---
name: backup
description: Backup, restore, disaster recovery, and migration for OpenClaw. Encrypts and stores ~/.openclaw/ locally and to cloud destinations (S3, R2, B2, GCS, Google Drive, rsync). Use when the user asks about backups, snapshots, disaster recovery, migration, or restoring OpenClaw from a backup.
metadata:
  {
    "openclaw":
      {
        "requires": { "bins": ["gpg", "tar"], "optionalBins": ["jq", "aws", "gsutil", "gcloud", "b2", "rclone", "rsync"] },
        "env": ["BACKUP_PASSPHRASE", "BACKUP_ENCRYPT", "BACKUP_RETAIN_DAYS", "BACKUP_STOP_GATEWAY", "BACKUP_DIR"],
        "credentials": ["~/.openclaw/credentials/backup/backup-passphrase"],
        "optionalCredentials": ["~/.openclaw/credentials/backup/aws-credentials", "~/.openclaw/credentials/backup/r2-credentials", "~/.openclaw/credentials/backup/b2-credentials", "~/.openclaw/credentials/backup/gcs-key.json", "~/.openclaw/credentials/backup/rclone.conf"],
      },
  }
---

# Backup Skill

Backup and restore your entire OpenClaw installation — config, credentials, workspace, memory, and skills.

## Requirements

**Required:** `gpg`, `tar` (typically pre-installed on Linux)

**Optional** (for cloud uploads): `jq`, `aws` (S3/R2), `gsutil`/`gcloud` (GCS), `b2` (Backblaze), `rclone` (Google Drive), `rsync`

**Environment variables:** `BACKUP_PASSPHRASE`, `BACKUP_ENCRYPT`, `BACKUP_RETAIN_DAYS`, `BACKUP_STOP_GATEWAY`, `BACKUP_DIR`

**Credential files** (created during setup, stored at `~/.openclaw/credentials/backup/`):
- `backup-passphrase` — required for encrypted full backups
- `aws-credentials`, `r2-credentials`, `b2-credentials`, `gcs-key.json`, `rclone.conf` — optional, per cloud provider

## Quick Start

```bash
# Run a backup now — creates TWO files: full (encrypted) + workspace-only
~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/backup/scripts/backup.sh

# Upload both backups to configured cloud destinations
~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/backup/scripts/upload.sh

# Full restore (same environment / disaster recovery)
~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/backup/scripts/restore.sh ~/backups/openclaw/openclaw-myhost-20260215-full.tar.gz.gpg

# Workspace-only restore (any environment — just the agent's brain)
~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/backup/scripts/restore.sh ~/backups/openclaw/openclaw-myhost-20260215-workspace.tar.gz
```

## Interactive Setup

For guided setup, read `references/setup-guide.md` and follow the conversational flow with the user. This walks through encryption, backup mode, schedule, and cloud destination configuration.

## Manual Usage

### backup.sh — Create local backups

Every run produces **two files**:

1. **Full backup** (`*-full.tar.gz.gpg`) — everything including credentials, encrypted. For disaster recovery on the same or similar environment.
2. **Workspace backup** (`*-workspace.tar.gz.gpg`) — just `~/.openclaw/workspace/` (memory, skills, files), encrypted. Safe to restore on any environment without affecting gateway config. This is the agent's brain.

```bash
# Default: creates both files
./scripts/backup.sh

# Skip gateway stop/restart (for testing)
BACKUP_STOP_GATEWAY=false ./scripts/backup.sh
```

Saves to `~/backups/openclaw/`.

