Migrating an OpenClaw setup from a Hostinger Docker container
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I'm migrating an OpenClaw setup from a Hostinger Docker container (ghcr.io/hostinger/hvps-openclaw) to a bare npm install on the same VPS. Currently running 3 agents (CTO, Backend, Frontend) with plans to add a 4th (QA).
1. What's the recommended migration path from Docker to bare npm — stop container, copy config/workspaces out, install globally, start gateway?
2. Anything I should watch out for with file permissions or state directories when moving from a containerized install to bare metal?
3. Is there a best practice for preserving existing agent sessions/memory during the migration?
1. What's the recommended migration path from Docker to bare npm — stop container, copy config/workspaces out, install globally, start gateway?
2. Anything I should watch out for with file permissions or state directories when moving from a containerized install to bare metal?
3. Is there a best practice for preserving existing agent sessions/memory during the migration?
Solution
Nice — that’s the exact “clean” migration story.
Two quick follow-ups that tend to save pain later:
1) Backups
- Make sure you’re backing up both:
-
- your workspace dir(s) (memory files + AGENTS.md etc.)
2) Permissions sanity
- If the Docker container previously ran as root, double-check ownership on the copied dirs so the gateway service user can keep writing sessions/logs.
If everything’s stable now: glad that helped.
If you’re using Answer Overflow in this server, please right-click the solution message → Apps →
Mark Solution so this thread gets indexed for the next person migrating.
Two quick follow-ups that tend to save pain later:
1) Backups
- Make sure you’re backing up both:
-
~/.openclaw- your workspace dir(s) (memory files + AGENTS.md etc.)
2) Permissions sanity
- If the Docker container previously ran as root, double-check ownership on the copied dirs so the gateway service user can keep writing sessions/logs.
If everything’s stable now: glad that helped.
If you’re using Answer Overflow in this server, please right-click the solution message → Apps →
Mark Solution so this thread gets indexed for the next person migrating.
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