Documentation Index
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The backup commands help you create, restore, and manage backups of your OpenClaw stack data, including PostgreSQL dumps and Qdrant snapshots.
Subcommands
create
Create a backup of the stack (PostgreSQL dump, Qdrant snapshot).
create-better-openclaw backup create [options]
Options
Project directory containing the stack (default: current directory).
Output directory for the backup archive. If not specified, backups are saved to ./backups/ in the stack directory.
Output results as JSON for programmatic use.
restore
Restore from a backup archive.
create-better-openclaw backup restore <file> [options]
Arguments
Path to the backup .tar.gz file to restore.
Options
Project directory containing the stack (default: current directory).
Output results as JSON for programmatic use.
list
List available backups.
create-better-openclaw backup list [options]
Options
Project directory containing the stack (default: current directory).
Output results as JSON for programmatic use.
Examples
Create a backup
cd my-stack
create-better-openclaw backup create
Creating backup...
Backing up PostgreSQL...
✓ Database dump: openclaw.sql (12.4 MB)
Backing up Qdrant...
✓ Snapshot created: qdrant-snapshot.tar (45.2 MB)
Creating archive...
✓ Backup saved: ./backups/openclaw-backup-2026-03-03-14-32-15.tar.gz (57.6 MB)
Backup complete!
Create backup with custom output location
create-better-openclaw backup create --output /mnt/backups
Creating backup...
Backing up PostgreSQL...
✓ Database dump: openclaw.sql (12.4 MB)
Backing up Qdrant...
✓ Snapshot created: qdrant-snapshot.tar (45.2 MB)
Creating archive...
✓ Backup saved: /mnt/backups/openclaw-backup-2026-03-03-14-32-15.tar.gz (57.6 MB)
Backup complete!
List available backups
create-better-openclaw backup list
Available Backups:
openclaw-backup-2026-03-03-14-32-15.tar.gz 57.6 MB 2 hours ago
openclaw-backup-2026-03-02-10-15-42.tar.gz 56.8 MB 1 day ago
openclaw-backup-2026-03-01-03-00-00.tar.gz 54.2 MB 2 days ago
Total: 3 backups (168.6 MB)
Restore from backup
create-better-openclaw backup restore ./backups/openclaw-backup-2026-03-03-14-32-15.tar.gz
Restoring from backup...
⚠ Warning: This will overwrite existing data.
Stopping services...
✓ All services stopped
Extracting archive...
✓ Extracted to temp directory
Restoring PostgreSQL...
✓ Database restored: openclaw.sql
Restoring Qdrant...
✓ Snapshot restored
Starting services...
✓ postgres
✓ redis
✓ qdrant
✓ openclaw
Restore complete!
JSON output
create-better-openclaw backup create --json
{
"success": true,
"file": "./backups/openclaw-backup-2026-03-03-14-32-15.tar.gz",
"size": 60395520,
"timestamp": "2026-03-03T14:32:15Z",
"contents": [
{
"service": "postgres",
"file": "openclaw.sql",
"size": 13008896
},
{
"service": "qdrant",
"file": "qdrant-snapshot.tar",
"size": 47386624
}
]
}
create-better-openclaw backup list --json
{
"backups": [
{
"file": "openclaw-backup-2026-03-03-14-32-15.tar.gz",
"path": "./backups/openclaw-backup-2026-03-03-14-32-15.tar.gz",
"size": 60395520,
"created": "2026-03-03T14:32:15Z",
"age": "2h"
},
{
"file": "openclaw-backup-2026-03-02-10-15-42.tar.gz",
"path": "./backups/openclaw-backup-2026-03-02-10-15-42.tar.gz",
"size": 59572224,
"created": "2026-03-02T10:15:42Z",
"age": "1d"
}
],
"total": 2,
"totalSize": 119967744
}
Backup contents
Backups include:
PostgreSQL
- Full database dump (
pg_dump)
- Schema and data
- Sequences and indexes
Qdrant
- Vector database snapshot
- Collections and vectors
- Indexes and metadata
Configuration (optional)
.env file (secrets redacted)- Custom configuration files
Not included
- Docker images
- Log files
- Temporary data
- Build artifacts
Use cases
Daily automated backups
#!/bin/bash
# Run daily at 3 AM via cron
# 0 3 * * * /opt/openclaw/backup.sh
cd /opt/my-stack
create-better-openclaw backup create --output /mnt/backups
# Keep only last 7 days
find /mnt/backups -name "openclaw-backup-*.tar.gz" -mtime +7 -delete
Pre-update backup
#!/bin/bash
echo "Creating backup before update..."
