To migrate OpenClaw to Hermes, you install one official plugin and run one command: hermes import-agent openclaw. It copies your persona, memory, skills, model settings, MCP servers and messaging bots from ~/.openclaw into Hermes, and it always shows you a preview before it changes anything. Since Hermes Agent v0.22.5 (22 October 2026), this lives in the official agent-importers plugin instead of the core app. The older command, hermes claw migrate, still works and does exactly the same thing. Below is the full process from the official migration guide, in plain English: the safe test run, what moves over and what doesn’t, how API keys work, and the checklist to run afterwards. I’ve also put my Hermes vs OpenClaw test video below.
Key takeaways
- Install once:
hermes plugins install agent-importers. - Test first:
hermes import-agent openclaw --dry-runchanges nothing. - API keys only come over if you add –migrate-secrets.
- A backup of
~/.hermesis saved before anything is written. - Want your agents moved and set up for you? Claim a free strategy session.
What “migrate OpenClaw to Hermes” actually means
OpenClaw and Hermes Agent are both personal AI agents that run on your own machine or server, keep memory, use skills and talk to you on apps like Telegram and Discord. If you’ve built up an OpenClaw setup over months, the hard part of switching isn’t installing Hermes. It’s rebuilding everything your agent already knows.
The migration tool does that rebuild for you. According to the Hermes CLI reference, it covers more than 30 categories across persona, memory, skills, model providers, messaging platforms, agent behaviour, session policies, MCP servers and text-to-speech. Each item is either imported directly into its Hermes equivalent or archived so you can review it by hand.
It also finds older installs. If you started on Clawdbot or Moltbot, the tool checks ~/.clawdbot and ~/.moltbot automatically, plus the old config names clawdbot.json and moltbot.json.
The easy way: let Hermes setup do it
If you’re installing Hermes fresh on a machine that already has OpenClaw, you may not need any commands at all. The guide says that when you run hermes setup and it finds ~/.openclaw, it asks “Import your setup from OpenClaw?”
Say yes and setup installs the plugin, runs the import with your API keys included, shows you the preview, asks you to confirm, and then carries on with the parts of setup the import didn’t cover. If the import brought over a model and its key, Quick Setup then asks whether you want to keep that model or switch to Nous Portal.
Already have Hermes configured? Use the manual steps below instead.
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How to migrate OpenClaw to Hermes step by step
These are the commands from the Quick start, in the order I’d run them:
- 1. Install the plugin (once per profile):
hermes plugins install agent-importers - 2. Do a test run:
hermes import-agent openclaw --dry-run. This shows what would move over and stops. Nothing is written. - 3. Run the real migration:
hermes import-agent openclaw. It shows the full preview again, then asks you to confirm. - 4. Bring your API keys too (optional):
hermes import-agent openclaw --preset full --migrate-secrets - 5. Start a new session so the imported skills and memory load.
Before it writes anything, Hermes saves one restore-point zip of ~/.hermes to ~/.hermes/backups/pre-migration-*.zip. If something goes wrong you can restore it with hermes import. You can skip that backup with --no-backup, but I wouldn’t.
Not comfortable in the terminal? Ask your agent: “Install the agent-importers plugin, do a dry run of the OpenClaw import, and show me what would move over before you change anything.”
Every migration option explained
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| –dry-run | Preview only. Nothing is written. |
| –preset full | All compatible settings (still no API keys). |
| –preset user-data | Your data without infrastructure config (still no API keys). |
| –migrate-secrets | Include API keys. Needed even with –preset full. |
| –overwrite | Replace existing Hermes files on conflicts. By default the import refuses to apply when there are conflicts. |
| –no-backup | Skip the pre-migration zip of ~/.hermes. |
| –source <path> | Use an OpenClaw folder somewhere other than ~/.openclaw. |
| –workspace-target <path> | Where to put your AGENTS.md workspace instructions. |
| –skill-conflict | skip (default), overwrite, or rename when a skill name already exists. |
| –yes | Skip the confirmation prompt after the preview. |
The safety rule worth remembering: no preset ever imports your API keys silently. You have to type --migrate-secrets on purpose.
What moves over from OpenClaw (and where it lands)
The migration guide lists exactly where each piece ends up. The main ones:
| From OpenClaw | To Hermes |
|---|---|
| workspace/SOUL.md (persona) | ~/.hermes/SOUL.md |
| workspace/MEMORY.md and daily memory files | ~/.hermes/memories/MEMORY.md (merged, duplicates removed) |
| workspace/USER.md | ~/.hermes/memories/USER.md |
| workspace/AGENTS.md | AGENTS.md in your –workspace-target folder |
| Skills from 4 places | ~/.hermes/skills/openclaw-imports/ |
| Default model and custom providers | config.yaml |
| MCP servers | mcp_servers in config.yaml |
| Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Signal, Matrix and Mattermost tokens and allowlists | ~/.hermes/.env |
| TTS voice settings (ElevenLabs, OpenAI, Edge) | tts in config.yaml |
Agent behaviour is translated too. For example, OpenClaw’s thinking level becomes Hermes’ reasoning effort (“high”, “medium” or “low”), your timezone and Docker sandbox settings carry over, and compression settings map across.
