The Lifesaving Backup Trick 99% of OpenClaw Users Miss

Configuration directory

All OpenClaw data are stored in ~/.openclaw/ with the following sub‑directories: openclaw.json – main configuration (channels, models, agents) credentials/ – API keys, OAuth tokens agents/ – conversation logs and agent settings skills/ – installed skills workspace/ – AI memory and related files

Why use a private GitHub repository

Private = absolute security : only the owner can see the data, API keys remain hidden.

Multi‑device automatic sync : switching computers restores the configuration in about one minute.

Full history : every change is recorded, allowing rollback to any point.

Step‑by‑step tutorial

1. GitHub account (optional)

Open https://github.com and create an account if you do not already have one.

2. Configure SSH key

Two routes are provided:

Route A – send a prompt to OpenClaw to generate the key and return the public key string.

Route B – run the commands manually.

Manual commands:

ls ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
# If the file does not exist, generate a new key
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "my-openclaw" -N "" -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
# Add the printed public key in GitHub Settings → SSH and GPG keys → New SSH key
ssh -T [email protected]
# Success is indicated by the phrase "successfully authenticated"

3. Create a private repository

Click the + button on GitHub and choose New repository .

Enter a name (e.g., openclaw-config) and select Private .

Leave "Initialize this repository with a README" unchecked.

Click Create repository .

Copy the SSH clone URL, which has the form [email protected]:YOUR_USERNAME/openclaw-config.git.

4. Push the configuration

# Enter the OpenClaw config directory
cd ~/.openclaw

# Initialise a Git repository
git init

# Link to the private repo
git remote add origin [email protected]:YOUR_USERNAME/openclaw-config.git

# Add all files
git add .

# First commit
git commit -m "init config"

# Push (use main or master depending on the remote default)
git push -u origin main

If the push fails because workspace/ already contains a nested Git repository, remove it first: rm -rf ~/.openclaw/workspace/.git If the remote expects the master branch, replace main with master in the last command.

5. Optional: exclude the credentials/ directory

To prevent the credentials from being stored, add the directory to .gitignore before running git add .:

echo "credentials/" > ~/.openclaw/.gitignore

6. Automatic synchronization

After each change, run:

cd ~/.openclaw && git add . && git commit -m "update" && git push

Or create a daily cron job with OpenClaw:

openclaw cron add \
  --name "Auto-backup OpenClaw to GitHub" \
  --cron "0 23 * * *" \
  --message "cd ~/.openclaw && git add . && git commit -m 'Auto backup $(date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M)' && git push origin main" \
  --timeout-seconds 120

7. Restore on a new computer

After registering the new machine and configuring SSH, clone the repository directly into ~/.openclaw:

git clone [email protected]:YOUR_USERNAME/openclaw-config.git ~/.openclaw

If credentials/ was excluded, re‑enter the API keys in OpenClaw after cloning.

FAQ

Can I skip the account‑creation step? Yes – start from step 2 if you already have a GitHub account.

git add . reports "workspace/ does not have a commit checked out"? Remove the nested repository with rm -rf ~/.openclaw/workspace/.git and retry.

Why do I get "Permission denied (publickey)"? The SSH key has not been added to GitHub; repeat step 2.

The repository was accidentally made public. Change its visibility in Settings → Danger Zone → Change repository visibility.