Case 00587

Agent Migration

Migrate OpenClaw agents across servers and platforms while preserving identity, memory, and configuration.

When to Use

✅ USE this skill when:

• Moving agent from local machine to remote server
• Cloning agent configuration to multiple environments
• Backing up complete agent state for disaster recovery
• Syncing workspace changes between dev/prod
• Upgrading OpenClaw with full rollback capability

❌ DON'T use when:

• Simple file copy operations → use cp/rsync directly
• Database migrations → use database-specific tools
• Non-OpenClaw application deployment

Core Concepts

Agent State Components

Agent State = Identity + Memory + Config + Skills + Extensions
├── workspace/           # Core identity files
│   ├── IDENTITY.md      # Who the agent is
│   ├── USER.md          # Who they serve
│   ├── SOUL.md          # Personality
│   ├── MEMORY.md        # Long-term memory
│   ├── AGENTS.md        # Operational rules
│   ├── TOOLS.md         # Environment notes
│   └── memory/          # Daily logs
├── .openclaw/
│   ├── openclaw.json    # Gateway config
│   ├── agents/          # Session data
│   └── extensions/      # Custom plugins
└── skills/              # Custom skills (if any)

Migration Workflows

1. Export (Source Machine)

# Full agent export
./scripts/export-agent.sh [export-name]

# Creates:
# /tmp/agent-export-[name]/
#   ├── manifest.json      # Export metadata
#   ├── workspace.tar.gz   # Core files
#   ├── config.tar.gz      # OpenClaw config
#   └── restore.sh         # Self-contained restore

2. Transfer

# Via SSH
scp -r /tmp/agent-export-[name] user@new-server:/tmp/

# Via GitHub (recommended for versioned deployments)
# Push to repo, clone on target

3. Import (Target Machine)

# Run self-contained restore
cd /tmp/agent-export-[name] && ./restore.sh

# Or manual:
./scripts/import-agent.sh /tmp/agent-export-[name]

Scripts

Export Agent

scripts/export-agent.sh [name] [--full]

Options:

• name - Export identifier (default: timestamp)
• --full - Include session history and logs

Import Agent

scripts/import-agent.sh <export-path> [--merge|--replace]

Options:

• --merge - Merge with existing agent (default)
• --replace - Wipe existing, clean install

Sync to GitHub

scripts/sync-github.sh <repo-url> [--push|--pull]

Syncs agent state to GitHub for versioned deployment.

Platform-Specific Notes

Linux → Linux

Direct transfer, no conversion needed.

macOS → Linux

• Check for macOS-specific paths in scripts
• Update file watchers if used

Windows WSL → Native Linux

• Line endings auto-handled
• Verify executable permissions

Docker Deployment

See references/docker-deploy.md for containerized deployment.

Security Checklist

• Sanitize openclaw.json (remove sensitive tokens before export)
• Verify target machine permissions
• Rotate any exposed credentials post-migration
• Test agent functionality before production cutover

Rollback

Exports are immutable snapshots. To rollback:

# Re-import previous export
./scripts/import-agent.sh /path/to/previous-export --replace