OpenClaw WebDAV Backup

Lightweight backup/restore skill for OpenClaw.

It covers:

local backup archives (full and incremental)
multi-level backup strategies (smart, daily, hourly)
optional encryption for openclaw.json
optional WebDAV upload
restore from local backup archives
backup version management (list, select, delete)
backup integrity verification
configuration health checks
lightweight scheduled backup guidance
optional Telegram notifications for backup success/failure

It does not provide WebDAV storage. The user must supply their own WebDAV endpoint and credentials.

When to use this skill

Use this skill when the user asks to:

back up OpenClaw (full or incremental)
restore OpenClaw from backup
migrate OpenClaw to a new VM or machine
protect backup configs with encryption
upload backups to a self-provided WebDAV target
schedule daily or periodic backups
receive Telegram notifications for scheduled backup success/failure
prepare a simple disaster-recovery workflow
check backup configuration health
verify backup integrity
manage backup versions (list, delete old backups)

Implementation layout

Canonical implementation lives inside the skill:

scripts/openclaw-backup.impl.sh
scripts/openclaw-restore.impl.sh

Thin wrapper scripts may also exist in the workspace and call these implementations. Keep the skill scripts as the source of truth.

Default workflow

1. Local backup (full)

bash skills/openclaw-webdav-backup/scripts/openclaw-backup.sh

2. Incremental backup with smart strategy

Auto-determines level based on day:

Sunday: Level 0 (full backup)
Monday-Saturday: Level 1 (incremental)

# Smart strategy (recommended for cron)
BACKUP_STRATEGY=smart bash skills/openclaw-webdav-backup/scripts/openclaw-backup.sh

# Or explicitly set level
bash skills/openclaw-webdav-backup/scripts/openclaw-backup.sh --level=1

3. Encrypted backup + WebDAV upload

Prepare .env.backup with the user's own WebDAV settings, then run:

bash skills/openclaw-webdav-backup/scripts/openclaw-backup.sh --encrypt-config --upload

Only do real upload after confirming the user wants to write to the remote WebDAV target.

4. Restore from a local backup set

bash skills/openclaw-webdav-backup/scripts/openclaw-restore.sh --from backups/openclaw/latest --decrypt-config

Backup Strategies

The skill supports multiple backup strategies via BACKUP_STRATEGY environment variable:

Strategy	Description	Level Behavior
`full` (default)	Always full backup	Level 0
`weekly`	Weekly full backup	Level 0
`daily`	Daily with auto-incremental	Level 0 once, then Level 1
`smart`	Recommended for production	Sunday=Level 0, Mon-Sat=Level 1
`hourly`	Fine-grained incremental	Level 0 → 1 → 2 chain

Level Explanation

Level 0: Full backup (tar creates complete archive + snapshot file)
Level 1: Incremental backup (only files changed since Level 0)
Level 2: Incremental backup (only files changed since Level 1)

Cron Examples

# Smart strategy: Sunday full, weekdays incremental
0 0 * * 0 BACKUP_STRATEGY=smart /path/to/openclaw-backup.sh --upload
30 3 * * 1-6 BACKUP_STRATEGY=smart /path/to/openclaw-backup.sh --upload

# Weekly full only
0 3 * * 0 BACKUP_STRATEGY=weekly /path/to/openclaw-backup.sh --upload

# Daily with auto-level detection
0 3 * * * BACKUP_STRATEGY=daily /path/to/openclaw-backup.sh

Manual Level Control

Override auto-detection with --level flag:

bash openclaw-backup.sh --level=0  # Force full backup
bash openclaw-backup.sh --level=1  # Force incremental (level 1)

Compression Options

The skill supports multiple compression tools with automatic detection of parallel variants:

Option	Tool	Threads	Notes
`gzip`	gzip	1	Standard, widely available
`pigz`	pigz	N	Parallel gzip, 3-5x faster
`zstd`	zstd	1	High compression ratio
`pzstd`	pzstd	N	Parallel zstd, fastest option

Auto-Detection

By default, the skill auto-detects the best available compressor:

# Prefers pigz > gzip, pzstd > zstd
bash skills/openclaw-webdav-backup/scripts/openclaw-backup.sh

Explicit Selection

Force a specific compressor:

bash skills/openclaw-webdav-backup/scripts/openclaw-backup.sh --compress=pigz
bash skills/openclaw-webdav-backup/scripts/openclaw-backup.sh --compress=pzstd

Parallel Jobs

Control the number of compression threads (default: auto-detect CPU cores):

# Use 8 threads explicitly
PARALLEL_JOBS=8 bash skills/openclaw-webdav-backup/scripts/openclaw-backup.sh

# Or via CLI
bash skills/openclaw-webdav-backup/scripts/openclaw-backup.sh --jobs=8

Installation

Install parallel compression tools for best performance:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt-get install pigz zstd

# macOS
brew install pigz zstd

# CentOS/RHEL
sudo yum install pigz zstd

Backup Notifications

The skill supports multiple notification channels for backup success/failure alerts.