### upload.sh — Upload to cloud

```bash
# Upload latest local backup to all configured destinations
./scripts/upload.sh

# Upload a specific file
./scripts/upload.sh /path/to/backup.tar.gz.gpg
```

### restore.sh — Restore from backup

```bash
# Full restore (disaster recovery — replaces entire ~/.openclaw/)
./scripts/restore.sh openclaw-myhost-20260215-full.tar.gz.gpg

# Workspace-only restore (just the agent brain — keeps your config/credentials)
./scripts/restore.sh openclaw-myhost-20260215-workspace.tar.gz

# Extract only workspace from a full backup
./scripts/restore.sh --workspace-only openclaw-myhost-20260215-full.tar.gz.gpg

# From cloud
./scripts/restore.sh s3://mybucket/openclaw/openclaw-myhost-20260215-workspace.tar.gz
```

Automatically detects workspace backups by filename. Creates a safety copy before extracting.

**Note:** Workspace-only restores don't require a gateway restart — the agent picks up the new files on its next session. Full restores stop and replace the entire `~/.openclaw/` directory, so the gateway needs to be restarted afterward.

### test-backup.sh — Validate setup

```bash
./scripts/test-backup.sh
```

Creates a tiny test file, encrypts, uploads to all destinations, verifies, cleans up. Exit 0 = all good.

## Config Reference

Config lives at `~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/backup/config.json`:

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|
| `encrypt` | bool | `true` | AES-256 GPG symmetric encryption (for full backups) |
| `retainDays` | number | `30` | Auto-prune local backups older than this |
| `schedule` | string | `"daily"` | `daily`, `weekly`, or `manual` |
| `destinations` | array | `[]` | Cloud upload targets (see destinations.md) |

## Environment Variables

All settings can be overridden via env vars:

| Variable | Description |
|----------|-------------|
| `BACKUP_ENCRYPT` | `true` or `false` (for full backups) |
| `BACKUP_RETAIN_DAYS` | Number of days to keep old backups |
| `BACKUP_PASSPHRASE` | Encryption passphrase (or read from credentials file) |
| `BACKUP_STOP_GATEWAY` | `true` (default) or `false` |
| `BACKUP_DIR` | Override backup output directory |

## Credentials

Stored in `~/.openclaw/credentials/backup/`:

- `backup-passphrase` — encryption passphrase
- `aws-credentials` — for S3
- `r2-credentials` — for Cloudflare R2
- `b2-credentials` — for Backblaze B2
- `gcs-key.json` — Google Cloud Storage service account key
- `rclone.conf` — for Google Drive (rclone config)

## Security Notes

- Backups are encrypted by default with AES-256 (GPG symmetric)
- **Full-mode backups REQUIRE encryption** — the script will refuse to run without a passphrase when mode=full, since credentials would be stored in plaintext
- Workspace-only backups are also encrypted — they contain personal data (memory, notes, conversations)
- The passphrase file at `~/.openclaw/credentials/backup/backup-passphrase` should be readable only by the owner (mode 600)
- On first use, always walk the user through setting a passphrase (see `references/setup-guide.md`)
- If no passphrase is set, default to portable mode — never store credentials unencrypted
- Local backups are auto-pruned after the configured retention period
- Remote backups are never auto-deleted (see `references/destinations.md` for lifecycle guidance)


---
Source attribution: modbender
Original project: https://github.com/modbender/skill-library-mcp/blob/d9c8fe903b5b4e82237dbe8d0df8567783022e18/data/backup-and-restore/SKILL.md
License: MIT
License information: https://opensource.org/license/mit
Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Mega AI Hub.

## Upstream license notice

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2025 skill-library-mcp contributors

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.



# Mega AI Hub resource metadata

Creator / publisher: modbender
Original project: https://github.com/modbender/skill-library-mcp/blob/d9c8fe903b5b4e82237dbe8d0df8567783022e18/data/backup-and-restore/SKILL.md
Attribution basis: Source repository record

Fields of work: Development & Engineering, Customer Support
Roles: Backend Developer, DevOps / SRE, Technical Support
Specialties: Backend, DevOps
Tools: AWS, Gpg, Tar
Country applicability: Country not specified
Classification basis: Source catalog labels
Instruction SHA-256: 29bf446bfd92982319033f525e976555f7d51012b25647067f1ab1e872b63cd4