Complete Agent Backup

Multi-platform backup and restore for Hermes Agent and OpenClaw. Backs up configuration, memories, skills, sessions, and workspace. Features: optional encryption, optional cloud storage (S3/Google Drive), incremental or full backups, flexible retention, integrity verification, and web-based management UI. Free and open source.

geoffguides@geoffguides

Install

openclaw skills install @geoffguides/complete-agent-backup

Hermes Backup

Universal backup and restore for AI agent platforms. Works with Hermes Agent and OpenClaw.

What Makes This Different

Multi-platform — Works with both Hermes (~/.hermes/) and OpenClaw (~/.openclaw/)
Optional encryption — Password-protect your backups (AES-256)
Optional cloud — Set up S3, Google Drive, or Dropbox if you want off-site storage
Flexible backups — Full or incremental, your choice
Smart retention — Keep last N backups, or N days, or max N GB
Integrity checking — Verify backups before trusting them
Web UI — Browser-based management with progress bars

Installation

bash

# Via ClawMart (recommended)
clawmart install hermes-backup

# Or manual
git clone https://github.com/yourname/hermes-backup
chmod +x hermes-backup/scripts/*.sh

Quick Start

bash

# Create your first backup
hermes-backup create

# Or with the agent
"Create a backup of my agent"

Commands

Command	Description
`hermes-backup create`	Create backup (full or incremental)
`hermes-backup restore <file>`	Restore from backup
`hermes-backup serve`	Start web UI
`hermes-backup config`	Interactive configuration
`hermes-backup cloud setup`	Configure cloud storage
`hermes-backup list`	Show all backups
`hermes-backup verify <file>`	Check backup integrity
`hermes-backup schedule`	Set up automatic backups

What Gets Backed Up

Hermes Agent Structure

Component	Path	Contents
Config	`~/.hermes/config.yaml`	All settings, API keys
Environment	`~/.hermes/.env`	API keys, secrets
Identity	`~/.hermes/SOUL.md`	Agent personality
Memory	`~/.hermes/memories/`	Long-term memories
Sessions	`~/.hermes/sessions/`	Conversation history
Skills	`~/.hermes/skills/`	Installed skills
State	`~/.hermes/state.db`	Database
Workspace	`~/.openclaw/workspace/`	Cross-platform workspace

OpenClaw Structure

Component	Path	Contents
Config	`~/.openclaw/openclaw.json`	Gateway, models, channels
Workspace	`~/.openclaw/workspace/`	Agent files, skills
Credentials	`~/.openclaw/credentials/`	Channel pairing state
Sessions	`~/.openclaw/agents/main/sessions/`	Chat history
Skills	`~/.openclaw/skills/`	System skills
Cron	`~/.openclaw/cron/`	Scheduled jobs

Configuration

Interactive Setup

bash

hermes-backup config

This walks you through:

Platform detection — Hermes or OpenClaw (auto-detected)
Backup location — Where to save archives
Encryption — Enable password protection? (optional)
Backup type — Full or incremental?
Retention — How many backups to keep?
Cloud — Set up cloud storage? (optional)

Config File (`~/.hermes-backup/config.yaml`)

yaml

platform: auto  # auto, hermes, or openclaw

backup:
  location: ~/backups/hermes
  type: full  # full or incremental
  compression: gzip  # gzip, bzip2, or none
  encryption: false  # true/false
  
retention:
  strategy: count  # count, days, or size
  keep_count: 10   # keep last N backups
  keep_days: 30    # or keep for N days
  max_size_gb: 5   # or max total size

incremental:
  enabled: false
  base_backup: null  # reference full backup
  
cloud:
  enabled: false
  provider: null  # s3, gdrive, dropbox
  # Provider-specific settings added during setup
  
integrity:
  verify_after_backup: true
  checksum_algorithm: sha256

Creating Backups

Full Backup (Default)

bash

hermes-backup create
# → ~/backups/hermes/hermes-backup_20260326_143022.tar.gz

Incremental Backup

bash

# First, create a base backup
hermes-backup create --full --tag base-2026-03-26

# Then incremental backups reference the base
hermes-backup create --incremental --base base-2026-03-26

Encrypted Backup

bash

hermes-backup create --encrypt
# Prompts for password (not echoed)

⚠️ Warning: If you lose the encryption password, the backup is unrecoverable. Store it in a password manager.

With Cloud Upload

bash

hermes-backup create --cloud-upload
# Creates backup locally, then uploads to configured cloud storage

Restoring Backups

Standard Restore

bash

# Always dry-run first
hermes-backup restore ~/backups/hermes/hermes-backup_20260326_143022.tar.gz --dry-run

# If it looks good, apply
hermes-backup restore ~/backups/hermes/hermes-backup_20260326_143022.tar.gz

Encrypted Restore

bash

hermes-backup restore ~/backups/hermes/hermes-backup_20260326_143022.tar.gz.enc
# Prompts for password

Selective Restore

bash

# Restore only specific components
hermes-backup restore backup.tar.gz --components workspace,skills

Cloud Storage Setup

Amazon S3

bash

hermes-backup cloud setup s3

# Prompts for:
# - AWS Access Key ID
# - AWS Secret Access Key  
# - Bucket name
# - Region (optional, defaults to us-east-1)

Google Drive

bash

hermes-backup cloud setup gdrive

# Opens browser for OAuth authentication
# Or provides manual token setup for headless

Dropbox

bash

hermes-backup cloud setup dropbox

# OAuth flow or manual token

Testing Cloud Connection

bash

hermes-backup cloud test
# Verifies credentials and uploads a test file

Scheduling Automatic Backups

Via Cron

bash

hermes-backup schedule

# Interactive setup:
# - How often? (daily, weekly, hourly)
# - What time?
# - Full or incremental?
# - Cloud upload?

Manual Cron Entry

bash

# Add to crontab
0 3 * * * /usr/local/bin/hermes-backup create --quiet --cloud-upload
# Daily at 3am, quiet mode, upload to cloud

