Bud Backup Tool

Backup and restore OpenClaw configuration, skills, memory, and workspace files. Essential for protecting your agent setup and enabling recovery after crashes or new installations.

Backup Tool 📦

Backup and restore your OpenClaw setup. Protect your skills, memory, identity, credentials, and workspace. One command to backup everything, easy restore when needed.

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Quick Start

# Check what will be backed up
python3 ~/.openclaw/backup-tool/backup_tool.py status

# Create backup
python3 ~/.openclaw/backup-tool/backup_tool.py backup

# Push backup to GitHub (requires repo setup)
python3 ~/.openclaw/backup-tool/backup_tool.py backup --push

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What Gets Backed Up

Item	Path	Description
skills	~/.openclaw/skills/	All installed skills
workspace	~/.openclaw/workspace/	Memory, identity, config
memory	~/.openclaw/workspace/memory/	Daily memory files
identity	~/.openclaw/identity/	Agent identity
credentials	~/.openclaw/credentials/	API keys, tokens
vpn_mesh	~/.openclaw/vpn-mesh/	VPN mesh config
health_monitor	~/.openclaw/health-monitor/	Health monitor config

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Commands

status — Show backup status

Shows what files would be backed up, existing backups, and total backup size.

backup — Create backup

Creates a timestamped .tar.gz archive in ~/.openclaw/backups/. Add --push to automatically push to GitHub.

list — List backups

Shows all available local backups with timestamps and sizes.

restore — Restore from backup

Restore specific items from a backup tarball:

python3 ~/.openclaw/backup-tool/backup_tool.py restore openclaw_backup_20240604.tar.gz

push — Push to GitHub

Push the latest backup to a GitHub repository for off-site storage.

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GitHub Setup (Optional)

For cloud backups, create a GitHub repo called openclaw-backup:

1. Go to https://github.com/new
2. Name: openclaw-backup
3. Description: "OpenClaw agent backup repository"
4. Keep it private (contains credentials!)
5. Add your GitHub token to the skill or use sudo-tool

The backup tool will clone/push to this repo automatically.

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Recovery Scenarios

New installation

# After fresh OpenClaw install
python3 ~/.openclaw/backup-tool/backup_tool.py restore openclaw_backup_latest.tar.gz

Recovery after crash

# List backups
python3 ~/.openclaw/backup-tool/backup_tool.py list

# Restore everything
python3 ~/.openclaw/backup-tool/backup_tool.py restore openclaw_backup_20240604.tar.gz

Move to new machine

# On new machine, install OpenClaw
# Then restore from GitHub
python3 ~/.openclaw/backup-tool/backup_tool.py push  # or pull from GitHub

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Automation

Add to cron for automatic daily backups:

# Daily backup at 3am
0 3 * * * python3 ~/.openclaw/backup-tool/backup_tool.py backup --push >> ~/.openclaw/backup-tool/backup.log 2>&1

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Files

~/.openclaw/backup-tool/
├── backup_tool.py   # Main script
├── backup.log        # Backup log
└── config.json       # Configuration (optional)

~/.openclaw/backups/
└── openclaw_backup_YYYYMMDD_HHMM.tar.gz

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Security Notes

• Credentials directory contains sensitive API keys — keep backups private
• GitHub repo should be private if storing credentials
• Backup files are stored locally with chmod 755 restrictions
• Restore operation overwrites existing files (careful!)

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Required By

• All skills — protects your entire OpenClaw setup
• Disaster recovery — recover from crashes, new SD cards, or moves
• Migration — move setup to new Raspberry Pi

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Dependencies

• sudo-tool — for secure file operations
• tar, gzip — for archive creation
• git — for GitHub push (optional)