OpenClaw Backup and Recovery: Protecting Your Agent Memory

Your OpenClaw agent accumulates valuable memory over time — conversation context, learned preferences, research notes, and automation logic. Losing this data through a server failure, accidental deletion, or upgrade gone wrong is genuinely painful. This guide covers backup strategies for both self-hosted and managed instances.

What to Back Up

Critical (back up daily):

• Agent memory database (~/.openclaw/memory/)
• Configuration file (openclaw.json)
• Skills configuration and custom skills

Important (back up weekly):

• Full OpenClaw data directory
• Docker volumes if using Docker

Document (but don't need to back up):

• API keys (store separately in a password manager)
• Channel bot tokens
• Environment variables

Self-Hosted Backup Options

Option 1: Automated Export Script

#!/bin/bash
# /home/user/backup-openclaw.sh
BACKUP_DIR="/backups/openclaw"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
BACKUP_FILE="$BACKUP_DIR/openclaw_$DATE.zip"

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"

# Export via OpenClaw CLI
docker compose -f /home/user/openclaw/docker-compose.yml   exec -T openclaw openclaw export --output "/tmp/backup_$DATE.zip"

docker compose -f /home/user/openclaw/docker-compose.yml   cp "openclaw:/tmp/backup_$DATE.zip" "$BACKUP_FILE"

# Keep only last 14 days of backups
find "$BACKUP_DIR" -name "*.zip" -mtime +14 -delete

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_FILE"

Schedule with cron:

crontab -e
# Add: 0 2 * * * /home/user/backup-openclaw.sh >> /var/log/openclaw-backup.log 2>&1

Option 2: Rclone to Cloud Storage

# Install rclone
curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | bash

# Configure destination (Cloudflare R2, S3, Backblaze B2, etc.)
rclone config

# Add to backup script:
rclone copy "$BACKUP_FILE" remote:openclaw-backups/

Option 3: VPS Provider Snapshots

Most VPS providers offer full-disk snapshots:

• Hetzner: Snapshots via console, ~€0.01/GB/month
• DigitalOcean: Droplet backups (20% of droplet cost/month)
• Vultr: Automatic backups at $1/month

Snapshots capture everything but are heavier and slower to restore than export-based backups.

nacre.sh Managed Backups

nacre.sh automatically performs nightly backups to Cloudflare R2 with 14-day retention. No configuration required. You can restore any backup from the dashboard:

1. Go to Dashboard > Instance > Backups
2. Select the backup date
3. Click Restore — the instance restores in approximately 2 minutes

You can also download backups for local archiving.

Recovery Procedures

Restoring from Export (Self-Hosted)

# Stop OpenClaw
docker compose stop openclaw

# Restore from backup
docker compose run --rm openclaw openclaw import --input /path/to/backup.zip

# Start OpenClaw
docker compose start openclaw

Disaster Recovery (Full Server Loss)

1. Spin up a new VPS
2. Install Docker and OpenClaw (see setup guides)
3. Copy your latest backup to the new server
4. Run the import procedure above
5. Re-enter API keys and bot tokens

Total recovery time from scratch: approximately 30–60 minutes with a recent backup.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I back up my agent memory?

Daily at minimum. If you use your agent heavily, consider every 6 hours. The export is typically under 50MB even after months of use.

Can I use the backup to clone my agent to a second instance?

Yes — importing a backup creates an identical agent state. This is useful for testing configuration changes on a development instance before applying to your production agent.