# 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.

- Skill name: `openclaw-backup`
- Category: [DevOps & Security](https://www.openparable.com/skill/devops-security/1)
- Source: https://github.com/LeoYeAI/openclaw-master-skills/blob/HEAD/skills/openclaw-backup/SKILL.md
- Repository: LeoYeAI/openclaw-master-skills (2,087 GitHub stars when collected)

## SKILL.md

# OpenClaw Backup

Backup and restore OpenClaw configuration, credentials, and workspace.

## Create Backup

Run the backup script:

```bash
./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:

```json
{
  "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](references/restore.md) for step-by-step restore instructions.

Quick restore:

```bash
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.

---

Source: https://www.openparable.com/skill/devops-security/openclaw-backup (OpenParable). Cite the canonical URL above.