VPS Backup

Data & APIs

Automated daily VPS backup using restic — backs up OpenClaw workspace, SSH keys, project code, and session transcripts. Configures encrypted incremental snapshots with retention policies and optional offsite push via rclone. Use when setting up a new VPS backup system, verifying existing backups, restoring files, or scheduling periodic automated backups.

Install

openclaw skills install vps-backup

VPS Backup Skill

Automated daily backup for OpenClaw VPS deployments using restic — encrypted, incremental, deduplicating snapshots with retention management and optional offsite push.

What Gets Backed Up

Path	Contents	Why
`~/.openclaw`	Workspace, memory, sessions, configs	Core agent state
`~/.config/opencode`	Agents, skills, OpenCode models	Agentic coding setup
`~/.ssh`	SSH keys	Access to all services
`~/.npm-global`	Global npm packages	Tools installed
`~/workspace/projects`	All project source code	Your work
Session transcripts	Exported via `export_sessions.py`	Human-readable chat history

Excluded (reconstructable): node_modules/, __pycache__/, *.pyc, *.log, tmp/, *.sqlite, .cache/

Setup

1. Install restic

# Linux (others: https://restic.net/install/)
curl -LO https://github.com/restic/restic/releases/latest/download/restic_linux_amd64.tar.gz
tar xzf restic_linux_amd64.tar.gz
sudo mv restic /usr/local/bin/
restic version

2. Install rclone (for offsite push — optional)

curl -LO https://downloads.rclone.org/rclone-current-linux-amd64.zip
unzip rclone-current-linux-amd64.zip
sudo cp rclone-linux-amd64/rclone /usr/local/bin/
rclone version

3. Configure the script

Edit the top config section of scripts/vps-backup.sh:

BACKUP_ROOT="/home/dev/backup/vps-daily"    # local backup root
BACKUP_PATHS=(                                    # what to back up
    "/home/dev/.openclaw"
    "/home/dev/.config/opencode"
    "/home/dev/.ssh"
    "/home/dev/.npm-global/lib/node_modules"
    "/workspace/projects"
)
SESSION_EXPORT="/home/dev/.openclaw/workspace/scripts/export_sessions.py"

4. Set encryption password

# Generate a strong password
openssl rand -base64 32 > ~/.backup-password
chmod 600 ~/.backup-password

5. (Optional) Configure rclone for offsite push

rclone config
# Follow prompts to add your cloud storage (Backblaze B2, Google Drive, etc.)

6. Schedule daily run

# Add to crontab (runs at 3am UTC daily)
0 3 * * * export BACKUP_PASSWORD=$(cat ~/.backup-password) && export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH" && bash /path/to/vps-backup.sh >> /var/log/vps-backup.log 2>&1

Or schedule via OpenClaw cron:

every: 24h | sessionTarget: isolated | model: glm-5
message: "Run: export BACKUP_PASSWORD=$(cat ~/.backup-password) && export PATH=\"$HOME/bin:$PATH\" && bash /home/dev/scripts/vps-backup.sh"

Daily Usage

# Run backup manually
export BACKUP_PASSWORD=$(cat ~/.backup-password)
export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
bash /home/dev/scripts/vps-backup.sh

# Check snapshot count
export RESTIC_PASSWORD=$(cat ~/.backup-password)
export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
restic snapshots --repo /home/dev/backup/vps-daily/restic-repo

# Verify backup integrity
restic check --repo /home/dev/backup/vps-daily/restic-repo

# List repo size
du -sh /home/dev/backup/vps-daily/

Restore

# Restore latest snapshot of a specific path
export RESTIC_PASSWORD=$(cat ~/.backup-password)
export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
restic restore latest \
  --repo /home/dev/backup/vps-daily/restic-repo \
  --target /tmp/restore \
  --path /home/dev/.openclaw

# List snapshots for a specific date
restic snapshots --repo /home/dev/backup/vps-daily/restic-repo \
  --tag date-2026-03-31

# Restore a specific snapshot by ID
restic restore abc123 \
  --repo /home/dev/backup/vps-daily/restic-repo \
  --target /tmp/restore

Offsite Push

Set the RCLONE_DEST environment variable before running:

# Backblaze B2 example:
export RCLONE_DEST="b2:my-bucket/vps-backups"
export BACKUP_PASSWORD=$(cat ~/.backup-password)
export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"
bash /home/dev/scripts/vps-backup.sh
# Output includes: "Offsite push done ✓"

# Google Drive:
export RCLONE_DEST="gcache:openclaw-backups"

The script automatically detects rclone and RCLONE_DEST and syncs after each backup.

Retention Policy

Level	Keep
Daily	7
Weekly	4
Monthly	6

Old snapshots are pruned automatically after each run.

Health Check

The script checks for at least one snapshot in the last 26 hours. If missing, it logs a HEALTH FAILED error.

Add a monitoring check to your alerting:

# Alert if no recent backup
RECENT=$(RESTIC_PASSWORD=$(cat ~/.backup-password) restic snapshots \
  --repo /home/dev/backup/vps-daily/restic-repo \
  --json 2>/dev/null | python3 -c "
import sys,json,datetime
cutoff=datetime.datetime.now(datetime.timezone.utc)-datetime.timedelta(hours=26)
print(sum(1 for s in json.load(sys.stdin)
  if datetime.datetime.fromisoformat(s['time'].replace('Z','+00:00'))>cutoff))
")
if [ "$RECENT" -eq 0 ]; then
  echo "ALERT: No backup in 26h!"
fi

Files

scripts/vps-backup.sh — the backup script
scripts/export_sessions.py — session transcript exporter (optional but recommended)
docs/config.md — environment variable reference