> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL. > For a complete documentation index, see https://docs.nvidia.com/nemoclaw/llms.txt. > For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://docs.nvidia.com/nemoclaw/_mcp/server. # Create and Restore Snapshots > Create, list, restore, clone, and bulk-create NemoClaw snapshots for sandbox state. NemoClaw snapshots preserve manifest-defined sandbox state before destructive or state-changing operations. They are the preferred backup and restore path. ## When to Create a Snapshot * Before running `nemo-deepagents destroy`. * Before major NemoClaw version upgrades. * Periodically, if you have invested time customizing Deep Agents skills, memory, or managed MCP state. ## Understand Snapshot Contents Snapshots capture the manifest-declared snapshot state directories and store them in `~/.nemoclaw/rebuild-backups//`. Agent manifests can also declare durable top-level state files. Treat snapshot directories as private local data. Before NemoClaw marks a snapshot complete, it strips recognized credential values from copied JSON, YAML, and `.env` files. It preserves recognized dependency lockfiles byte for byte when they contain only dependency metadata. This behavior includes installed npm `.package-lock.json` files. It omits a recognized lockfile when the file is invalid or contains any of these values: * A credential field. * A provider-shaped secret outside a dependency URL. * URL user information. * A credential-bearing query parameter. Dependency names in lockfile maps do not count as credential fields. NemoClaw also preserves valid, credential-free `node_modules/**/package.json` manifests byte for byte because dependency names can match credential field names. It omits an installed package manifest when the file contains invalid JSON, a credential or authentication field, a provider-shaped secret, or a credential-bearing URL. It continues to sanitize configuration and `.env` files inside installed dependency trees. It preserves OpenShell credential placeholders so rebuild can reattach the host-side provider. If NemoClaw cannot sanitize a copied configuration or environment file, it omits that file from the snapshot. If it cannot remove the unsafe file, snapshot creation returns an error. It deletes the incomplete backup when cleanup succeeds and reports when the backup remains. This sanitization uses an isolated `python3` helper on POSIX hosts to keep reads, replacements, and removals anchored to opened directory descriptors. If a copied file or parent directory changes identity during the operation, snapshot creation fails closed instead of following the changed path. Deep Agents snapshots include manifest-declared state under `/sandbox/.deepagents`, including skills and runtime state, while omitting credential-bearing user files. NemoClaw refuses to create a snapshot when it detects an active `dcode` task or cannot verify that the Deep Agents state tree is idle. Wait for active `dcode` work to finish before running `nemo-deepagents snapshot create`. Snapshots preserve sandbox registry metadata that affects rebuild behavior, including custom policy presets applied with `policy add --from-file` or `policy add --from-dir` and baseline network policy entries excluded with `policy exclude`. When you restore a snapshot, NemoClaw replays those recorded custom presets with their stored YAML content, so you do not need the original preset files on disk, and rebuild continues to apply the recorded baseline exclusions. The target sandbox's current agent manifest remains authoritative for directory and state-file restore behavior. NemoClaw rejects the restore when the snapshot's agent, config directory, any snapshot directory, state-file path, or state-file strategy conflicts with that manifest. Restore limits directory cleanup to state directories authorized by both the snapshot and the current manifest. It preserves target-only directories and directories whose backup failed. For managed images, NemoClaw applies the current manifest's managed config merge rules by default and does not fall back to whole-file replacement. For Deep Agents targets, whole-file config replacement is limited to sandboxes created from a custom Dockerfile. ## Create and List Snapshots ```bash nemo-deepagents my-assistant snapshot create nemo-deepagents my-assistant snapshot list ``` `snapshot list` prints a table of version, name, timestamp, and path. NemoClaw computes versions (`v1`, `v2`, through `vN`) from timestamp order, so `vN` is always the newest snapshot. `snapshot create` requires shields to be down. Snapshot creation and restore share the per-sandbox transition lock with the shields auto-restore