Managing Your OpenClaw Workspace When Hosted on a VPS

Hosting OpenClaw on a VPS is great for always-on agents, but how do you manage configs and workspace files from your local machine? This guide covers the best approaches, from simple to advanced.

The Challenge

When you run OpenClaw on a remote VPS, you need a way to:

• Edit configuration (~/.openclaw/openclaw.json)
• Manage workspace files (AGENTS.md, SOUL.md, USER.md, MEMORY.md)
• Track changes over time
• Backup important state

Option 1: VS Code Remote SSH (Recommended)

The cleanest approach is to edit files directly on the VPS using VS Code's Remote SSH extension.

Setup:

1. Install the "Remote - SSH" extension in VS Code
2. Add your VPS to ~/.ssh/config: Host my-vps HostName your-vps-ip User your-username IdentityFile ~/.ssh/your-key
3. Connect via the Remote Explorer panel
4. Open ~/.openclaw/ as your workspace

Why this works well:

• No sync conflicts
• Full VS Code features (syntax highlighting, git integration)
• Edit config and workspace in one place

Option 2: SFTP Client (GUI-Based)

If you prefer a graphical file manager:

• macOS: Cyberduck or ForkLift
• Windows: WinSCP
• Linux: Most file managers support sftp://user@host

Connect over SSH and browse/edit ~/.openclaw/ like a local folder.

Option 3: rsync (Terminal-Based Sync)

For backups or batch syncing:

# Pull workspace to local machine
rsync -avz user@your-vps:~/.openclaw/workspace/ ./openclaw-backup/

# Push changes back
rsync -avz ./openclaw-backup/ user@your-vps:~/.openclaw/workspace/

Important: Stop the gateway before syncing state files to avoid corruption:

openclaw gateway stop
# sync/edit
openclaw gateway start

Option 4: sshfs Mount (Mount as Local Folder)

On Linux (especially Arch), you can mount the VPS folder locally:

# Install dependencies
sudo pacman -S openssh sshfs fuse3

# Create mount point
mkdir -p ~/mnt/openclaw-workspace

# Mount workspace
sshfs user@your-vps:~/.openclaw/workspace ~/mnt/openclaw-workspace \
  -o reconnect,ServerAliveInterval=15,ServerAliveCountMax=3,compression=yes

# Unmount when done
fusermount3 -u ~/mnt/openclaw-workspace

Best Practice: Version Control Your Workspace

The workspace directory (~/.openclaw/workspace/) contains your agent's personality and memory files. Put it in a private git repo:

1. Initialize git in the workspace (on the VPS)
2. Commit changes as you iterate on SOUL.md, AGENTS.md, etc.
3. Push to a private remote for history, diffs, and rollbacks

Don't git-commit the entire ~/.openclaw/ directory - it contains credentials, sessions, and auth profiles. Back these up separately (encrypted rsync) but don't treat them like code.

Quick Reference

Credit: This guide was synthesized from a helpful discussion in the OpenClaw Discord #help channel.