If you've been running OpenClaw, Hermes Agent is its successor. Same project lineage, same maintainers, a rename and a redesign on top. The Hermes installer was built to recognize that — v0.14.0 ships a first-class hermes claw migrate command that imports your existing OpenClaw state in one pass, with dry-run support and explicit presets.
This is the practical migration walkthrough: what gets imported, what flags you have, and the dry-run-first workflow that avoids surprises.
1. Install Hermes Agent
The Hermes setup wizard automatically detects ~/.openclaw and offers to migrate before configuration begins. The fastest path:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
source ~/.bashrc
hermes setup
When the wizard sees your OpenClaw home directory, it asks whether to migrate. Say yes — but if you want to see exactly what would be migrated first, exit the wizard and run the migrate command directly.
2. Preview with --dry-run
Always run this first. It enumerates everything the migrator would import without writing to disk:
hermes claw migrate --dry-run
The output groups by category — SOUL.md, memories, skills, allowlist, messaging configs, API keys, TTS assets. Read through it. If anything looks wrong (a stale API key you don't want migrated, a personality file you've outgrown), skip the corresponding section by using a preset.
3. Pick a preset
Two presets ship by default:
- •
full(default) — migrate everything including secrets - •
user-data— migrate everything except API keys; you'll re-enter secrets manually
Moving to a fresh machine and want a clean break on secrets? Use user-data:
hermes claw migrate --preset user-data
Upgrading the same machine and want continuity?
hermes claw migrate
4. What gets imported
Per the README:
| OpenClaw | Hermes target |
|---|---|
SOUL.md (persona) | imported as-is |
MEMORY.md and USER.md entries | imported into Hermes memory |
| User-created skills | copied to ~/.hermes/skills/openclaw-imports/ |
| Command allowlist (approval patterns) | imported |
| Messaging settings (platform configs, allowed users, working directory) | imported |
| API keys (Telegram, OpenRouter, OpenAI, Anthropic, ElevenLabs) | imported under preset full |
| TTS assets (workspace audio files) | imported |
Workspace AGENTS.md | imported with --workspace-target |
Skills from agentskills.io are not re-installed automatically — Hermes assumes you'll re-browse the hub and pick what you want via hermes skills. This is intentional: the OpenClaw → Hermes rename also overhauled the skills hub (v0.14.0 added huggingface/skills as a trusted default tap), and a fresh pick is cleaner than a wholesale carry-over.
5. Handle conflicts
If Hermes already has settings on this machine (e.g. you did hermes setup before remembering OpenClaw was there), the migrate command refuses to overwrite by default. Two options:
- •
--overwrite— overwrite Hermes settings with OpenClaw values - •Skip the conflicting category with
--preset user-dataif the conflict is on secrets
Use --overwrite only after a --dry-run that confirms the OpenClaw values are the ones you want.
6. Verify
hermes doctor
This runs the post-install health check. If memories, skills, allowlist, or platform configs aren't where they should be, it surfaces specific errors. Fix them, re-run, move on.
Alternative: agent-guided migration
If you'd rather not touch CLI flags, Hermes ships an openclaw-migration skill:
hermes
> /openclaw-migration
The skill walks you through the same migration interactively, with --dry-run previews at every step.
Common questions
Do I lose my OpenClaw data? No. The migrator copies — it doesn't move. Your ~/.openclaw directory stays untouched. If something goes wrong, you can roll back by removing ~/.hermes and continuing to use OpenClaw.
Can I run both? Briefly. They share assumptions about HOME and don't both expect to own the same memory at the same time. For prolonged dual operation, the community HermesClaw bridge handles running OpenClaw and Hermes on the same WeChat account.
Will my skills break? User-created skills get copied to ~/.hermes/skills/openclaw-imports/ so they survive the move. Skills you got from agentskills.io are tied to the hub, not your local install — re-install them via hermes skills.
Where can I get help if something goes wrong? hermes doctor first. Then the Nous Research Discord or GitHub Issues — both linked from the README.