Openclaw Backup

DevOps & Security

openclaw-backup

Openclaw Backup is an Agent Skill for devops & security published in the LeoYeAI/openclaw-master-skills repository on GitHub: a SKILL.md instruction file an AI agent can load to do this task.

Backup and restore OpenClaw data. Use when user asks to create backups, set up automatic backup schedules, restore from backup, or manage backup rotation. Handles ~/.openclaw directory archiving with proper exclusions.

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QUICK START

How to use this skill

Bring this guide into your coding agent with a prompt tailored to the tool you use.

Open your project in Codex.
Copy and paste the prompt below.
Review files and risks before approving any action.

Prompt to paste

Inspect the Agent Skill at https://github.com/LeoYeAI/openclaw-master-skills/blob/HEAD/skills/openclaw-backup/SKILL.md and all supporting files. Report provenance, permissions, scripts, dependencies, and security risks. Propose an exact installation into .agents/skills/openclaw-backup, but wait for my approval before writing files or running scripts.

Copying this prompt does not install or run the skill. Review third-party files before use.

OpenClaw Backup

Backup and restore OpenClaw configuration, credentials, and workspace.

Create Backup

Run the backup script:

./scripts/backup.sh [backup_dir]

Default backup location: ~/openclaw-backups/

Output: openclaw-YYYY-MM-DD_HHMM.tar.gz

What Gets Backed Up

openclaw.json — main config
credentials/ — API keys, tokens
agents/ — agent configs, auth profiles
workspace/ — memory, SOUL.md, user files
telegram/ — session data
cron/ — scheduled tasks

Excluded

completions/ — cache, regenerated automatically
*.log — logs

Setup Daily Backup with Cron

Use OpenClaw cron for daily backups with notification:

{
  "name": "daily-backup",
  "schedule": {"kind": "cron", "expr": "0 3 * * *", "tz": "UTC"},
  "payload": {
    "kind": "agentTurn",
    "message": "Run ~/.openclaw/backup.sh and report result to user."
  },
  "sessionTarget": "isolated",
  "delivery": {"mode": "announce"}
}

Restore

See references/restore.md for step-by-step restore instructions.

Quick restore:

openclaw gateway stop
mv ~/.openclaw ~/.openclaw-old
tar -xzf ~/openclaw-backups/openclaw-YYYY-MM-DD_HHMM.tar.gz -C ~
openclaw gateway start

Rotation

Script keeps last 7 backups automatically.