Restoring from a backup

Roll your instance back to a previous backup — overwrites current state.

What this is

Pick a backup, restore it, and your instance returns to the exact state it was in at that point. Configuration, sessions, memory, channels, provider keys — all rolled back together.

Restoring is a Beach operation — you do it from your instance page in Beach, not from the OpenClaw Control UI.

Warning: this overwrites your current state

Restoring replaces everything on your instance with the backup. Anything that happened since that backup — new conversations, things your agent learned, channel changes, skill changes — is gone.

If there's any chance you want to keep the current state, take a manual backup first before you restore. That way the current state is itself preserved as a backup you can return to.

See Backups for how to take a manual backup.

Steps

  1. Open your instance page in Beach.
  2. Go to the backups section. You'll see a list of backups with timestamps.
  3. (Recommended) Take a manual backup of the current state first.
  4. Pick the backup you want to restore.
  5. Click the restore action.
  6. Confirm at the prompt. Read it carefully — this is destructive.
  7. Wait a minute or two. Your instance will come back online in the restored state, with channels reconnecting automatically.

Common pitfalls

  • Picking the wrong backup. Timestamps are shown in your local timezone. Double-check the date and time before confirming — some backups can look very similar at a glance.
  • Forgetting it's destructive. Restoring isn't a "preview" — it commits immediately on confirmation. There's no undo unless you took a manual backup first.
  • Channel disruption. Channels disconnect briefly during restore, then Beach reconnects them. Your agent may be silent for a minute or two.

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