$ ssh clawdbot.space --loading...
$ ssh clawdbot.space --loading...
Never lose your agent's identity, memory, or config — automated backups and zero-downtime migration.
Your OpenClaw agent accumulates irreplaceable data: SOUL.md identity, months of memory, fine-tuned configs, and custom skills. Losing this is like losing a team member's brain. This guide covers automated backups, disaster recovery, and migrating between machines.
| Path | Size | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ~/.openclaw/ | Core | The entire config directory — SOUL.md, AGENTS.md, memory.md, openclaw.config.yaml, credentials/ |
| Custom skills | Variable | .openclaw/skills/ — your custom automations and templates |
| SQLite databases | 1-100MB | If you migrated memory to SQLite, back up the .db files |
| Cron/automation logs | Variable | Historical logs for debugging and compliance |
Manual backup — creates a timestamped archive
openclaw backup create --name daily-$(date +%F)
Daily backup at 3 AM, keep 30 days
# Automated daily backup via cron # Add to crontab -e: 0 3 * * * openclaw backup create --name auto-$(date +\%F) --retain 30
List all existing backups
openclaw backup verify
Restore from a specific backup
openclaw backup restore auto-2026-04-25
Track ~/.openclaw/ in a private Git repo. Every config change creates a commit. Best for version history and rollback.
Cron job creates tar.gz archives daily. Store locally + sync to cloud (rclone to S3/B2/GDrive).
Use rclone or restic to sync to cloud storage. Encrypted, incremental, deduplicated.
Install rclone
# Install rclone curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash
Configure cloud remote (S3, B2, GDrive)
rclone config # Follow prompts to add remote
Sync to cloud
rclone sync ~/.openclaw/ remote:openclaw-backup/ --exclude 'node_modules/**'
Automate daily cloud sync
# Add to cron for daily sync 0 4 * * * rclone sync ~/.openclaw/ remote:openclaw-backup/
openclaw backup create --name migration-$(date +%F) scp ~/.openclaw/backups/migration-*.tar.gz user@new-host:~/
npx openclaw@latest # Fresh install openclaw backup restore migration-2026-04-27
openclaw status openclaw config validate openclaw memory stats
# Update Tailscale, DNS, bot tokens if IPs changed openclaw config set gateway.bind <new-tailscale-ip>
Archive Docker volumes
# Old host: stop and archive docker compose down tar czf openclaw-data.tar.gz ./data ./config
Extract and start on new host
# New host: restore and start tar xzf openclaw-data.tar.gz docker compose up -d