works

1. Authentication: Uses OAuth2 password grant flow

   • Exchanges client credentials + user credentials for an access token
   • Token is cached for the session
   • API calls include Authorization: Bearer <token> header

2. SSH Key Management:

   • Registers your SSH public key as a Contabo secret
   • Includes the secret ID in instance creation request
   • Root access is enabled by default

3. Instance Provisioning:

   • Creates instance via POST /v1/compute/instances
   • Includes cloud-init userData for agent installation
   • Polls instance status until "running"
   • Extracts public IPv4 address

4. Agent Setup:

   • Waits for SSH connectivity
   • Waits for cloud-init to complete
   • Verifies agent installation (or installs manually)
   • Injects OpenRouter API key
   • Starts interactive session

Pricing

Contabo offers monthly billing (not hourly):

• Minimum commitment: 1 month
• Billed monthly in advance
• No prorated refunds for early termination
• Unlimited traffic included

Example costs:

• VPS S (V45): 2 vCPU, 8GB RAM → ~$8.99/month
• VPS M (V16): 6 vCPU, 16GB RAM → ~$14.99/month

Check current pricing on their website.

Troubleshooting

Authentication Errors

If you see "Failed to obtain Contabo OAuth token":

1. Verify all 4 credentials are correct
2. Check API user has API access enabled
3. Ensure API password is set (not your login password)
4. Visit https://my.contabo.com/api/details to verify

Instance Creation Fails

Common issues:

• Insufficient balance: Add funds to your account
• Account limits: Contact support to increase limits
• Product unavailable: Try different CONTABO_PRODUCT_ID or CONTABO_REGION

SSH Connection Timeout

• Contabo instances can take 2-5 minutes to provision
• Check instance status in Customer Control Panel
• Verify SSH key was registered correctly
• Check firewall settings allow SSH (port 22)

Cloud-init Not Completing

• Check /var/log/cloud-init-output.log on the instance
• Verify image supports cloud-init (default Ubuntu images do)
• May need to wait longer (use higher timeout)

API Documentation

• Official API docs: https://api.contabo.com/
• Customer Control Panel: https://my.contabo.com/
• API Details: https://my.contabo.com/api/details

Notes

• Contabo uses monthly billing, not hourly/per-second like many other clouds
• Budget-friendly but less flexible than pay-per-hour providers
• Good for long-running development environments or stable workloads
• European data centers make it GDPR-friendly
• Full root access on all VPS instances
• Unlimited traffic included in all plans