How to Migrate from OpenClaw to Hermes Agent Safely

Description and use

Migrating an AI assistant from OpenClaw to Hermes requires preserving identity, memory, tools, schedules, and channel access. Use the hermes claw migrate planner, create a verified backup, perform a dry‑run, import without secrets, validate locally, then switch to Hermes while keeping OpenClaw recoverable.

Problem

Migrating an AI assistant from OpenClaw to Hermes requires preserving identity, memory, tool behavior, scheduled work, and messaging access without duplicate bot gateways.

Outcome

Hermes successfully inherits persona, memory, skills, and approved tools from OpenClaw while preserving channel credentials and scheduled jobs. The migration plan identifies conflicts and archived items for manual reconstruction.

Workflow

• Inventory live OpenClaw system and document all components
• Create a verified OpenClaw backup with openclaw backup create --verify
• Run a dry‑run migration with hermes claw migrate --dry-run --preset full and review the report for conflicts
• Import migration without secrets using hermes claw migrate --preset full
• Validate Hermes locally in the terminal (model, tools, memory, approvals, workspace)
• Stop OpenClaw, migrate or set secrets, and start Hermes gateway
• Keep OpenClaw stopped for a soak period to confirm scheduled and inbound work
• Archive old OpenClaw state after acceptance and close rollback window

Evidence

Hermes Agent now includes hermes claw migrate, a real migration planner rather than a cosmetic import command.

Source

The approach below is a staged cutover: back up OpenClaw, dry‑run the full migration, import without secrets, validate Hermes from the terminal, and transfer messaging credentials only after the new agent behaves correctly.

Source