Hermes Backup#

Universal backup and restore for AI agent platforms. Works with Hermes Agent and OpenClaw.

What Makes This Different#

• Multi-platform — Works with both Hermes ( ~/.hermes/) and OpenClaw ( ~/.openclaw/)
• Optional encryption — Password-protect your backups (AES-256)
• Optional cloud — Set up S3, Google Drive, or Dropbox if you want off-site storage
• Flexible backups — Full or incremental, your choice
• Smart retention — Keep last N backups, or N days, or max N GB
• Integrity checking — Verify backups before trusting them
• Web UI — Browser-based management with progress bars

Installation#

bash

# Via ClawMart (recommended)
clawmart install hermes-backup

# Or manual
git clone https://github.com/yourname/hermes-backup
chmod +x hermes-backup/scripts/*.sh

Quick Start#

bash

# Create your first backup
hermes-backup create

# Or with the agent
"Create a backup of my agent"

Commands#

CommandDescriptionhermes-backup createCreate backup (full or incremental)hermes-backup restore <file>Restore from backuphermes-backup serveStart web UIhermes-backup configInteractive configurationhermes-backup cloud setupConfigure cloud storagehermes-backup listShow all backupshermes-backup verify <file>Check backup integrityhermes-backup scheduleSet up automatic backups

What Gets Backed Up#

Hermes Agent Structure#

ComponentPathContentsConfig~/.hermes/config.yamlAll settings, API keysEnvironment~/.hermes/.envAPI keys, secretsIdentity~/.hermes/SOUL.mdAgent personalityMemory~/.hermes/memories/Long-term memoriesSessions~/.hermes/sessions/Conversation historySkills~/.hermes/skills/Installed skillsState~/.hermes/state.dbDatabaseWorkspace~/.openclaw/workspace/Cross-platform workspace

OpenClaw Structure#

ComponentPathContentsConfig~/.openclaw/openclaw.jsonGateway, models, channelsWorkspace~/.openclaw/workspace/Agent files, skillsCredentials~/.openclaw/credentials/Channel pairing stateSessions~/.openclaw/agents/main/sessions/Chat historySkills~/.openclaw/skills/System skillsCron~/.openclaw/cron/Scheduled jobs

Configuration#

Interactive Setup#

bash

hermes-backup config

This walks you through:

1. Platform detection — Hermes or OpenClaw (auto-detected)
2. Backup location — Where to save archives
3. Encryption — Enable password protection? (optional)
4. Backup type — Full or incremental?
5. Retention — How many backups to keep?
6. Cloud — Set up cloud storage? (optional)

Config File ( ~/.hermes-backup/config.yaml)#

yaml

platform: auto  # auto, hermes, or openclaw

backup:
  location: ~/backups/hermes
  type: full  # full or incremental
  compression: gzip  # gzip, bzip2, or none
  encryption: false  # true/false

retention:
  strategy: count  # count, days, or size
  keep_count: 10   # keep last N backups
  keep_days: 30    # or keep for N days
  max_size_gb: 5   # or max total size

incremental:
  enabled: false
  base_backup: null  # reference full backup

cloud:
  enabled: false
  provider: null  # s3, gdrive, dropbox
  # Provider-specific settings added during setup

integrity:
  verify_after_backup: true
  checksum_algorithm: sha256

Creating Backups#

Full Backup (Default)#

bash

hermes-backup create
# → ~/backups/hermes/hermes-backup_20260326_143022.tar.gz

Incremental Backup#

bash

# First, create a base backup
hermes-backup create --full --tag base-2026-03-26

# Then incremental backups reference the base
hermes-backup create --incremental --base base-2026-03-26

Encrypted Backup#

bash

hermes-backup create --encrypt
# Prompts for password (not echoed)

⚠️ Warning: If you lose the encryption password, the backup is unrecoverable. Store it in a password manager.

With Cloud Upload#

bash

hermes-backup create --cloud-upload
# Creates backup locally, then uploads to configured cloud storage

Restoring Backups#

Standard Restore#

bash

# Always dry-run first
hermes-backup restore ~/backups/hermes/hermes-backup_20260326_143022.tar.gz --dry-run

# If it looks good, apply
hermes-backup restore ~/backups/hermes/hermes-backup_20260326_143022.tar.gz

Encrypted Restore#

bash

hermes-backup restore ~/backups/hermes/hermes-backup_20260326_143022.tar.gz.enc
# Prompts for password

Selective Restore#

bash

# Restore only specific components
hermes-backup restore backup.tar.gz --components workspace,skills

Cloud Storage Setup#

Amazon S3#

bash

hermes-backup cloud setup s3

# Prompts for:
# - AWS Access Key ID
# - AWS Secret Access Key
# - Bucket name
# - Region (optional, defaults to us-east-1)