Want this set up for you instead of doing it yourself? Claim your free strategy session →
What doesn’t move over automatically
Some things are archived for manual review rather than imported. The guide lists cron jobs, plugins, hooks and webhooks, the QMD memory backend, the skills registry config, UI and identity settings, logging, multi-agent setups, channel bindings, and the files IDENTITY.md, TOOLS.md, HEARTBEAT.md and BOOTSTRAP.md.
You’ll find them in ~/.hermes/migration/openclaw/<timestamp>/archive/. The ones most people will want to redo by hand are cron jobs, since scheduled tasks are usually where an agent earns its keep.
Two more things to know:
- Idle and daily reset timers are not imported. In Hermes a conversation carries on until you type
/newor/reset. - WhatsApp needs re-pairing. It uses QR-code pairing, not a token, so run
hermes whatsappafter the migration.
How API keys are found and moved
When you pass --migrate-secrets, Hermes looks for keys in three places, in this order: your OpenClaw config values, then ~/.openclaw/.env, then auth-profiles.json. Token fields can be plain text, environment templates like ${VAR}, or OpenClaw SecretRef objects, and the tool handles all three.
Keys go into ~/.hermes/.env. Afterwards, run hermes status to check each provider signs in properly.
After you migrate: the checklist
The guide gives an 8-step check. In short:
- Read the migration report: it counts what was migrated, skipped and in conflict.
- Review the archived files in the migration folder.
- Start a new session. Imported skills and memory only load in new sessions.
- Run
hermes statusto verify API keys. - Restart the gateway if you moved bot tokens:
systemctl --user restart hermes-gateway - Check the archived session settings.
- Re-pair WhatsApp with
hermes whatsapp. - When everything works, run
hermes claw cleanup. It renames the old OpenClaw folders to.pre-migration.
Careful: after hermes claw cleanup, OpenClaw itself stops working because its folders have been renamed. Rename them back if you need to undo it.
Fixing common migration problems
- “OpenClaw directory not found”: your install is somewhere unusual. Add
--source /path/to/your/openclaw. - “No provider API keys found”: keys can live in several places depending on your OpenClaw version. Make sure you passed
--migrate-secrets. - Skills not showing up: they’re in
~/.hermes/skills/openclaw-imports/. Start a new session, or type/skillsto check they loaded. - TTS voice missing: if you set the voice in OpenClaw’s UI it may be stored somewhere the tool doesn’t read. Set it again with
hermes config set.
Moving from Claude Code, Codex or Cursor too
The same plugin imports more than OpenClaw. hermes import-agent claude-code, codex or cursor bring over instructions and rules as memory entries, permission rules as allowlists, MCP servers and skills, as the import guide explains. For those three agents, credentials are never imported, and --sync re-imports a source later if it changed.
So if you’ve been running OpenClaw for your messaging bots and Claude Code for coding, Hermes can pull in both.
My verdict
This is the cleanest way to switch I’ve seen from any agent: a test run that changes nothing, a backup before every write, API keys only when you ask, and a clear list of what you’ll need to redo by hand. Do the dry run, read the report, rebuild your cron jobs, and you’re done. If you’ve been waiting to migrate OpenClaw to Hermes, you can now do it in one sitting.
About Julian Goldie
I’m Julian Goldie — founder of Goldie Agency and the AI Profit Boardroom. I test new AI agents almost every day for 432K+ YouTube subscribers and run Hermes, OpenClaw, OpenCode, Claude and Codex side by side in my own Agent OS. Claim your free strategy session or join the AI Profit Boardroom.
Want another angle? Read the AI Profit Boardroom guide to Migrating OpenClaw to Hermes.
FAQ: migrate openclaw to hermes
How do I migrate OpenClaw to Hermes?
Install the agent-importers plugin with hermes plugins install agent-importers, preview with hermes import-agent openclaw –dry-run, then run hermes import-agent openclaw. Add –migrate-secrets if you want your API keys moved too.
Is hermes claw migrate still available?
Yes. hermes claw migrate is the older spelling of hermes import-agent openclaw and does exactly the same thing. Both now come from the official agent-importers plugin.
Does the migration copy my API keys?
Only if you pass –migrate-secrets. No preset imports secrets on its own, not even –preset full.
Will migrating break my OpenClaw install?
No. The import only reads from OpenClaw. OpenClaw stops working only if you later run hermes claw cleanup, which renames its folders; you can rename them back to undo it.
Are my OpenClaw cron jobs migrated?
No. Cron jobs, plugins, hooks and a few other items are archived for manual review in ~/.hermes/migration/openclaw/
Can I undo a migration?
Yes. Before applying, Hermes saves a zip of ~/.hermes to ~/.hermes/backups/pre-migration-*.zip, which you can restore with hermes import.
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Related reading
Last updated October 2026. This page is a living guide to migrate openclaw to hermes — the facts here move fast and it is updated as they do.