timer. If a timed shields-down window expires during snapshot work, the deadline gate blocks new mutations and waits for the exact snapshot owner to finish without signaling it. Snapshot work does not bypass recovery for an expired shields-down window. If a state-directory failure prevents gate publication, normal mutation-lock acquisition also fails. If recovery reports a state-directory failure, correct it and run `nemo-deepagents shields status`. Durable containment or retained exact gates keep new mutations blocked until you complete exact-generation recovery. If the command reports exact-generation recovery guidance, stop all NemoClaw processes for the sandbox and follow that guidance before you rerun `nemo-deepagents snapshot create`. Tag a snapshot with a human-readable label: ```bash nemo-deepagents my-assistant snapshot create --name before-upgrade ``` When a directory or state file cannot be captured, `snapshot create` reports the failed items, removes the incomplete snapshot, and exits nonzero. `snapshot list` shows no new entry, so a later restore cannot select a capture that never completed. If removal fails, the command reports the listed snapshot path. Remove that directory manually before you run `snapshot restore` because the incomplete capture remains selectable. ## Restore a Snapshot Restore the latest snapshot: ```bash nemo-deepagents my-assistant snapshot restore ``` Pass an exact version, name, or timestamp to select a specific snapshot. Use the exact timestamp from `snapshot list`; a timestamp prefix does not select a snapshot. ```bash nemo-deepagents my-assistant snapshot restore v3 nemo-deepagents my-assistant snapshot restore before-upgrade nemo-deepagents my-assistant snapshot restore 2026-04-14T09-40-09-760Z ``` Post-restore policy reconciliation is best-effort. NemoClaw warns and continues the remaining restore steps in these cases: * NemoClaw cannot verify whether a custom policy owns the live `observability-otlp-local` policy entry. * The built-in `observability-otlp-local` policy preset has drifted or cannot be inspected. * NemoClaw cannot add or remove a recorded policy preset. The live network policy can then retain unwanted egress or omit expected egress until you repair the named preset. After a warning, run `nemo-deepagents policy list`. Confirm that the named preset is recorded in the sandbox registry and active on the gateway, or absent from both. To clone a snapshot into a different sandbox name, pass `--to `. If the destination sandbox already exists, NemoClaw refuses to overwrite it unless you pass `--force`: ```bash nemo-deepagents my-assistant snapshot restore before-upgrade --to my-assistant-clone nemo-deepagents my-assistant snapshot restore before-upgrade --to my-assistant-clone --force --yes ``` Cross-sandbox restore from a stopped source is available for Docker- and VM-driver sandboxes. For a stopped source, its registry entry must record both the sandbox image and a complete inference route; NemoClaw creates the destination from the recorded image. NemoClaw stops before creating or replacing the destination when either record is missing, and directs you to run `nemo-deepagents onboard` when no image is recorded. For a Kubernetes-driver source, the pod image must remain resolvable through its gateway. For a new destination, NemoClaw waits for the owning gateway to report the sandbox as Ready with a valid live identity. It checks that identity again immediately before registration. NemoClaw assigns the destination a new lifecycle generation instead of copying the source sandbox's generation. If the destination is not Ready with the same valid identity, the restore exits nonzero before registration or state restore. The OpenShell sandbox remains created but unregistered, so `--force` cannot select it for deletion. Run the exact owner-scoped deletion command printed by the failure: ```bash openshell sandbox delete -g '' '' ``` After OpenShell deletes the destination, rerun the original `snapshot restore --to` command. For dashboard-enabled agents, NemoClaw allocates the destination sandbox its own dashboard port instead of reusing the source port. If no port is available, restore stops before deleting an existing `--force` destination. The force-overwrite path restores and verifies lockdown on a destination with an active shields timer, then revokes that timer before it deletes the destination. It clears the remaining local shields state only after deletion succeeds, before a same-name replacement is created. ## Restore Agent Configuration Safely The `nemo-deepagents rebuild` command uses the same snapshot mechanism automatically. NemoClaw rejects unsafe symlinks and special