Google Drive#

bash

hermes-backup cloud setup gdrive

# Opens browser for OAuth authentication
# Or provides manual token setup for headless

Dropbox#

bash

hermes-backup cloud setup dropbox

# OAuth flow or manual token

Testing Cloud Connection#

bash

hermes-backup cloud test
# Verifies credentials and uploads a test file

Scheduling Automatic Backups#

Via Cron#

bash

hermes-backup schedule

# Interactive setup:
# - How often? (daily, weekly, hourly)
# - What time?
# - Full or incremental?
# - Cloud upload?

Manual Cron Entry#

bash

# Add to crontab
0 3 * * * /usr/local/bin/hermes-backup create --quiet --cloud-upload
# Daily at 3am, quiet mode, upload to cloud

Web UI#

bash

hermes-backup serve --port 7373 --token YOUR_TOKEN

# Opens browser UI at http://localhost:7373
# Features:
# - Create backups (click button)
# - Download backups
# - Upload and restore
# - View backup history
# - Configure settings
# - Progress bars for operations

Integrity Verification#

bash

# Verify a specific backup
hermes-backup verify ~/backups/hermes/hermes-backup_20260326_143022.tar.gz

# Check all backups
hermes-backup verify --all

# Results:
# ✓ Backup is valid and restorable
# ✗ Backup is corrupted or incomplete

Listing Backups#

bash

hermes-backup list

# Output:
# BACKUP NAME                           SIZE     DATE       TYPE   ENCRYPTED  CLOUD
# hermes-backup_20260326_143022.tar.gz  45MB     2026-03-26 full   no         yes
# hermes-backup_20260325_090015.tar.gz  2MB      2026-03-25 incr   yes        no

Migration Between Platforms#

Hermes → OpenClaw#

bash

# On Hermes machine
hermes-backup create --platform hermes

# Transfer file to OpenClaw machine
scp backup.tar.gz user@newserver:~/

# On OpenClaw machine
hermes-backup restore backup.tar.gz --platform openclaw

OpenClaw → Hermes#

Same process, reverse direction.

Security Considerations#

Backup Archive Contents#

Backups contain highly sensitive data:

• API keys (OpenAI, Anthropic, ElevenLabs, etc.)
• Bot tokens (Telegram, Discord, etc.)
• Session data
• Personal memories/conversations

Security Best Practices#

1. File Permissions
   • Backups created with chmod 600 (owner only)
   • Never chmod 777 a backup
2. Storage
   • Keep local backups in encrypted disk/VeraCrypt
   • Cloud backups: use provider encryption at rest
   • Never commit backups to git
3. Transmission
   • Use scp/sftp, not email
   • Cloud uploads use HTTPS
   • Web UI uses token authentication
4. Encryption Password
   • Use a password manager (1Password, Bitwarden)
   • Minimum 12 characters
   • Mix of uppercase, lowercase, numbers, symbols
   • Never reuse passwords
5. Rotation
   • Old backups may contain old API keys
   • Rotate API keys periodically
   • Delete backups older than needed

Troubleshooting#

"Permission denied" on backup#

bash

# Check directory permissions
ls -la ~/backups/hermes/

# Fix
chmod 700 ~/backups/hermes/

"Backup is corrupted"#

bash

# Try to verify
hermes-backup verify backup.tar.gz

# If corrupted, check disk space
df -h

# Check for disk errors
fsck /dev/sda1  # (unmount first)

"Cloud upload failed"#

bash

# Test connection
hermes-backup cloud test

# Check credentials
hermes-backup cloud status

# Re-configure if needed
hermes-backup cloud setup s3

Restore fails halfway#

bash

# Auto-backup is created before restore
# Check /tmp/hermes-pre-restore-*.tar.gz

# Restore from auto-backup
hermes-backup restore /tmp/hermes-pre-restore_TIMESTAMP.tar.gz

Scripts Reference#

scripts/backup.sh#

Main backup script. Creates .tar.gz archive with MANIFEST.json.

scripts/restore.sh#

Restores from archive. Always dry-runs first. Creates pre-restore backup.

scripts/serve.sh#

Starts web UI server. Requires --token for security.

scripts/verify.sh#

Verifies backup integrity using checksums.

scripts/cloud-upload.sh#

Uploads backup to configured cloud storage.

scripts/config.sh#

Interactive configuration wizard.

Version History#

v1.0.0#

• Initial release
• Multi-platform support (Hermes + OpenClaw)
• Full and incremental backups
• Optional encryption (AES-256)
• Optional cloud storage (S3, Google Drive, Dropbox)
• Web UI for browser-based management
• Integrity verification
• Flexible retention policies
• Migration support between platforms

License#

MIT-0 — Free to use, modify, and redistribute. No attribution required.

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Built for the MyClaw.ai ecosystem — the open AI personal assistant platform.