hermes-agent/website/docs/guides/migrate-from-openclaw.md

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10	Migrate from OpenClaw	Complete guide to migrating your OpenClaw / Clawdbot setup to Hermes Agent — what gets migrated, how config maps, and what to check after.

Migrate from OpenClaw

hermes claw migrate imports your OpenClaw (or legacy Clawdbot/Moldbot) setup into Hermes. This guide covers exactly what gets migrated, the config key mappings, and what to verify after migration.

Quick start

# Preview then migrate (always shows a preview first, then asks to confirm)
hermes claw migrate

# Preview only, no changes
hermes claw migrate --dry-run

# Full migration including API keys, skip confirmation
hermes claw migrate --preset full --migrate-secrets --yes

The migration always shows a full preview of what will be imported before making any changes. Review the list, then confirm to proceed.

Reads from ~/.openclaw/ by default. Legacy ~/.clawdbot/ or ~/.moltbot/ directories are detected automatically. Same for legacy config filenames (clawdbot.json, moltbot.json).

Options

Option	Description
--dry-run	Preview only — stop after showing what would be migrated.
--preset <name>	full (all compatible settings) or user-data (excludes infrastructure config). Neither preset imports secrets by default — pass --migrate-secrets explicitly.
--overwrite	Overwrite existing Hermes files on conflicts (default: refuse to apply when the plan has conflicts).
--migrate-secrets	Include API keys. Required even under --preset full — no preset imports secrets silently.
--no-backup	Skip the pre-migration zip snapshot of ~/.hermes/ (by default a single restore-point archive is written before apply, under ~/.hermes/backups/pre-migration-*.zip; restorable with hermes import).
--source <path>	Custom OpenClaw directory.
--workspace-target <path>	Where to place AGENTS.md.
--skill-conflict <mode>	skip (default), overwrite, or rename.
--yes	Skip the confirmation prompt after preview.

What gets migrated

Persona, memory, and instructions

What	OpenClaw source	Hermes destination	Notes
Persona	workspace/SOUL.md	~/.hermes/SOUL.md	Direct copy
Workspace instructions	workspace/AGENTS.md	AGENTS.md in --workspace-target	Requires --workspace-target flag
Long-term memory	workspace/MEMORY.md	~/.hermes/memories/MEMORY.md	Parsed into entries, merged with existing, deduped. Uses § delimiter.
User profile	workspace/USER.md	~/.hermes/memories/USER.md	Same entry-merge logic as memory.
Daily memory files	workspace/memory/*.md	~/.hermes/memories/MEMORY.md	All daily files merged into main memory.

Workspace files are also checked at workspace.default/ and workspace-main/ as fallback paths (OpenClaw renamed workspace/ to workspace-main/ in recent versions, and uses workspace-{agentId} for multi-agent setups).

Skills (4 sources)

Source	OpenClaw location	Hermes destination
Workspace skills	workspace/skills/	~/.hermes/skills/openclaw-imports/
Managed/shared skills	~/.openclaw/skills/	~/.hermes/skills/openclaw-imports/
Personal cross-project	~/.agents/skills/	~/.hermes/skills/openclaw-imports/
Project-level shared	workspace/.agents/skills/	~/.hermes/skills/openclaw-imports/

Skill conflicts are handled by --skill-conflict: skip leaves the existing Hermes skill, overwrite replaces it, rename creates a -imported copy.

Model and provider configuration

What	OpenClaw config path	Hermes destination	Notes
Default model	agents.defaults.model	config.yaml → model	Can be a string or {primary, fallbacks} object
Custom providers	models.providers.*	config.yaml → custom_providers	Maps baseUrl, apiType/api — handles both short ("openai", "anthropic") and hyphenated ("openai-completions", "anthropic-messages", "google-generative-ai") values
Provider API keys	models.providers.*.apiKey	~/.hermes/.env	Requires --migrate-secrets. See API key resolution below.

Agent behavior

What	OpenClaw config path	Hermes config path	Mapping
Max turns	agents.defaults.timeoutSeconds	agent.max_turns	timeoutSeconds / 10, capped at 200
Verbose mode	agents.defaults.verboseDefault	agent.verbose	"off" / "on" / "full"
Reasoning effort	agents.defaults.thinkingDefault	agent.reasoning_effort	"always"/"high"/"xhigh" → "high", "auto"/"medium"/"adaptive" → "medium", "off"/"low"/"none"/"minimal" → "low"
Compression	agents.defaults.compaction.mode	compression.enabled	"off" → false, anything else → true
Compression model	agents.defaults.compaction.model	compression.summary_model	Direct string copy
Human delay	agents.defaults.humanDelay.mode	human_delay.mode	"natural" / "custom" / "off"
Human delay timing	agents.defaults.humanDelay.minMs / .maxMs	human_delay.min_ms / .max_ms	Direct copy
Timezone	agents.defaults.userTimezone	timezone	Direct string copy
Exec timeout	tools.exec.timeoutSec	terminal.timeout	Direct copy (field is timeoutSec, not timeout)
Docker sandbox	agents.defaults.sandbox.backend	terminal.backend	"docker" → "docker"
Docker image	agents.defaults.sandbox.docker.image	terminal.docker_image	Direct copy