create-better-openclaw backup create
echo "Updating stack..."
if ! create-better-openclaw update; then
echo "Update failed! Restoring from backup..."
LATEST=$(create-better-openclaw backup list --json | jq -r '.backups[0].path')
create-better-openclaw backup restore "$LATEST"
exit 1
fi
echo "Update successful!"
Disaster recovery
# On original server
create-better-openclaw backup create --output /mnt/backup
scp /mnt/backup/openclaw-backup-*.tar.gz user@new-server:/tmp/
# On new server
create-better-openclaw generate my-stack --preset researcher
cd my-stack
create-better-openclaw backup restore /tmp/openclaw-backup-*.tar.gz
Migrate between environments
# Development to staging
cd ~/dev-stack
create-better-openclaw backup create
scp ./backups/openclaw-backup-*.tar.gz staging:/opt/staging-stack/backups/
# On staging
cd /opt/staging-stack
create-better-openclaw backup restore ./backups/openclaw-backup-*.tar.gz
Testing and rollback
# Before making changes
create-better-openclaw backup create
# Make changes, test
create-better-openclaw add ollama
docker compose up -d
# If issues, rollback
LATEST=$(create-better-openclaw backup list --json | jq -r '.backups[0].path')
create-better-openclaw backup restore "$LATEST"
Best practices
Backup frequency
- Production: Daily automated backups
- Development: Before major changes
- Staging: Before deployments
Retention policy
# Keep last 7 daily backups
find ./backups -name "*.tar.gz" -mtime +7 -delete
# Or keep last N backups
ls -t ./backups/*.tar.gz | tail -n +8 | xargs rm -f
Off-site storage
# Upload to S3
aws s3 cp ./backups/openclaw-backup-*.tar.gz s3://my-backups/openclaw/
# Or rsync to remote server
rsync -av ./backups/ user@backup-server:/backups/openclaw/
Verify backups
# Test restore in isolated environment
docker compose -f docker-compose.test.yml up -d
create-better-openclaw backup restore --dir ./test-stack ./backups/latest.tar.gz
# Verify data integrity
docker compose -f docker-compose.test.yml down
Monitor backup size
# Alert if backup size changes significantly
CURRENT_SIZE=$(ls -l ./backups/latest.tar.gz | awk '{print $5}')
LAST_SIZE=$(ls -l ./backups/previous.tar.gz | awk '{print $5}')
if [ $((CURRENT_SIZE - LAST_SIZE)) -gt 10485760 ]; then # 10MB threshold
echo "Warning: Backup size increased by >10MB"
fi
Troubleshooting
Backup fails: Permission denied
Ensure Docker containers have proper permissions:
sudo chown -R 999:999 ./data/postgres # PostgreSQL user
sudo chown -R 1000:1000 ./data/qdrant # Qdrant user
Backup takes too long
For large databases, consider:
- Incremental backups
- Compression level tuning
- Parallel dump/restore
Restore fails: Version mismatch
Ensure compatible versions:
# Check versions in backup metadata
tar -xzf backup.tar.gz metadata.json
cat metadata.json
# Match image versions
docker compose pull
Corrupted backup
Verify backup integrity:
# Check archive
tar -tzf backup.tar.gz > /dev/null
# Check SQL dump
tar -xzf backup.tar.gz openclaw.sql
psql -d postgres -f openclaw.sql --dry-run