Web UI

bash

hermes-backup serve --port 7373 --token YOUR_TOKEN

# Opens browser UI at http://localhost:7373
# Features:
# - Create backups (click button)
# - Download backups
# - Upload and restore
# - View backup history
# - Configure settings
# - Progress bars for operations

Integrity Verification

bash

# Verify a specific backup
hermes-backup verify ~/backups/hermes/hermes-backup_20260326_143022.tar.gz

# Check all backups
hermes-backup verify --all

# Results:
# ✓ Backup is valid and restorable
# ✗ Backup is corrupted or incomplete

Listing Backups

bash

hermes-backup list

# Output:
# BACKUP NAME                           SIZE     DATE       TYPE   ENCRYPTED  CLOUD
# hermes-backup_20260326_143022.tar.gz  45MB     2026-03-26 full   no         yes
# hermes-backup_20260325_090015.tar.gz  2MB      2026-03-25 incr   yes        no

Migration Between Platforms

Hermes → OpenClaw

bash

# On Hermes machine
hermes-backup create --platform hermes

# Transfer file to OpenClaw machine
scp backup.tar.gz user@newserver:~/

# On OpenClaw machine
hermes-backup restore backup.tar.gz --platform openclaw

OpenClaw → Hermes

Same process, reverse direction.

Security Considerations

Backup Archive Contents

Backups contain highly sensitive data:

API keys (OpenAI, Anthropic, ElevenLabs, etc.)
Bot tokens (Telegram, Discord, etc.)
Session data
Personal memories/conversations

Security Best Practices

File Permissions
- Backups created with chmod 600 (owner only)
- Never chmod 777 a backup
Storage
- Keep local backups in encrypted disk/VeraCrypt
- Cloud backups: use provider encryption at rest
- Never commit backups to git
Transmission
- Use scp/sftp, not email
- Cloud uploads use HTTPS
- Web UI uses token authentication
Encryption Password
- Use a password manager (1Password, Bitwarden)
- Minimum 12 characters
- Mix of uppercase, lowercase, numbers, symbols
- Never reuse passwords
Rotation
- Old backups may contain old API keys
- Rotate API keys periodically
- Delete backups older than needed

Troubleshooting

"Permission denied" on backup

bash

# Check directory permissions
ls -la ~/backups/hermes/

# Fix
chmod 700 ~/backups/hermes/

"Backup is corrupted"

bash

# Try to verify
hermes-backup verify backup.tar.gz

# If corrupted, check disk space
df -h

# Check for disk errors
fsck /dev/sda1  # (unmount first)

"Cloud upload failed"

bash

# Test connection
hermes-backup cloud test

# Check credentials
hermes-backup cloud status

# Re-configure if needed
hermes-backup cloud setup s3

Restore fails halfway

bash

# Auto-backup is created before restore
# Check /tmp/hermes-pre-restore-*.tar.gz

# Restore from auto-backup
hermes-backup restore /tmp/hermes-pre-restore_TIMESTAMP.tar.gz

Scripts Reference

`scripts/backup.sh`

Main backup script. Creates .tar.gz archive with MANIFEST.json.

`scripts/restore.sh`

Restores from archive. Always dry-runs first. Creates pre-restore backup.

`scripts/serve.sh`

Starts web UI server. Requires --token for security.

`scripts/verify.sh`

Verifies backup integrity using checksums.

`scripts/cloud-upload.sh`

Uploads backup to configured cloud storage.

`scripts/config.sh`

Interactive configuration wizard.

Version History

v1.0.0

Initial release
Multi-platform support (Hermes + OpenClaw)
Full and incremental backups
Optional encryption (AES-256)
Optional cloud storage (S3, Google Drive, Dropbox)
Web UI for browser-based management
Integrity verification
Flexible retention policies
Migration support between platforms

License

MIT-0 — Free to use, modify, and redistribute. No attribution required.

Built for the MyClaw.ai ecosystem — the open AI personal assistant platform.

Complete Agent Backup

Install

Hermes Backup

What Makes This Different

Installation

Quick Start

Commands

What Gets Backed Up

Hermes Agent Structure

OpenClaw Structure

Configuration

Interactive Setup

Config File (~/.hermes-backup/config.yaml)

Creating Backups

Full Backup (Default)

Incremental Backup

Encrypted Backup

With Cloud Upload

Restoring Backups

Standard Restore

Encrypted Restore

Selective Restore

Cloud Storage Setup

Amazon S3

Google Drive

Dropbox

Testing Cloud Connection

Scheduling Automatic Backups

Via Cron

Manual Cron Entry

Web UI

Integrity Verification

Listing Backups

Migration Between Platforms

Hermes → OpenClaw

OpenClaw → Hermes

Security Considerations

Backup Archive Contents

Security Best Practices

Troubleshooting

"Permission denied" on backup

"Backup is corrupted"

"Cloud upload failed"

Restore fails halfway

Scripts Reference

scripts/backup.sh

scripts/restore.sh

scripts/serve.sh

scripts/verify.sh

scripts/cloud-upload.sh

scripts/config.sh

Version History

v1.0.0

License

Related skills

Config File (`~/.hermes-backup/config.yaml`)

`scripts/backup.sh`

`scripts/restore.sh`

`scripts/serve.sh`

`scripts/verify.sh`

`scripts/cloud-upload.sh`

`scripts/config.sh`