Session reset policies

OpenClaw config path	Hermes config path	Notes
session.reset.mode	session_reset.mode	"daily", "idle", or both
session.reset.atHour	session_reset.at_hour	Hour (0–23) for daily reset
session.reset.idleMinutes	session_reset.idle_minutes	Minutes of inactivity

Note: OpenClaw also has session.resetTriggers (a simple string array like ["daily", "idle"]). If the structured session.reset isn't present, the migration falls back to inferring from resetTriggers.

MCP servers

OpenClaw field	Hermes field	Notes
mcp.servers.*.command	mcp_servers.*.command	Stdio transport
mcp.servers.*.args	mcp_servers.*.args
mcp.servers.*.env	mcp_servers.*.env
mcp.servers.*.cwd	mcp_servers.*.cwd
mcp.servers.*.url	mcp_servers.*.url	HTTP/SSE transport
mcp.servers.*.tools.include	mcp_servers.*.tools.include	Tool filtering
mcp.servers.*.tools.exclude	mcp_servers.*.tools.exclude

TTS (text-to-speech)

TTS settings are read from two OpenClaw config locations with this priority:

1. messages.tts.providers.{provider}.* (canonical location)
2. Top-level talk.providers.{provider}.* (fallback)
3. Legacy flat keys messages.tts.{provider}.* (oldest format)

What	Hermes destination
Provider name	config.yaml → tts.provider
ElevenLabs voice ID	config.yaml → tts.elevenlabs.voice_id
ElevenLabs model ID	config.yaml → tts.elevenlabs.model_id
OpenAI model	config.yaml → tts.openai.model
OpenAI voice	config.yaml → tts.openai.voice
Edge TTS voice	config.yaml → tts.edge.voice (OpenClaw renamed "edge" to "microsoft" — both are recognized)
TTS assets	~/.hermes/tts/ (file copy)

Messaging platforms

Platform	OpenClaw config path	Hermes .env variable	Notes
Telegram	channels.telegram.botToken or .accounts.default.botToken	TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN	Token can be string or SecretRef. Both flat and accounts layout supported.
Telegram	credentials/telegram-default-allowFrom.json	TELEGRAM_ALLOWED_USERS	Comma-joined from allowFrom[] array
Discord	channels.discord.token or .accounts.default.token	DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN
Discord	channels.discord.allowFrom or .accounts.default.allowFrom	DISCORD_ALLOWED_USERS
Slack	channels.slack.botToken or .accounts.default.botToken	SLACK_BOT_TOKEN
Slack	channels.slack.appToken or .accounts.default.appToken	SLACK_APP_TOKEN
Slack	channels.slack.allowFrom or .accounts.default.allowFrom	SLACK_ALLOWED_USERS
WhatsApp	channels.whatsapp.allowFrom or .accounts.default.allowFrom	WHATSAPP_ALLOWED_USERS	Auth via Baileys QR pairing — requires re-pairing after migration
Signal	channels.signal.account or .accounts.default.account	SIGNAL_ACCOUNT
Signal	channels.signal.httpUrl or .accounts.default.httpUrl	SIGNAL_HTTP_URL
Signal	channels.signal.allowFrom or .accounts.default.allowFrom	SIGNAL_ALLOWED_USERS
Matrix	channels.matrix.accessToken or .accounts.default.accessToken	MATRIX_ACCESS_TOKEN	Uses accessToken (not botToken)
Mattermost	channels.mattermost.botToken or .accounts.default.botToken	MATTERMOST_BOT_TOKEN

Other config

What	OpenClaw path	Hermes path	Notes
Approval mode	approvals.exec.mode	config.yaml → approvals.mode	"auto"→"off", "always"→"manual", "smart"→"smart"
Command allowlist	exec-approvals.json	config.yaml → command_allowlist	Patterns merged and deduped
Browser CDP URL	browser.cdpUrl	config.yaml → browser.cdp_url
Browser headless	browser.headless	config.yaml → browser.headless
Brave search key	tools.web.search.brave.apiKey	.env → BRAVE_API_KEY	Requires --migrate-secrets
Gateway auth token	gateway.auth.token	.env → HERMES_GATEWAY_TOKEN	Requires --migrate-secrets
Working directory	agents.defaults.workspace	.env → MESSAGING_CWD

