OpenClaw Backup — How-To Guide

Prerequisites: SMF Works Pro subscription active. Setup complete (see SETUP.md).

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Table of Contents

1. How to Create a Backup
2. How to List Your Backups
3. How to Restore from a Backup
4. How to Clean Up Old Backups
5. Automating with Cron
6. Combining with Other Skills
7. Troubleshooting Common Issues
8. Tips & Best Practices

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1. How to Create a Backup

What this does: Creates a compressed .tar.gz archive of your OpenClaw workspace directory and applies the retention policy.

When to use it: Before making major changes, before upgrading OpenClaw, or on a scheduled basis.

Steps

Step 1 — Navigate to the skill.

cd ~/smfworks-skills/skills/openclaw-backup

Step 2 — Run the backup.

python3 main.py

Output:

💾 Creating OpenClaw workspace backup...

Backing up: /home/user/.openclaw/workspace
Archive: /home/user/.openclaw/backups/workspace-2024-03-15-090001.tar.gz

✅ Backup complete!
   Size: 2.34 MB
   Retention: Keeping last 2 backups
   Removed: 0 old backups

Result: A compressed backup of your entire workspace is saved.

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2. How to List Your Backups

What this does: Shows all available backups with creation dates and sizes.

python3 main.py --list

Output:

💾 Available Backups (2 total):

1. workspace-2024-03-15-090001.tar.gz
   Created: 2024-03-15 09:00
   Size: 2.34 MB
   Path: /home/user/.openclaw/backups/workspace-2024-03-15-090001.tar.gz

2. workspace-2024-03-14-090002.tar.gz
   Created: 2024-03-14 09:00
   Size: 2.31 MB
   Path: /home/user/.openclaw/backups/workspace-2024-03-14-090002.tar.gz

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3. How to Restore from a Backup

What this does: Restores your workspace from a backup archive.

When to use it: After accidental deletion, corruption, or when rolling back to a known good state.

Steps

Step 1 — List backups to find the one you want.

python3 main.py --list

Step 2 — Run restore with the backup path.

python3 main.py --restore /home/user/.openclaw/backups/workspace-2024-03-14-090002.tar.gz

⚠️ Warning: Restore overwrites your current workspace. If you have recent work you want to keep, run a manual backup first before restoring.

# Back up current state first
python3 main.py
# Then restore from older backup
python3 main.py --restore /path/to/backup.tar.gz

Result: Your workspace is restored to the state captured in the backup.

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4. How to Clean Up Old Backups

The skill automatically applies retention policy on each backup run. But you can trigger cleanup manually:

python3 main.py --cleanup

Output:

🧹 Cleaning up old backups...

✅ Removed 3 old backup(s)

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5. Automating with Cron

Open crontab

crontab -e

Example: Daily backup at 2 AM

0 2 * * * python3 /home/yourname/smfworks-skills/skills/openclaw-backup/main.py >> /home/yourname/logs/openclaw-backup.log 2>&1

Example: Backup before and after major work sessions

# Morning backup at 8 AM
0 8 * * * python3 /home/yourname/smfworks-skills/skills/openclaw-backup/main.py >> /home/yourname/logs/openclaw-backup.log 2>&1

# Evening backup at 10 PM
0 22 * * * python3 /home/yourname/smfworks-skills/skills/openclaw-backup/main.py >> /home/yourname/logs/openclaw-backup.log 2>&1

Create the log directory

mkdir -p ~/logs

Check backup logs

cat ~/logs/openclaw-backup.log | tail -20

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6. Combining with Other Skills

OpenClaw Backup + Claw System Backup: Use both for complete machine protection:

# Back up OpenClaw workspace
python3 ~/smfworks-skills/skills/openclaw-backup/main.py

# Back up entire home directory
python3 ~/smfworks-skills/skills/claw-system-backup/main.py

OpenClaw Backup + System Monitor: Check disk space before backing up:

python3 ~/smfworks-skills/skills/system-monitor/main.py disk
python3 ~/smfworks-skills/skills/openclaw-backup/main.py

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7. Troubleshooting Common Issues

Error: SMF Works Pro subscription required

Fix: Subscribe at smfworks.com/subscribe and re-authenticate.

Backup failed — disk space error

Fix: Check available space: df -h ~/.openclaw/backups. Free up space or configure backup to a different location.

No backups found when listing

Fix: Run python3 main.py first to create at least one backup.

Restore seems to have no effect

Fix: OpenClaw may need to be restarted to pick up the restored workspace. Restart the OpenClaw service after restoring.

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8. Tips & Best Practices

Run a backup before any significant change. Editing SOUL.md, major memory updates, or skill configuration changes are all good triggers for a manual backup.

Increase retention if you're actively experimenting. If you're doing a lot of experimentation and might need to roll back multiple days, increase the retention count via --configure. 5–7 days is reasonable.

Verify backups monthly. Run --list and confirm backups exist and have reasonable sizes. A zero-byte backup or missing backup means the cron job may have failed silently.

Keep the log file. The >> ~/logs/openclaw-backup.log 2>&1 in the cron entry is essential. Review it periodically to ensure backups are completing successfully.

Consider separate backup location for important machines. The default backs up to the same machine. For critical setups, configure the backup to a different drive or network share so a disk failure doesn't take both your data and your backup.