Fresh OpenClaw Reinstall Guide

Created: 2026-03-14 by Tila ⚡️ Machine: ThinkPad (Winnie) · Fedora 43 · Node 22

Goal

Clean OpenClaw install on the same machine. No old state carried over. Fresh workspace — let the new agent build its own personality and memory on the latest version. Preserve everything else (Frankel ML codebase, projects, system tools).

What Gets Nuked

Path	Contains	Action
`~/.openclaw/`	Config, sessions, memory DBs, credentials, cron, agents, logs, workspace	DELETE
`~/.npm-global/lib/node_modules/openclaw/`	OpenClaw package	REINSTALL
systemd user service	Gateway service unit	UNINSTALL

What Gets Preserved

Path	Contains	Why
`~/projects/frankel_beta/`	Frankel codebase + racing.db (162MB)	ML models, training data, pipeline
`~/projects/crate/`	R6 Records app	Active project
`~/2026-03-14T07-26-18.460Z-openclaw-backup.tar.gz`	Full backup of old state	Reference / rollback
Workspace git repo	`Chrisr6records/openclaw-workspace`	Reference only (do NOT restore by default)
`~/.codex/`	Codex CLI config + OAuth	ChatGPT Plus auth
`~/.gemini/`	Gemini CLI OAuth creds	Google auth
`~/.config/gh/`	GitHub CLI auth	gh CLI
`~/.mcp-venv/`	MCP tools (jCodeMunch, jDocMunch)	Code navigation
`~/.local/bin/bass`	BASS CLI	Knowledge base access
BASS (bass.romeosixpromotions.com)	All docs, tasks, decisions	Hosted on Cloudflare — survives reinstall
System packages, pip, npm globals (except openclaw)	Everything else	Not OpenClaw-related

Pre-Reinstall Checklist

Backup taken (tar.gz exists at ~/2026-03-14T07-26-18.460Z-openclaw-backup.tar.gz)
Workspace pushed to git as reference (Chrisr6records/openclaw-workspace at commit 8519f66)
API keys saved to a temp file (see below)

Keys & Tokens to Save

Before nuking, save these somewhere outside ~/.openclaw/:

# From ~/.openclaw/.env
GROQ_API_KEY=gsk_T1dl4a...  (Groq — for future use)
DEEPGRAM_API_KEY=aa9f69...  (Deepgram — audio transcription)

# From openclaw.json auth — these will re-auth via wizard:
# Anthropic MAX, Copilot Pro, Codex OAuth (~/.codex/), Gemini OAuth (~/.gemini/)

# From tools.web.search.apiKey
BRAVE_API_KEY=BSArpejZsa0fJMDXVvphqNxzczmnFEs

# From channels.telegram
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=8605008688:AAH4MccNC6Yh6r3RNbfTsbV3HJsiHjMyJcc

# Gemini embedding API key (for memory search)
GEMINI_API_KEY=AIzaSyDBvmQjjurzV8ayj8N1pdac2_d1ZHhgVNo

Step-by-Step Reinstall

Step 1: Stop and Uninstall the Service

openclaw gateway stop
openclaw gateway uninstall

# Verify
systemctl --user status openclaw-gateway 2>&1 | head -3
# Should say: Unit openclaw-gateway.service could not be found

Step 2: Remove OpenClaw State

rm -rf ~/.openclaw

# Verify
ls ~/.openclaw 2>&1
# Should say: No such file or directory

Step 3: Reinstall OpenClaw

npm rm -g openclaw
npm i -g openclaw@latest
openclaw --version

Step 4: Run the Onboarding Wizard

openclaw onboard --install-daemon

The wizard walks through:

Model/Auth — Choose Anthropic, set up MAX token/OAuth
Workspace — Accept default ~/.openclaw/workspace (fresh templates)
Gateway — Port 18789, loopback, token auth
Channels — Set up Telegram with the saved bot token
Daemon — Install systemd user service
Skills — Install recommended skills

The wizard creates fresh workspace files (SOUL.md, AGENTS.md, etc.) from the latest templates. Let the new agent build its own personality from here.