Supported Channels

Channel	Status	Configuration
Telegram	✅ Ready	Bot token + Chat ID
WeCom (企业微信)	✅ Ready	Webhook key
Feishu (飞书)	✅ Ready	Webhook token

Quick Setup

Copy the example config:

cp references/env.backup.notify.example .env.backup.notify

Edit .env.backup.notify with your channel settings:

Telegram Setup

BACKUP_NOTIFY=1
BACKUP_NOTIFY_CHANNEL="telegram"
BACKUP_NOTIFY_TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID="123456789"
BACKUP_NOTIFY_TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN="123456:your-bot-token"  # Optional, can auto-detect

WeCom (企业微信) Setup

BACKUP_NOTIFY=1
BACKUP_NOTIFY_CHANNEL="wecom"
BACKUP_NOTIFY_WECOM_KEY="xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
BACKUP_NOTIFY_WECOM_MENTION="13800138000,13900139000"  # Optional: mobile numbers

Get webhook key from: Group Settings → Add Robot → Copy Webhook URL key

Feishu (飞书) Setup

BACKUP_NOTIFY=1
BACKUP_NOTIFY_CHANNEL="feishu"
BACKUP_NOTIFY_FEISHU_TOKEN="xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
BACKUP_NOTIFY_FEISHU_SECRET="your-secret"  # Optional: if signature enabled

Get webhook token from: Group Settings → Add Bot → Copy Webhook URL token

Notification Content

Notifications include:

Backup status (✅ success / ❌ failure)
Timestamp and backup type
Local backup location
Encryption status
WebDAV upload status
Retention settings

Important behavior notes

openclaw.json may contain secrets, tokens, and API keys
prefer --encrypt-config before remote upload
.env.backup stores WebDAV connection settings and should not be committed
.env.backup.secret is optional; it is only a convenience carrier for BACKUP_ENCRYPT_PASS
.env.backup.notify is optional and enables backup notifications when configured
restore depends on the decryption password itself, not on the secret file specifically
for encrypted backups, .env.backup.secret and the password are either/or: either keep the file, or remember/provide the password
workspace backups exclude .env.backup and .env.backup.secret
local and remote retention are supported through LOCAL_KEEP and REMOTE_KEEP

Read references when needed

For usage, included files, and backup examples: read references/backup.md
For restore/decrypt flow and restore checks: read references/restore.md
For automation with cron/systemd: read references/scheduling.md
For migration/disaster-recovery planning: read references/migration-plan.md
For common user questions and boundary clarifications: read references/faq.md
For config template examples: read references/env.backup.example, references/env.backup.secret.example, and references/env.backup.notify.example

Validated behaviors

This skill has been validated against a real OpenClaw setup for:

local backup creation
encrypted config backup
WebDAV upload
local and remote retention
restore drill to a simulated fresh-machine home directory
cron-based scheduled backup
Telegram notification on backup success
backup integrity verification
configuration health checks

Health Check & Integrity Verification

Configuration Health Check

Run scripts/openclaw-healthcheck.sh to diagnose backup environment:

bash skills/openclaw-webdav-backup/scripts/openclaw-healthcheck.sh

Checks performed:

Check	Description
Base Environment	workspace dir, state dir, openclaw.json, extensions
Backup Infrastructure	backup root, snapshot dir, existing backups
Dependencies	tar, curl, openssl availability
Configuration	.env.backup, .env.backup.secret variables
Backup Integrity	Validates all existing tar.gz archives

Exit codes:

0 - All checks passed
1 - One or more critical checks failed

Backup Integrity Verification

Every backup automatically runs integrity checks:

Archive validation - tar -tzf verifies archive structure
Manifest verification - Confirms manifest.txt exists
Metadata check - Confirms workspace.meta exists

Failed integrity checks will abort the backup with error status.

To manually verify a specific backup:

tar -tzf backups/openclaw/2026-04-02-030000/workspace.tar.gz >/dev/null && echo "Valid" || echo "Corrupted"

Restore with Integrity Check

When restoring, verify the backup before extraction:

# Check integrity first
bash scripts/openclaw-restore.sh --from <backup_dir> --dry-run

# Then perform actual restore
bash scripts/openclaw-restore.sh --from <backup_dir>

Private-share checklist

Before sharing this skill privately, verify:

no real .env.backup or .env.backup.secret is included
no real WebDAV URL, username, password, token, or backup passphrase remains in tracked files
examples use placeholder values only
docs state clearly that WebDAV storage is user-provided
restore wording states password and secret file are either/or, not both required
references match actual script behavior

Scope

This skill intentionally stays lightweight. It supports:

local backup and restore
optional config encryption
optional WebDAV upload
local and remote retention
password-based restore with optional secret file automation

It does not currently provide:

built-in WebDAV provisioning
secret-manager integration
fully automatic remote download-and-restore flow
multi-target cloud replication