9 min · +160 XP
Your own server, when you need one
A rented server, a domain and SSH access, set up by Claude from your requests.
By the end of this lesson
You will be able to rent a server, give Claude safe access to it and get your tool online under your domain with HTTPS.
Free hosting shows pages. When your tool must keep shared data, run a bot or do work on a schedule, it needs a computer that is always on: a server. The technical part is exactly what Claude does well. Your part is to rent the server, set up access safely and watch what Claude does.
A server is a computer in a data centre that you rent and that is always on. A domain, such as mytool.com, is the address people type to find it. You buy both online, the way you would order anything else.
Step 1. Rent a server
What to buy
- 1Sign up with a hosting provider (for example Hetzner or DigitalOcean, or a provider in your own country) and click the button to create a server.
- 2Choose Ubuntu, the newest version marked LTS, and the smallest size. That is enough for a personal tool.
- 3For login, choose SSH key. Step 2 shows how Claude creates the key; you can do that first and then come back.
- 4When the server is ready, copy its IP address (four numbers with dots, such as 203.0.113.10) and save it.
- 5Domain, if you want one: at any domain registrar, search for a name, add it to the cart and pay. Write down the exact name.
A small server costs a few dollars a month, and a domain about $10–20 a year. Both keep billing until you delete them. Some providers check new customers with an ID photo or a small card hold; that is a normal step.
›What Ubuntu, LTS and an IP address are
Ubuntu is a free operating system that most servers use, the way your laptop uses macOS or Windows. LTS means long-term support: that version receives security updates for years. An IP address is the server's number on the internet; the domain is a friendly name that points to that number.
“I live in [country]. Compare three hosting providers where I can rent a small Ubuntu server and pay with my card. Check their current websites and show me the monthly price and how to sign up.”
Not every provider works in every country or with every card; most regions have local hosting companies.
Step 2. A key instead of a password
›What SSH and an SSH key are
SSH is a secure way to work on another computer over the internet. Instead of a password, it can use a key: a pair of files on your computer. The public part (the file ending in .pub) can be given to anyone, like a lock you install on a door. The private part is the only key that opens it and never leaves your computer.
“Create an SSH key for my new server. Keep the private part on this computer, show me only the public part, and tell me where to paste it in my provider's panel.”
Claude creates two files in the .ssh folder of your home folder: the private key, which never leaves your computer, and the public key, one long line starting with ssh-ed25519.
Give the public part to the server
- 1Copy the line Claude showed you: the public part, from the file ending in .pub.
- 2In the provider's panel, when creating the server, find SSH keys, click Add, paste this line and save.
- 3If the server already exists, ask the provider's support how to add a key, or rebuild the server with the key added.
- 4Never paste the private file (without .pub) anywhere.
“Connect to my server at 203.0.113.10 with the SSH key you created. Check that it works without a password and tell me which system the server runs.”
Use your server's IP instead of the example. If Claude reports something like Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, access works.
Step 3. Point the domain
If you bought a domain, it must point to the server's IP. You enter this in the registrar's panel, and Claude tells you exactly what to enter.
“My domain mytool.com is registered at [registrar]. Tell me step by step which DNS records to add so that mytool.com and www.mytool.com point to my server at 203.0.113.10, then check when they start working.”
Usually these are two records of type A, with host @ and host www, both pointing to the server's IP. DNS changes take from a few minutes to a few hours; if the domain does not answer yet, that is the wait, not an error.
Step 4. Ask Claude to deploy
“Connect to my server at 203.0.113.10 and deploy this project there. The domain mytool.com points to it. Set up HTTPS with a free certificate, a firewall and automatic restart if the server reboots. Write the deploy steps into DEPLOY.md without any passwords or keys, and check at the end that https://mytool.com opens.”
Claude installs what is needed, copies the project and starts it. You see each command and approve it.
Use a separate, fresh server for experiments, not one that holds anything important. Log in with SSH keys, not passwords, and never paste a password into the chat. On a server with real users, switch to Manual mode (Shift+Tab) or ask for a plan first, and read each command before you approve it. Before a big change, take a snapshot or backup in the provider's panel.
Living with an online tool
- 1Check it works: open your domain in the browser.
- 2Down? Tell Claude: "mytool.com is down. The deploy steps are in DEPLOY.md; connect and find out why."
- 3Updates: change the tool on your computer, check that it works, then say "deploy the update as described in DEPLOY.md".
- 4Anyone can open the address. If the tool holds personal data, ask Claude for a login or a simple password page before you share the link.
- 5Done with it? Delete the server in the provider's panel; billing stops. Let the domain expire or cancel its renewal.
Between static hosting and a VPS there are managed platforms that run your app from a Git repository and handle HTTPS and restarts, at a higher price per resource. On a VPS, pick a region close to your users, turn on the provider's snapshots or backups, and ask Claude to harden the box early: a non-root user with sudo, PasswordAuthentication no in sshd_config, a firewall, unattended security upgrades. Run the app as a systemd service behind a reverse proxy that renews certificates by itself, or in a container so the server stays easy to rebuild. Add allow rules in /permissions for the exact ssh and rsync commands you approve every time, and keep destructive ones prompting. Permission rules match the command Claude runs on your computer, not what that command then does on the server, so the guard on production is your own review.
A safe practice terminal. You rented a server and want Claude to work on it without any password in the chat.
1Ask Claude in your own words to create an SSH key for the server
Claude wants to run a command on your server that has real users, and you do not understand the command. What do you do?
You added the A record five minutes ago, and Claude says the domain does not answer yet. What is the most likely reason?
Facts checked against the official Claude Code docs October 24, 2026 · source
Author
Evgenii Arsentev
PhD · Chief Executive Officer, digital health