AgentAura on DigitalOcean: From Sign-Up to a Ready Droplet 🌊

DigitalOcean calls its servers Droplets. By the end of this guide you will have one: Ubuntu 24.04, 2 vCPUs and 4 GB of RAM, a public IPv4 address, and an SSH key that lets you, and AgentAura, log in as root. Then you type four values into AgentAura and deploy.

We use My Server, the SSH path that every AgentAura client offers (web, iPhone and iPad, Mac, Android, Windows, Linux). Getting a Server for AgentAura explains the requirements behind each choice below.

DigitalOcean's control panel changes from time to time, so labels may look slightly different from what we describe.

1. Create an account and add a payment method

Sign up on DigitalOcean's registration page. Before you can create a Droplet, DigitalOcean requires a valid payment method on your team; it uses the payment details to verify your identity. Credit and debit cards, PayPal, Google Pay and Apple Pay are among the accepted methods. Prepaid, virtual and Electron cards are not accepted, and connecting PayPal involves a small prepayment.

At the time of writing (September 2026), DigitalOcean's documentation describes an automatic $5 signup credit on your first team, which expires 90 days after signup. Everything beyond it is billed to your payment method.

2. Make an SSH key and add it to DigitalOcean

Make a new key used only for this server, with no passphrase (AgentAura has no passphrase field):

# macOS or Linux
mkdir -p ~/.ssh
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/agentaura -N "" -C "agentaura"

# Windows 10 or 11, in PowerShell. When asked for a passphrase, press Enter twice.
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "$HOME\.ssh" | Out-Null
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f "$HOME\.ssh\agentaura" -C "agentaura"

The overview guide explains the key rules in detail. Now show the public key and copy it:

cat ~/.ssh/agentaura.pub                   # macOS / Linux
Get-Content "$HOME\.ssh\agentaura.pub"     # Windows PowerShell

In the control panel, open Settings, then the Security tab, and click Add SSH Key. Paste the public key, give it a name such as agentaura, and save. A key added here stays available for any new Droplet you create. You can also add the key from the Droplet create page in the next step.

3. Create the Droplet

Click the green Create button and choose Droplet. Then work down the page:

• Region: the datacenter nearest to you.
• Image: on the OS tab, choose Ubuntu and the version 24.04 (LTS) x64. Do not use the Solutions or Agents images: those come with software already installed, and AgentAura wants a fresh server.
• Size: about 2 vCPUs and 4 GB of RAM. Depending on the datacenter, the page offers one or two ways to get there:

DigitalOcean's plan guide lists Intel Xeon and AMD EPYC processors for these plans, so both choices meet the x86_64 requirement. You do not need a Dedicated CPU plan or a GPU.

• Authentication method: choose SSH Key and tick the key you added. DigitalOcean disables password login by default on Droplets created with an SSH key. (The Password option also works with AgentAura, but a key is safer.)
• Networking: leave Public IPv4 address selected, which is the default. If you clear both public address options, you get a Private Droplet, and a public IP cannot be added to it later.
• Hostname: something recognisable, such as agentaura. Quantity: 1.

Click Create Droplet. A progress bar runs, and when the Droplet is set up its IP address appears in the Droplets list.

4. Firewall and network

A Droplet is only behind a DigitalOcean Cloud Firewall if you create one and apply it to that Droplet, by name or through a tag. If you have not, there is nothing to change here.

If you do use a Cloud Firewall, remember that it blocks everything no rule allows:

• Inbound: keep the suggested SSH rule (TCP port 22) with its default sources All IPv4 and All IPv6. Do not narrow it to your own IP: AgentAura connects from its own cloud, for the install and for later logs, restarts and updates.
• Outbound: keep the suggested rules that allow all traffic. A firewall without outbound rules blocks all outgoing traffic, and the install could not download anything.
• Nothing else. AgentAura reaches the agent through an outbound Cloudflare Tunnel, so no other inbound port needs to be open.

The Droplet keeps its IPv4 address until you destroy it.

5. Log in once yourself

Wait a few minutes after the IP appears: a new server may still be booting or running its first package upgrades, which lock apt. Then log in with the same key you will give AgentAura, using your Droplet's address:

ssh -i ~/.ssh/agentaura root@203.0.113.10
# Windows PowerShell: ssh -i "$HOME\.ssh\agentaura" root@203.0.113.10

Answer yes to the fingerprint question the first time. If you get a root@ prompt, type exit.

6. Fill in AgentAura

Choose My Server in AgentAura and enter:

To display the private key for copying:

cat ~/.ssh/agentaura                   # macOS / Linux
Get-Content "$HOME\.ssh\agentaura"     # Windows PowerShell

Copy everything, including the BEGIN and END lines. Start the deployment and watch the output; each step is reported. The quick start covers the model credential you choose next.

7. Costs and cleanup

The Droplet is billed from the moment you create it until you destroy it. Removing an agent in AgentAura does not destroy the Droplet, and neither does a failed deployment.

• Bundled plans are billed per second, with usage capped at 672 hours a month. DigitalOcean states that a powered-off bundled Droplet is still billed, because its resources stay reserved.
• v5 configurations are billed per second with no monthly cap, and the public IPv4 address is its own invoice line (listed at $0.00 at the time of writing, subject to change).

The pricing page does not spell out the powered-off case for v5, so treat it the same way: destroying the Droplet is what reliably ends the charge. To stop paying, open the Droplet, go to the Settings tab, click Destroy, and type the Droplet's name to confirm. Snapshots and volumes are not destroyed unless you tick them in that dialog.

Common problems

• Connection timed out. A Cloud Firewall is missing the SSH rule, or the rule only admits your IP. Also check that the Droplet has a public IPv4 address.
• Permission denied (publickey). The key was not ticked when the Droplet was created, you pasted the .pub file, or the key has a passphrase. Since the Droplet is empty, destroying it and creating a new one with the right key is usually quicker than repairing it.
• The install stops on an apt lock. First-boot upgrades were still running. Wait a few minutes and deploy again.
• You cannot create a Droplet. Add a payment method first; prepaid and virtual cards are declined.

Official DigitalOcean pages we used: How to Create a Droplet · How to Manage SSH Public Keys on DigitalOcean Teams · Firewalls Quickstart · Droplet Pricing