How to Update OpenClaw — Safe Upgrade Guide

Updating OpenClaw is quick, but there are a few things worth doing before you run npm install. Here's my update procedure — I use it every time there's a new release.

Check Current Version

openclaw --version
# Note this version in case you need to roll back

Check What's New

Before updating, check the changelog to understand what's changing. Breaking changes are rare but documented.

Back Up Your Workspace

Your workspace files are separate from OpenClaw itself, but it's good practice to back them up before major updates:

cp -r ~/.openclaw/workspace ~/.openclaw/workspace.backup.$(date +%Y%m%d)

Update OpenClaw

npm install -g openclaw@latest
openclaw --version  # Verify new version installed

Restart the Gateway

On Mac with the LaunchAgent:

openclaw gateway restart

On Linux with systemd:

sudo systemctl restart openclaw
sudo systemctl status openclaw

With Docker:

docker-compose build --no-cache
docker-compose up -d

Verify Everything Works

openclaw gateway status
# Check: Gateway running | Channels connected | LLM responding

Send a test message through your channel to verify the agent is responsive.

Rolling Back

If something breaks after an update:

npm install -g openclaw@1.2.3  # Replace with your previous version
openclaw gateway restart

And restore your workspace backup if needed:

cp -r ~/.openclaw/workspace.backup.YYYYMMDD ~/.openclaw/workspace

Automating Updates

For non-critical agents, you can automate updates with a cron job:

openclaw cron add "0 3 * * 0" "npm install -g openclaw@latest && openclaw gateway restart" --name hex-auto-update

This updates every Sunday at 3 AM — a low-traffic time. The OpenClaw Playbook covers how to set up a proper update pipeline with health checks so your agent automatically rolls back if a new version causes issues.