hbackup: developer tool for Hermes Agent

Rust CLI that backs up and restores Hermes Agent and OpenClaw installations to tar.zst archives

What hbackup does

hbackup is a command-line tool written in Rust that backs up and restores Hermes Agent and OpenClaw installations. It collects ~/.hermes, ~/.openclaw, user systemd units and any extra paths listed in its config file, and writes them to a compressed tar.zst archive. SQLite databases are copied with sqlite3 .backup, so live databases stay consistent.

The commands are backup, with dry-run, custom output path and exclude patterns; restore, with dry-run and force options; list; and upload to Google Drive through rclone. The auto command creates a backup and uploads it to the configured destination, which can be an scp or rsync target or a Drive folder, and the README includes a cron line for a daily 3 AM run. Settings live in ~/.config/hbackup/config.toml, where extra and exclude path lists can be set. Home directories are resolved with the dirs crate, so no paths are hardcoded.

Key features

Backs up ~/.hermes, ~/.openclaw and user systemd units
Safe copies of live SQLite databases using sqlite3 .backup
Compressed tar.zst archives with zstd
Restore with dry-run and force options
Upload to Google Drive through rclone, or to an scp or rsync destination
Config file with extra and exclude path lists

When to use it

Running a nightly cron backup of a Hermes Agent home directory
Restoring a Hermes Agent install from an archive after a failure
Copying backups to Google Drive or a remote server automatically

Who it is for: Hermes Agent and OpenClaw operators who want scheduled, restorable backups of their agent state.

How it fits with Hermes Agent

Built to back up Hermes Agent installations directly, including the ~/.hermes directory, alongside OpenClaw ones.

How to install hbackup

These commands are copied from the project's README. Check the repository for the latest steps before you run them.

cd tools/hbackup
cargo build --release
cp target/release/hbackup ~/.local/bin/

Requirements: A Rust toolchain with cargo to build it, and rclone configured if you want Google Drive uploads.

FAQ

What is hbackup?

hbackup is a Rust backup and restore tool for Hermes Agent and OpenClaw installations. It archives their directories and databases into tar.zst files.

How do I install hbackup?

Build it with cargo build --release and copy target/release/hbackup into ~/.local/bin/. After that, hbackup backup creates an archive and hbackup restore reads one.

Is hbackup free and open source?

The README says MIT, but the repository has no license file, so default copyright applies. Check with the author before reusing the code.