openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix OpenClaw Upgrade Checklist [2 comments, 2 participants]

Summary

I started building this after running into a few upgrade problems with OpenClaw.

When I upgraded, I noticed that some things did not carry over cleanly:

the config still showed an older version a custom agent was missing or misregistered some tools were listed in config but were not actually available in the runtime it was hard to tell what had changed after the upgrade That made me realize I needed a simple way to check the system before and after every upgrade.

This checklist is my solution:

take a snapshot before upgrading upgrade OpenClaw take another snapshot after upgrading compare the two keep a record of all customizations so nothing gets lost The goal is to make upgrades safer, easier, and less stressful — especially if you are not deeply technical.

Problem to solve

OpenClaw upgrades can change config behavior, agent registration, tool availability, and workspace state in ways that are not obvious right away. Right now, there is no simple, repeatable way to capture the system state before an upgrade and compare it after the upgrade. That makes it easy to miss regressions until something breaks in daily use.

This project solves that by providing a lightweight upgrade checklist and snapshot workflow so users can verify agents, plugins, workspaces, integrations, and logs before and after each upgrade. It reduces guesswork, catches problems earlier, and makes upgrades safer for custom OpenClaw installations.

Proposed solution

Absolutely — here’s a cleaner GitHub README version you can publish.

OpenClaw Upgrade Checks I started this after running into a few upgrade issues with OpenClaw.

During one upgrade, I noticed that:

the config still showed an older version a custom agent was missing or misregistered some tools were listed in config but were not actually available in the runtime it was hard to tell what had changed after the upgrade That made it clear I needed a simple way to check the system before and after every upgrade.

This project is my solution:

take a snapshot before upgrading upgrade OpenClaw take another snapshot after upgrading compare the two keep a record of all customizations so nothing gets lost The goal is to make upgrades safer, easier, and less stressful — especially for people who are not deeply technical.

What this is for This repository helps you:

track your OpenClaw customizations capture the current state before an upgrade capture the state after an upgrade compare both snapshots spot regressions early keep a clean record of what you changed Folder structure text

Copy /root/openclaw-upgrade-checks/ README.md checklist.md snapshot-command.sh inventories/ customizations.md snapshots/ before/ after/ logs/ What each file is for README.md — explains the project checklist.md — the upgrade steps snapshot-command.sh — reusable read-only snapshot command inventories/customizations.md — list of all custom changes snapshots/before/ — snapshot taken before upgrade snapshots/after/ — snapshot taken after upgrade logs/ — optional notes or exported log summaries What to track in the inventory Keep a master list of anything that is not part of the base OpenClaw install, for example:

custom agents custom workspaces plugins integrations system dependencies config changes custom files How to use it

1. Create the folder structure bash

Copy mkdir -p /root/openclaw-upgrade-checks/snapshots/before mkdir -p /root/openclaw-upgrade-checks/snapshots/after mkdir -p /root/openclaw-upgrade-checks/inventories mkdir -p /root/openclaw-upgrade-checks/logs 2. Create the inventory file bash

Copy nano /root/openclaw-upgrade-checks/inventories/customizations.md 3. Create the checklist bash

Copy nano /root/openclaw-upgrade-checks/checklist.md 4. Create the snapshot command bash

Copy nano /root/openclaw-upgrade-checks/snapshot-command.sh chmod +x /root/openclaw-upgrade-checks/snapshot-command.sh 5. Run a snapshot before upgrading bash

Copy /root/openclaw-upgrade-checks/snapshot-command.sh before 6. Upgrade OpenClaw 7. Run a snapshot after upgrading bash

Copy /root/openclaw-upgrade-checks/snapshot-command.sh after 8. Compare the results bash

Copy ls -lt /root/openclaw-upgrade-checks/snapshots/before/ ls -lt /root/openclaw-upgrade-checks/snapshots/after/ What the snapshot captures The snapshot command records:

current date and time running OpenClaw container active config agent list plugin list workspace files recent log warnings and errors Why this helps This makes upgrades much easier to trust because you can:

see what changed catch missing agents or broken tools notice stale config verify plugins and integrations keep your custom setup documented Notes This is a simple, practical workflow for people who want a safer OpenClaw upgrade process without having to remember everything manually.

Alternatives considered

No response

Impact

Affected: OpenClaw users who upgrade or maintain custom installations, especially anyone with custom agents, workspaces, plugins, or external integrations.

Severity: Medium to high — upgrade issues can block workflow, cause missing agents or unsupported tools, and make it hard to trust the installation after an update.

Frequency: Intermittent, but recurring whenever OpenClaw is upgraded or customizations are added.

Consequence: Extra manual verification, delayed troubleshooting, risk of broken agents or integrations, and time spent comparing configs, logs, and workspaces after each upgrade.

Evidence/examples

No response

Additional information

No response