Backup and Restore

Protect your profClaw data with backups and disaster recovery

Overview

profClaw stores configuration, memory, audit logs, and task history locally. Regular backups ensure you can recover from hardware failures, corruption, or accidental deletion.

What Gets Backed Up

Data	Location	Included
Configuration	.profclaw/settings.yml	Yes
SQLite database	.profclaw/profclaw.db	Yes
Memory entries	.profclaw/memory/	Yes
Audit logs	.profclaw/audit/	Yes
Plugin data	.profclaw/plugins/	Yes
Encryption keys	.profclaw/keys/	Yes
Skills	skills/	Yes
Environment vars	.env	No (manual)
Redis data	External	No (separate backup)

Manual Backup

# Create a backup
profclaw backup create

# Create with custom output path
profclaw backup create --output ./backups/

# Create with timestamp
profclaw backup create --output ./backups/profclaw-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz

Automatic Backups

Enable scheduled backups:

backup:
  enabled: true
  interval: 86400000   # Every 24 hours (ms)
  retention: 7         # Keep last 7 backups
  path: .profclaw/backups

Or via environment variables:

export BACKUP_ENABLED=true
export BACKUP_INTERVAL=86400000
export BACKUP_RETENTION=7

Restore

# List available backups
profclaw backup list

# Restore from latest
profclaw backup restore --latest

# Restore from specific file
profclaw backup restore --file ./backups/profclaw-20260312.tar.gz

Restoring a backup replaces your current data. The current state is automatically saved as a pre-restore backup before the restore operation begins.

Docker Backup

For Docker deployments, back up the data volume:

# Backup
docker run --rm \
  -v profclaw-data:/data \
  -v $(pwd)/backups:/backup \
  alpine tar czf /backup/profclaw-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /data

# Restore
docker run --rm \
  -v profclaw-data:/data \
  -v $(pwd)/backups:/backup \
  alpine sh -c "rm -rf /data/* && tar xzf /backup/profclaw-20260312.tar.gz -C /"

Redis Backup (Pro Mode)

If using Redis for the job queue:

# Trigger Redis RDB snapshot
redis-cli BGSAVE

# Copy the dump file
cp /var/lib/redis/dump.rdb ./backups/redis-$(date +%Y%m%d).rdb

Disaster Recovery Checklist

1. Stop profClaw: profclaw daemon stop or systemctl stop profclaw
2. Restore backup: profclaw backup restore --file backup.tar.gz
3. Verify config: profclaw doctor
4. Restore Redis (if pro mode): Copy RDB file to Redis data directory
5. Start profClaw: profclaw serve
6. Verify: profclaw status