Clawdbot Update Skill

Comprehensive backup, update, and restore workflow for Clawdbot installations.

Repository

GitHub: https://github.com/clawdbot/clawdbot
Upstream: origin/main
Local Clone: ~/code/clawdbot (default)

Description

This skill provides a complete, modular update workflow for Clawdbot with dynamic workspace detection:

Configuration files
Agent states and sessions
Credentials and auth tokens
All agent workspaces (auto-detected from config)
Cron jobs and sandboxes
Git repository state

Key Features

✅ Dynamic Workspace Detection - Reads workspace paths from config
✅ Multi-Agent Support - Handles multiple agents automatically
✅ Safe Rollback - Full restore capability
✅ Git Integration - Tracks versions and remotes
✅ Validation - Pre/post checks included
✅ Dry Run - Preview before backup

Files

config.json - Skill configuration (repo URLs, paths)
backup-clawdbot-dryrun.sh - Dry run preview (no changes)
backup-clawdbot-full.sh - Dynamic full backup script
restore-clawdbot.sh - Dynamic restore script
validate-setup.sh - Pre/post update validation
check-upstream.sh - Check for available updates
UPDATE_CHECKLIST.md - Step-by-step update checklist
QUICK_REFERENCE.md - Quick command reference
SKILL.md - This file
README.md - Quick start guide

Dynamic Features

Both backup and restore scripts now:

Read workspace paths from ~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json
Support any number of agents
Handle missing workspaces gracefully
Generate safe filenames from agent IDs

When to Use

Trigger this skill when asked to:

"update clawdbot"
"upgrade to latest version"
"backup clawdbot before update"
"restore clawdbot from backup"
"rollback clawdbot update"

Usage

1. Preview Backup (Dry Run)

~/.skills/clawdbot-update/backup-clawdbot-dryrun.sh

Shows:

What files would be backed up
Estimated backup size
Workspace detection results
Disk space availability
Files that would be skipped

No files are created or modified!

2. Create Full Backup

~/.skills/clawdbot-update/backup-clawdbot-full.sh

Backs up:

~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json (config)
~/.clawdbot/sessions/ (session state)
~/.clawdbot/agents/ (multi-agent state)
~/.clawdbot/credentials/ (auth tokens)
~/.clawdbot/cron/ (scheduled jobs)
~/.clawdbot/sandboxes/ (sandbox state)
All agent workspaces (dynamically detected!)
Git commit and status

Output: ~/.clawdbot-backups/pre-update-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS/

3. Update Clawdbot

Follow the checklist:

cat ~/.skills/clawdbot-update/UPDATE_CHECKLIST.md

Key steps:

Create backup
Stop gateway
Pull latest code
Adjust config for breaking changes
Run doctor
Test functionality
Start gateway as daemon

4. Restore from Backup

~/.skills/clawdbot-update/restore-clawdbot.sh ~/.clawdbot-backups/pre-update-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS

Restores:

All configuration
All state files
All workspaces
Optionally: git version

Important Notes

Multi-Agent Setup

This skill is designed for multi-agent setups with:

Multiple agents with separate workspaces
Sandbox configurations
Provider routing (WhatsApp/Telegram/Discord/Slack/etc.)

Breaking Changes in v2026.1.8

CRITICAL:

DM Lockdown: DMs now default to pairing policy instead of open
Groups: telegram.groups and whatsapp.groups are now allowlists
Sandbox: Default scope changed to "agent" from implicit
Timestamps: Now UTC format in agent envelopes

Backup Validation

After backup, always verify:

BACKUP_DIR=~/.clawdbot-backups/pre-update-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS
cat "$BACKUP_DIR/BACKUP_INFO.txt"
ls -lh "$BACKUP_DIR"

Should contain:

✅ clawdbot.json
✅ credentials.tar.gz
✅ workspace-*.tar.gz (one per agent)

Config Changes Required

Example: Switch WhatsApp to pairing:

jq '.whatsapp.dmPolicy = "pairing"' ~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json | sponge ~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json

Example: Set explicit sandbox scope:

jq '.agent.sandbox.scope = "agent"' ~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json | sponge ~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json

Workflow

Standard Update Flow

# 1. Check for updates
~/.skills/clawdbot-update/check-upstream.sh

# 2. Validate current setup
~/.skills/clawdbot-update/validate-setup.sh

# 3. Dry run
~/.skills/clawdbot-update/backup-clawdbot-dryrun.sh

# 4. Backup
~/.skills/clawdbot-update/backup-clawdbot-full.sh

# 5. Stop gateway
cd ~/code/clawdbot
pnpm clawdbot gateway stop

# 6. Update code
git checkout main
git pull --rebase origin main
pnpm install
pnpm build

# 7. Run doctor
pnpm clawdbot doctor --yes

# 8. Test
pnpm clawdbot gateway start  # foreground for testing

# 9. Deploy
pnpm clawdbot gateway stop
pnpm clawdbot gateway start --daemon

Rollback Flow

# Quick rollback
~/.skills/clawdbot-update/restore-clawdbot.sh <backup-dir>

# Manual rollback
cd ~/code/clawdbot
git checkout <old-commit>
pnpm install && pnpm build
cp <backup-dir>/clawdbot.json ~/.clawdbot/
pnpm clawdbot gateway restart

Testing After Update

Functionality Tests

New Features

pnpm clawdbot agents list
pnpm clawdbot logs --tail 50
pnpm clawdbot providers list --usage
pnpm clawdbot skills list

Monitoring

# Live logs
pnpm clawdbot logs --follow

# Or Web UI
open http://localhost:3001/logs

# Check status
pnpm clawdbot status
pnpm clawdbot gateway status

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Gateway won't start:

pnpm clawdbot logs --grep error
pnpm clawdbot doctor

Auth errors:

# OAuth profiles might need re-login
pnpm clawdbot providers login <provider>

Sandbox issues:

# Check sandbox config
jq '.agent.sandbox' ~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json

# Check per-agent sandbox
jq '.routing.agents[] | {name, sandbox}' ~/.clawdbot/clawdbot.json

Emergency Restore

If something goes wrong:

# 1. Stop gateway
pnpm clawdbot gateway stop

# 2. Full restore
LATEST_BACKUP=$(ls -t ~/.clawdbot-backups/ | head -1)
~/.skills/clawdbot-update/restore-clawdbot.sh ~/.clawdbot-backups/$LATEST_BACKUP

# 3. Restart
pnpm clawdbot gateway start

Installation

Via ClawdHub

clawdbot skills install clawdbot-update

Manual

git clone <repo-url> ~/.skills/clawdbot-update
chmod +x ~/.skills/clawdbot-update/*.sh

License

MIT - see LICENSE

Author

Pascal Schott (@pasogott)

Contribution for Clawdbot
https://github.com/clawdbot/clawdbot