OpenClaw Self Backup & Restore

Backup and restore OpenClaw agent configuration, skills, memory, and workspace files. Use when asked to "backup", "backup yourself", "create a restore point", "archive my agent", "export configuration", "save current state", or "setup auto-backup". Also handles restore: "restore from backup", "recover agent", "reinstall from backup".

Self Backup & Restore

Backup and restore your OpenClaw agent's complete state, including: configuration, skills, memory, and workspace files.

What Gets Backed Up

Category	Path	Priority
OpenClaw config	~/.openclaw/openclaw.json	⭐⭐⭐ Required
API credentials	~/.openclaw/.env	⭐⭐⭐ Required
Skills	~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/	⭐⭐⭐ Required
Memory files	~/.openclaw/workspace/memory/	⭐⭐⭐ Required
Identity files	MEMORY.md SOUL.md IDENTITY.md USER.md	⭐⭐⭐ Required
Config files	AGENTS.md TOOLS.md HEARTBEAT.md	⭐⭐ Important
Cron jobs	~/.openclaw/cron/jobs.json	⭐⭐ Important
Credentials	~/.openclaw/credentials/	⭐⭐ Important

What's NOT Backed Up

• ~/.openclaw/logs/ — logs, not needed
• ~/.openclaw/media/ — media cache, too large
• ~/.openclaw/workspace/.venv-*/ — Python envs, can be rebuilt
• ~/.openclaw/completions/ — history cache

---

Run Backup

python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/self-backup/scripts/backup.py

Output: ~/backups/openclaw-backup-YYYY-MM-DD_HHMM.tar.gz

Run Restore

python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/self-backup/scripts/restore.py ~/backups/openclaw-backup-YYYY-MM-DD_HHMM.tar.gz

List Backups

python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/self-backup/scripts/backup.py --list

Setup Weekly Auto-Backup (via OpenClaw cron)

openclaw cron add \
  --name "weekly-self-backup" \
  --cron "0 2 * * 0" \
  --tz "Asia/Shanghai" \
  --message "Run backup: python3 ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/self-backup/scripts/backup.py and report result" \
  --session isolated \
  --announce \
  --channel telegram

---

After Restore: Rebuild Steps

1. Reinstall OpenClaw (fresh machine only)

   npm install -g openclaw
   

2. Restore backup

   python3 restore.py openclaw-backup-YYYY-MM-DD.tar.gz
   

3. Rebuild Python environment (not included in backup)

   cd ~/.openclaw/workspace
   python3 -m venv .venv-stock
   source .venv-stock/bin/activate
   pip install yfinance pandas numpy pandas-ta ta ddgs tavily-python requests beautifulsoup4
   

4. Re-login ClawHub

   clawhub auth login --token <YOUR_TOKEN> --no-browser
   

5. Verify

   openclaw status && openclaw doctor