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On this page
  • File Reference
  • Where They Live
  • Multi-Agent Deployments
  • Persistence Behavior
  • Preserved During Restart, Rebuild, and Upgrade
  • Deleted During Sandbox Destroy
  • Editing Workspace Files
  • Next Steps
  • Important Hermes State
  • Persistence Behavior
  • Editing State
  • Next Steps
Manage Sandboxes

Workspace Files

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Messaging Channels

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Backup and Restore Workspace Files

OpenClaw stores its personality, user context, and behavioral configuration in a set of Markdown files inside the sandbox. These files live at /sandbox/.openclaw/workspace/ and are collectively called workspace files.

File Reference

FilePurpose
SOUL.mdDefines the agent’s persona, tone, and communication style.
USER.mdStores information about the human the agent assists.
IDENTITY.mdShort identity card — name, language, emoji, creature type.
AGENTS.mdBehavioral rules, memory conventions, safety guidelines, and session workflow.
MEMORY.mdCurated long-term memory distilled from daily notes.
memory/Directory of daily note files (YYYY-MM-DD.md) for session continuity.

Where They Live

All workspace files reside inside the sandbox filesystem:

/sandbox/.openclaw/workspace/
├── AGENTS.md
├── IDENTITY.md
├── MEMORY.md
├── SOUL.md
├── USER.md
└── memory/
    ├── 2026-03-18.md
    └── 2026-03-19.md

Multi-Agent Deployments

A single NemoClaw sandbox can host more than one OpenClaw agent. When OpenClaw is configured with multiple named agents (e.g., a shared main agent plus per-user agents for a Teams-integrated deployment), each agent gets its own workspace directory alongside the default workspace/:

/sandbox/.openclaw/
├── workspace/           # default agent (single-agent deployments)
├── workspace-main/      # named agent "main"
├── workspace-support/   # named agent "support"
└── workspace-ops/       # named agent "ops"

Each per-agent workspace contains the same Markdown file structure as the default (SOUL.md, USER.md, IDENTITY.md, AGENTS.md, MEMORY.md, memory/). Files are per-agent — changes in workspace-main/AGENTS.md are not visible to workspace-support/.

Persistence and snapshots are handled automatically for per-agent workspaces: the sandbox entrypoint provisions each workspace-<name>/ directly under the writable .openclaw/ tree so state survives sandbox restart, and nemoclaw <name> snapshot create discovers every workspace-<name>/ directory and includes it in the snapshot bundle alongside the default workspace/.

Files that operators typically want consistent across every agent workspace (AGENTS.md, shared skills, common templates) are not synced automatically. Each workspace is independent; changes in one don’t propagate. Tracking shared-file tooling (shared mount, workspaces list command) in #1260.

Persistence Behavior

Workspace files live in the sandbox’s persistent state volume, not in the container image. This means they survive normal container restarts, but they are deleted when you destroy the sandbox.

Preserved During Restart, Rebuild, and Upgrade

Sandbox restarts preserve workspace files because the persistent state volume outlives individual container restarts.

The nemoclaw <name> rebuild command and the sandbox upgrade flow also preserve workspace state. Before replacing the container, NemoClaw snapshots the workspace state directories and restores them into the rebuilt sandbox. If NemoClaw cannot archive any requested state file or directory, it reports the backup failure and stops before replacing the sandbox. It does not continue with a partial backup.

Deleted During Sandbox Destroy

Running nemoclaw <name> destroy deletes the sandbox and its persistent state volume. Workspace files are removed from the sandbox unless you created a snapshot or backup first.

Back up your workspace files before running nemoclaw <name> destroy. See Backup and Restore for instructions.

Editing Workspace Files

The agent reads these files at the start of every session. You can edit them in two ways:

  1. Ask your agent to update its persona, memory, or user context.
  2. Use nemoclaw <name> connect to open a terminal inside the sandbox and edit files directly, or use openshell sandbox upload to push edited files from your host.

Next Steps

  • Set Up Task-Specific Sub-Agents
  • Backup and Restore workspace files
  • Commands reference