I Self-Hosted an AI Assistant: Lessons from 48 Hours of Debugging

I wanted a local AI assistant. Expected: 2 hours. Reality: 2 days of edge cases, broken dependencies, and discovering that "local" doesn't mean "free."

The Stack

OpenClaw (open-source AI assistant framework)

VPS with limited console access (had to file tickets to enable)

OpenRouter for model access

Local Qwen as fallback

What Broke

1. Dependency Hell

Pre-installed OpenClaw came with an outdated library. Updated manually. Then updated again. OpenRouter integration only worked after the second update.

2. Certificate Issues

Self-hosted means self-managed certificates. Let's Encrypt, reverse proxy, CORS headers. Each layer adds a new failure mode.

3. "Free" API Credits Aren't

OpenRouter's "free" models have limits. Hit them within hours. The API key died silently — no error message, just empty responses.

4. Local Model Reality Check

Qwen promised tool-use support.…