reinstall-openclaw
Security checks across static analysis, malware telemetry, and agentic risk
Overview
The skill is a purpose-aligned reinstall guide, but it includes confirmation-bypassing deletion commands and an inconsistent backup/restore sequence that could cause loss of OpenClaw credentials, memory, and settings.
Install or use this skill only if you intend a full OpenClaw reinstall. Do not let an agent run the commands unattended: first create and inspect a backup, confirm the restore path is correct, and only then run the uninstall or rm -rf steps. Protect the backup because it may contain API keys, credentials, memory, and private workspace data.
Static analysis
No static analysis findings were reported for this release.
VirusTotal
VirusTotal findings are pending for this skill version.
Risk analysis
Artifact-based informational review of SKILL.md, metadata, install specs, static scan signals, and capability signals. ClawScan does not execute the skill or run runtime probes.
If these commands are run too early or without careful review, the user could lose OpenClaw settings, skills, memory, and credentials.
The guide uses confirmation-bypassing uninstall commands and recursive deletion of the main OpenClaw state directory. This is related to the reinstall purpose, but it is high-impact and depends on the backup being correct.
npx openclaw uninstall --all --yes ... npx openclaw uninstall --state --workspace --yes ... rm -rf ~/.openclaw
Require explicit user confirmation before destructive steps, avoid --yes until the user is ready, and verify the backup contents before running any delete or uninstall command.
A user following the main procedure could delete their OpenClaw state and then fail to restore it, losing configurations, credentials, memory, and skills.
The backup command copies ~/.openclaw as a hidden child directory inside the backup directory, while the restore command copies non-hidden entries from the backup root. This mismatch can cause the restore step to miss the backed-up .openclaw directory after the original has been deleted.
cp -r ~/.openclaw $BACKUP_DIR/ ... cp -r ~/openclaw-backup-YYYYMMDD/* ~/.openclaw/
Use a consistent backup and restore path, such as restoring from "$BACKUP_DIR/.openclaw/" or backing up the contents intentionally, and test the backup before deleting the original.
The backup folder may contain sensitive credentials that could be exposed if the folder is shared, synced, or left with weak permissions.
The guide explicitly backs up and restores local tokens, API keys, and credential files. This is expected for preserving an OpenClaw installation, but the backup will contain live secrets.
`openclaw.json` | Main configuration (gateway token, API keys, channel configs) ... `credentials/` | API credentials and secrets
Keep backups local and private, restrict permissions, avoid uploading them, and delete or encrypt backups after confirming the reinstall works.
A reinstall may not be a clean reset if old memory, agent state, skills, or workspace instructions are restored unchanged.
The skill preserves persistent memory, agent sessions, and workspace context. This is disclosed and aligned with the purpose, but it can also carry forward stale, sensitive, or unwanted agent context.
`memory/` | SQLite memory database ... `agents/` | Agent configurations and sessions ... `workspace/` | User workspace (SOUL.md, IDENTITY.md, AGENTS.md, etc.)
Review memory, workspace, agents, skills, and cron data before restoring, especially if reinstalling to remove corrupted or untrusted behavior.
The installed version could differ over time, and a compromised or unexpected package version would run with elevated local permissions.
The guide installs the latest OpenClaw package globally with elevated privileges. This is central to the reinstall purpose, but it is unpinned and relies on the npm package available at execution time.
sudo npm install -g openclaw@latest
Install only from the official package source, consider pinning a known-good version, and avoid sudo where a safer user-level install is available.