Archived (no direct Hermes equivalent)

These are saved to ~/.hermes/migration/openclaw/<timestamp>/archive/ for manual review:

What	Archive file	How to recreate in Hermes
IDENTITY.md	archive/workspace/IDENTITY.md	Merge into SOUL.md
TOOLS.md	archive/workspace/TOOLS.md	Hermes has built-in tool instructions
HEARTBEAT.md	archive/workspace/HEARTBEAT.md	Use cron jobs for periodic tasks
BOOTSTRAP.md	archive/workspace/BOOTSTRAP.md	Use context files or skills
Cron jobs	archive/cron-config.json	Recreate with hermes cron create
Plugins	archive/plugins-config.json	See plugins guide
Hooks/webhooks	archive/hooks-config.json	Use hermes webhook or gateway hooks
Memory backend	archive/memory-backend-config.json	Configure via hermes honcho
Skills registry	archive/skills-registry-config.json	Use hermes skills config
UI/identity	archive/ui-identity-config.json	Use /skin command
Logging	archive/logging-diagnostics-config.json	Set in config.yaml logging section
Multi-agent list	archive/agents-list.json	Use Hermes profiles
Channel bindings	archive/bindings.json	Manual setup per platform
Complex channels	archive/channels-deep-config.json	Manual platform config

API key resolution

When --migrate-secrets is enabled, API keys are collected from four sources in priority order:

1. Config values — models.providers.*.apiKey and TTS provider keys in openclaw.json
2. Environment file — ~/.openclaw/.env (keys like OPENROUTER_API_KEY, ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, etc.)
3. Config env sub-object — openclaw.json → "env" or "env"."vars" (some setups store keys here instead of a separate .env file)
4. Auth profiles — ~/.openclaw/agents/main/agent/auth-profiles.json (per-agent credentials)

Config values take priority. Each subsequent source fills any remaining gaps.

Supported key targets

OPENROUTER_API_KEY, OPENAI_API_KEY, ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, DEEPSEEK_API_KEY, GEMINI_API_KEY, ZAI_API_KEY, MINIMAX_API_KEY, ELEVENLABS_API_KEY, TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN, VOICE_TOOLS_OPENAI_KEY

Keys not in this allowlist are never copied.

SecretRef handling

OpenClaw config values for tokens and API keys can be in three formats:

// Plain string
"channels": { "telegram": { "botToken": "123456:ABC-DEF..." } }

// Environment template
"channels": { "telegram": { "botToken": "${TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN}" } }

// SecretRef object
"channels": { "telegram": { "botToken": { "source": "env", "id": "TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN" } } }

The migration resolves all three formats. For env templates and SecretRef objects with source: "env", it looks up the value in ~/.openclaw/.env and the openclaw.json env sub-object. SecretRef objects with source: "file" or source: "exec" can't be resolved automatically — the migration warns about these, and those values must be added to Hermes manually via hermes config set.

After migration

1. Check the migration report — printed on completion with counts of migrated, skipped, and conflicting items.

2. Review archived files — anything in ~/.hermes/migration/openclaw/<timestamp>/archive/ needs manual attention.

3. Start a new session — imported skills and memory entries take effect in new sessions, not the current one.

4. Verify API keys — run hermes status to check provider authentication.

5. Test messaging — if you migrated platform tokens, restart the gateway: systemctl --user restart hermes-gateway

6. Check session policies — verify hermes config get session_reset matches your expectations.

7. Re-pair WhatsApp — WhatsApp uses QR code pairing (Baileys), not token migration. Run hermes whatsapp to pair.

8. Archive cleanup — after confirming everything works, run hermes claw cleanup to rename leftover OpenClaw directories to .pre-migration/ (prevents state confusion).

Troubleshooting

"OpenClaw directory not found"

The migration checks ~/.openclaw/, then ~/.clawdbot/, then ~/.moltbot/. If your installation is elsewhere, use --source /path/to/your/openclaw.

"No provider API keys found"

Keys might be stored in several places depending on your OpenClaw version: inline in openclaw.json under models.providers.*.apiKey, in ~/.openclaw/.env, in the openclaw.json "env" sub-object, or in agents/main/agent/auth-profiles.json. The migration checks all four. If keys use source: "file" or source: "exec" SecretRefs, they can't be resolved automatically — add them via hermes config set.

Skills not appearing after migration

Imported skills land in ~/.hermes/skills/openclaw-imports/. Start a new session for them to take effect, or run /skills to verify they're loaded.

TTS voice not migrated

OpenClaw stores TTS settings in two places: messages.tts.providers.* and the top-level talk config. The migration checks both. If your voice ID was set via the OpenClaw UI (stored in a different path), you may need to set it manually: hermes config set tts.elevenlabs.voice_id YOUR_VOICE_ID.