NemoClawWorkspace and state files define your agent’s personality, memory, user context, and durable runtime state. They persist across sandbox restarts but are permanently deleted when you destroy the sandbox.
This guide covers snapshot commands, manual backup with CLI commands, and an automated script.
nemohermes <name> destroyThe fastest way to back up and restore sandbox state is with the built-in snapshot commands.
Snapshots capture all workspace state directories defined in the agent manifest and store them in ~/.nemoclaw/rebuild-backups/<name>/.
Agent manifests can also declare durable top-level state files.
For Hermes, snapshots include SOUL.md and the SQLite database behind .hermes/state.db using SQLite’s online backup API, then restore that database through SQLite instead of copying a live raw database file.
Treat snapshot directories as private local data: the Hermes database can contain session metadata and message history needed for a faithful restore.
snapshot list prints a table of version, name, timestamp, and path.
NemoClaw computes versions (v1, v2, …, vN) from timestamp order, so vN is always the newest snapshot.
To tag a snapshot with a human-readable label, pass --name:
To restore a specific snapshot instead of the latest, pass a version, name, or timestamp prefix:
To clone a snapshot into a different sandbox name, pass --to <name>.
If the destination sandbox already exists, NemoClaw refuses to overwrite it unless you pass --force:
The nemohermes <name> rebuild command uses the same snapshot mechanism automatically.
NemoClaw rejects unsafe symlinks and hard links inside sandbox state during backup creation before they can enter a snapshot.
Credential-bearing Hermes files such as auth.json are intentionally excluded
from snapshots. NemoClaw-regenerated Hermes config files (config.yaml and
.env) are also excluded; model/provider and messaging credentials are
recreated from host-side onboarding and OpenShell provider state during rebuild.
For full details, see the Commands reference.
Use openshell sandbox download to copy files from the sandbox to your host.
Use openshell sandbox upload to push files back into a sandbox.
For Hermes, prefer the built-in snapshot commands for faithful restore of state.db.
Use manual openshell sandbox download / openshell sandbox upload only when you need to inspect or transfer a specific file.
Hermes does not use OpenClaw per-agent workspace directories. NemoClaw snapshots preserve the Hermes manifest-defined state tree and durable top-level files instead. Refer to Workspace Files for the Hermes state layout.