Step 5: Verify Gateway is Running

openclaw gateway status
openclaw status

Step 6: Add Auth Profiles

The wizard sets up the primary provider. Add the rest:

# Copilot Pro (GitHub)
openclaw configure --section auth
# Choose github-copilot, follow prompts

# Codex OAuth (should auto-detect from ~/.codex/)
openclaw configure --section auth
# Choose openai-codex

# Gemini CLI OAuth (should auto-detect from ~/.gemini/)
openclaw configure --section auth
# Choose google-gemini-cli

Add Groq/Deepgram keys:

echo "GROQ_API_KEY=gsk_T1dl4a..." >> ~/.openclaw/.env
echo "DEEPGRAM_API_KEY=aa9f69..." >> ~/.openclaw/.env

Step 7: Configure Settings

Apply tuned settings via dashboard or config patch:

Telegram Channel

dmPolicy: allowlist
allowFrom: [“8267352500”]
groupAllowFrom: [“8267352500”]
groupPolicy: allowlist
groups.-1003780594815.requireMention: false
streaming: partial

Agent Defaults

model.primary: anthropic/claude-opus-4-6
model.fallbacks: [“github-copilot/claude-opus-4.6”]
compaction.mode: safeguard
compaction.model: github-copilot/claude-sonnet-4.6
compaction.recentTurnsPreserve: 5
compaction.postIndexSync: await
compaction.memoryFlush.enabled: true
heartbeat.every: 1h
heartbeat.model: github-copilot/gpt-4o
heartbeat.lightContext: true
memorySearch.enabled: true
memorySearch.provider: gemini
memorySearch.model: gemini-embedding-2-preview
memorySearch.outputDimensionality: 3072
contextPruning.mode: cache-ttl
contextPruning.ttl: 1h

Models Allowlist

anthropic/claude-opus-4-6
github-copilot/claude-opus-4.6
github-copilot/gpt-5-mini
github-copilot/claude-sonnet-4.6
google-gemini-cli/gemini-3.1-pro-preview
anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6 (alias: sonnet)
github-copilot/gpt-5.4
github-copilot/gpt-4o
openai-codex/gpt-5.4

Other

tools.profile: full
tools.web.search: brave, llm-context mode
session.dmScope: per-channel-peer

Step 8: Add Agents

openclaw agents add frankel
# Bind to telegram topic 8

openclaw agents add vinyl
# Bind to telegram topic 9

openclaw agents add ops
# Bind to telegram topic 316

Restore agent workspaces from backup if desired, or let them start fresh too:

# OPTIONAL: Restore agent workspaces from backup
cd /tmp
tar xzf ~/2026-03-14T07-26-18.460Z-openclaw-backup.tar.gz
cp -r /tmp/.openclaw/agents/frankel/workspace/* ~/.openclaw/agents/frankel/workspace/
cp -r /tmp/.openclaw/agents/vinyl/workspace/* ~/.openclaw/agents/vinyl/workspace/
cp -r /tmp/.openclaw/agents/ops/workspace/* ~/.openclaw/agents/ops/workspace/
rm -rf /tmp/.openclaw

Step 9: Set Up Bindings

Map Telegram HQ topics to agents:

bindings:
  - agentId: main    → telegram group -1003780594815:topic:1
  - agentId: main    → telegram group -1003780594815:topic:6
  - agentId: main    → telegram group -1003780594815:topic:7
  - agentId: frankel → telegram group -1003780594815:topic:8
  - agentId: vinyl   → telegram group -1003780594815:topic:9
  - agentId: ops     → telegram group -1003780594815:topic:316

Step 10: Final Verification

openclaw gateway status
openclaw status
openclaw message send --channel telegram --target 8267352500 --message "Fresh install working ✅"

Post-Install

Verify each agent responds in their HQ topic
Check memory search is indexing (memory_search test)
Set up cron jobs (daily backup, etc.) as needed
Let agents build their own workspace files organically

Reference Material (Do NOT Restore by Default)

Old workspace git: Chrisr6records/openclaw-workspace (commit 8519f66)
Full backup: ~/2026-03-14T07-26-18.460Z-openclaw-backup.tar.gz
Old config: inside backup at .openclaw/openclaw.json
BASS docs: all project docs, rosters, SOPs available at bass.romeosixpromotions.com

These exist for reference if the new agent needs to look something up, but the default path is fresh start.

Rollback

If anything goes wrong:

openclaw gateway stop
rm -rf ~/.openclaw
cd ~
tar xzf ~/2026-03-14T07-26-18.460Z-openclaw-backup.tar.gz
mv .openclaw ~/
npm i -g openclaw@2026.3.13
openclaw gateway start