files inside sandbox state during backup creation. It records multiply-linked regular files and archives each path as a separate regular file. ### Excluded Deep Agents State Credential-bearing Deep Agents files such as `.deepagents/.env` and user-authored `.deepagents/.mcp.json` are intentionally excluded from snapshots. Deep Agents auth state files such as `.deepagents/.state/auth.json` and `.deepagents/.state/chatgpt-auth.json` are also excluded because the managed launcher refuses to start when upstream credential state is present. The managed `.deepagents/.nemoclaw-mcp.json` projection and `hooks.json` are excluded because NemoClaw reconstructs managed MCP state and disables executable Deep Agents Code hooks in the managed harness. NemoClaw recreates the current inference route headers, `models` and `update` tables, managed MCP projection state, and provider credentials from host-side onboarding and OpenShell provider state during rebuild. ### Restore Managed Deep Agents Configuration For a NemoClaw-managed Deep Agents image, NemoClaw restores only the allowlisted `ui.show_scrollbar`, `ui.show_url_open_toast`, `threads.relative_time`, and `threads.sort_order` preferences from the previous `config.toml` when their values pass validation. Unknown, runtime-controlled, executable, and security-sensitive backup keys are dropped instead of replacing freshly generated settings on that managed path. A Deep Agents target created from a custom Dockerfile restores `config.toml` as a whole file because the custom image owns its config schema. On the managed key-level restore path, malformed config, missing managed data, an unsafe link, or an unsafe file replacement fails the restore without falling back to a whole-file copy. ### Validate Before Replacement Before a Deep Agents rebuild changes the sandbox, NemoClaw verifies the recorded inference route, provider, model, reasoning settings, web search selection, base image, and policy inputs. If a late check fails, NemoClaw restores the previous MCP state and keeps the existing sandbox intact. ## Back Up Every Registered Sandbox Run `nemo-deepagents backup-all` before broad maintenance such as `nemo-deepagents update`, `nemo-deepagents upgrade-sandboxes`, or an OpenShell gateway migration. ```bash nemo-deepagents backup-all ``` `backup-all` walks the sandboxes registered on the host, creates a snapshot for each eligible running or temporarily started sandbox, and stores the snapshot bundles under `~/.nemoclaw/rebuild-backups//`. If a registered docker-driver sandbox's container is stopped, `backup-all` starts the container for the duration of the backup and returns it to its stopped state afterward. If the container cannot be returned to the stopped state, the backup run fails and reports that the container was left running. If a sandbox is not running and its container cannot be started this way, start the sandbox or its container and rerun `nemo-deepagents backup-all`. For each eligible sandbox, `backup-all` holds one lifecycle transaction through the complete backup. Within that transaction, it starts a stopped container when required, opens a 30-minute shields-down window when the sandbox starts with Shields up, copies sandbox state, restores the previous Shields state, and returns any container it started to the stopped state. A sandbox that starts with Shields down remains down. If the timer expires during the transaction, the deadline gate blocks new mutations and waits for the exact backup owner to finish without signaling it. An initial lock or unlock failure marks that sandbox as failed, and `backup-all` continues with the next sandbox. NemoClaw attempts to restore the previous Shields state before it processes the next sandbox, including when the backup fails. If lockdown cannot be restored, `backup-all` stops and does not process the remaining sandboxes. Correct the reported issue, run the printed `nemo-deepagents shields up` command, and rerun `nemo-deepagents backup-all`. When a backup fails, NemoClaw identifies the affected state item and reports `permission denied`, `tar read error`, or `absent after extraction` when available. Use `nemo-deepagents snapshot list` and `nemo-deepagents snapshot restore` to inspect or restore one sandbox's bundles later. ## Related Topics * [Understand Sandbox State](understand-sandbox-state) for the files each agent persists. * [Transfer State Manually](transfer-state-manually) when you need specific files instead of a managed snapshot. * [Recover and Rebuild Sandboxes](../operate-sandboxes/recover-and-rebuild-sandboxes) for automatic snapshot-backed rebuilds. * [Commands reference](../../reference/commands) for snapshot and backup flags.