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If you’re coming from OpenClaw, Hermes can automatically import your settings, memories, skills, and API keys. The migration preserves your persona file, conversation memories, user-created skills, and platform configuration so you can pick up where you left off.

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What gets migrated

WhatDescription
SOUL.mdYour persona file — the agent’s identity and behavior guidelines
MemoriesMEMORY.md and USER.md persistent memory entries
SkillsUser-created skills, imported to ~/.hermes/skills/openclaw-imports/
Command allowlistApproval patterns for dangerous command detection
Messaging settingsPlatform configs, allowed users, working directory
API keysAllowlisted secrets (Telegram, OpenRouter, OpenAI, Anthropic, ElevenLabs)
TTS assetsWorkspace audio files
Workspace instructionsAGENTS.md (with --workspace-target flag)

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Path mappings

The migration script translates OpenClaw’s directory layout to Hermes equivalents:
OpenClaw pathHermes path
~/.openclaw/SOUL.md~/.hermes/SOUL.md
~/.openclaw/memories/MEMORY.md~/.hermes/memories/MEMORY.md
~/.openclaw/memories/USER.md~/.hermes/memories/USER.md
~/.openclaw/skills/~/.hermes/skills/openclaw-imports/
~/.openclaw/config.yaml~/.hermes/config.yaml (merged)
~/.openclaw/.env~/.hermes/.env (allowlisted keys only)
~/.openclaw/approval_patterns~/.hermes/approval_patterns

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Automatic detection

The setup wizard (hermes setup) automatically detects ~/.openclaw during first-time setup and offers to run the migration before configuration begins. This is the easiest path if you’re installing Hermes for the first time on a machine that already has OpenClaw.

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Manual migration

1

Preview what will be migrated

Run a dry run first to see exactly what the migration will do without making any changes:
hermes claw migrate --dry-run
The output lists every item that would be migrated, skipped, or flagged as a conflict.
2

Run the migration

Run the full interactive migration:
hermes claw migrate
The interactive mode shows migration settings and asks for confirmation before proceeding. It detects ~/.openclaw automatically.To migrate without secrets (API keys, tokens):
hermes claw migrate --preset user-data
To overwrite existing Hermes files when there are conflicts:
hermes claw migrate --overwrite
3

Review the results

The migration report shows:
  • Items migrated successfully
  • Conflicts (existing Hermes files that were skipped)
  • Errors
If API keys were skipped (the default unless you used --preset full), add them manually:
hermes config set OPENROUTER_API_KEY sk-or-v1-...
4

Verify the migration

Run the health check to confirm everything is working:
hermes doctor
hermes chat -q "Hello"

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Migration commands reference

# Interactive full migration (includes API keys)
hermes claw migrate

# Preview only — no files modified
hermes claw migrate --dry-run

# Migrate user data without secrets
hermes claw migrate --preset user-data

# Overwrite existing conflicts
hermes claw migrate --overwrite

# Migrate from a non-standard OpenClaw path
hermes claw migrate --source /path/to/.openclaw

# Full migration with secrets, overwrite conflicts
hermes claw migrate --preset full --overwrite

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Migrated skills

User-created skills from OpenClaw are imported into a dedicated subdirectory: 
~/.hermes/skills/openclaw-imports/
├── my-skill/
│   └── SKILL.md
└── another-skill/
    └── SKILL.md
This keeps them separate from bundled Hermes skills and hub-installed skills. You can move them to a different directory under ~/.hermes/skills/ if you prefer a different organization.

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Agent-guided migration

For a more interactive experience, you can use the openclaw-migration skill, which provides agent-guided migration with explanations and dry-run previews at each step: 
hermes chat -q "Use the openclaw-migration skill to help me migrate from OpenClaw"
The skill walks you through each migration item, explains what will happen, and lets you approve or skip individual items.
The openclaw-migration skill is included in the optional-skills/migration/ directory of the Hermes repository. It is not activated by default but can be discovered via hermes skills browse and installed with hermes skills install.

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Troubleshooting

If the migration reports that ~/.openclaw doesn’t exist, specify the path explicitly:
hermes claw migrate --source /path/to/your/.openclaw
By default, hermes claw migrate uses the full preset which includes API keys. However, if you used --preset user-data, keys are excluded. Add them manually:
hermes config set OPENROUTER_API_KEY sk-or-v1-...
hermes config set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY sk-ant-...
Or run the migration again with secrets enabled:
hermes claw migrate --migrate-secrets
Migrated skills land in ~/.hermes/skills/openclaw-imports/. Verify the directory exists and contains your skills:
ls ~/.hermes/skills/openclaw-imports/
Skills in subdirectories of ~/.hermes/skills/ are automatically discovered. If a skill isn’t showing up, check that its SKILL.md has valid frontmatter.
When an existing Hermes file conflicts with a migrated OpenClaw file, the migration skips it by default. To overwrite:
hermes claw migrate --overwrite
Or resolve conflicts manually by editing the files in ~/.hermes/.

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