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Updating & Uninstalling

Updating​

Git installs​

Update to the latest version with a single command:

clawbot update

This pulls the latest code from main, updates dependencies, and prompts you to configure any new options that were added since your last update.

pip installs​

PyPI releases track tagged versions (major and minor releases), not every commit on main. Check for updates and upgrade with:

clawbot update --check    # see if a newer release is on PyPI
clawbot update            # runs pip install --upgrade clawbot-agent

Or manually:

pip install --upgrade clawbot-agent    # or: uv pip install --upgrade clawbot-agent
tip

clawbot update automatically detects new configuration options and prompts you to add them. If you skipped that prompt, you can manually run clawbot config check to see missing options, then clawbot config migrate to interactively add them.

What happens during an update (git installs)​

When you run clawbot update, the following steps occur:

  1. Pairing-data snapshot — a lightweight pre-update state snapshot is saved (covers ~/.clawbot/pairing/, Feishu comment rules, and other state files that get modified at runtime). Recoverable via the snapshot restore flow described under Snapshots and rollback, or by extracting the most recent quick-snapshot zip Clawbot wrote next to your ~/.clawbot/ directory.
  2. Git pull — pulls the latest code from the main branch and updates submodules
  3. Dependency install — runs uv pip install -e ".[all]" to pick up new or changed dependencies
  4. Config migration — detects new config options added since your version and prompts you to set them
  5. Gateway auto-restart — running gateways are refreshed after the update completes so the new code takes effect immediately. Service-managed gateways (systemd on Linux, launchd on macOS) are restarted through the service manager. Manual gateways are relaunched automatically when Clawbot can map the running PID back to a profile.

Preview-only: clawbot update --check​

Want to know if an update is available before pulling? Run clawbot update --check — for git installs it fetches and compares commits against origin/main; for pip installs it queries PyPI for the latest release. No files are modified, no gateway is restarted. Useful in scripts and cron jobs that gate on "is there an update".

Full pre-update backup: --backup​

For high-value profiles (production gateways, shared team installs) you can opt into a full pre-pull backup of CLAWBOT_HOME (config, auth, sessions, skills, pairing):

clawbot update --backup

Or make it the default for every run:

# ~/.clawbot/config.yaml
updates:
  pre_update_backup: true

--backup was the always-on behavior in earlier builds, but it was adding minutes to every update on large homes, so it's now opt-in. The lightweight pairing-data snapshot above still runs unconditionally.

Expected output looks like:

$ clawbot update
Updating Clawbot Agent...
📥 Pulling latest code...
Already up to date.  (or: Updating abc1234..def5678)
📦 Updating dependencies...
✅ Dependencies updated
🔍 Checking for new config options...
✅ Config is up to date  (or: Found 2 new options — running migration...)
🔄 Restarting gateways...
✅ Gateway restarted
✅ Clawbot Agent updated successfully!

Recommended Post-Update Validation​

clawbot update handles the main update path, but a quick validation confirms everything landed cleanly:

  1. git status --short — if the tree is unexpectedly dirty, inspect before continuing
  2. clawbot doctor — checks config, dependencies, and service health
  3. clawbot --version — confirm the version bumped as expected
  4. If you use the gateway: clawbot gateway status
  5. If doctor reports npm audit issues: run npm audit fix in the flagged directory
Dirty working tree after update

If git status --short shows unexpected changes after clawbot update, stop and inspect them before continuing. This usually means local modifications were reapplied on top of the updated code, or a dependency step refreshed lockfiles.

If your terminal disconnects mid-update​

clawbot update protects itself against accidental terminal loss:

  • The update ignores SIGHUP, so closing your SSH session or terminal window no longer kills it mid-install. pip and git child processes inherit this protection, so the Python environment cannot be left half-installed by a dropped connection.
  • All output is mirrored to ~/.clawbot/logs/update.log while the update runs. If your terminal disappears, reconnect and inspect the log to see whether the update finished and whether the gateway restart succeeded:
tail -f ~/.clawbot/logs/update.log
  • Ctrl-C (SIGINT) and system shutdown (SIGTERM) are still honored — those are deliberate cancellations, not accidents.

You no longer need to wrap clawbot update in screen or tmux to survive a terminal drop.

Checking your current version​

clawbot version

Compare against the latest release at the GitHub releases page.

Updating from Messaging Platforms​

You can also update directly from Telegram, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, or Teams by sending:

/update

This pulls the latest code, updates dependencies, and restarts running gateways. The bot will briefly go offline during the restart (typically 5–15 seconds) and then resume.

Manual Update​

If you installed manually (not via the quick installer):

cd /path/to/clawbot-agent
export VIRTUAL_ENV="$(pwd)/venv"

# Pull latest code
git pull origin main

# Reinstall (picks up new dependencies)
uv pip install -e ".[all]"

# Check for new config options
clawbot config check
clawbot config migrate   # Interactively add any missing options

Rollback instructions​

If an update introduces a problem, you can roll back to a previous version:

cd /path/to/clawbot-agent

# List recent versions
git log --oneline -10

# Roll back to a specific commit
git checkout <commit-hash>
git submodule update --init --recursive
uv pip install -e ".[all]"

# Restart the gateway if running
clawbot gateway restart

To roll back to a specific release tag:

git checkout v0.6.0
git submodule update --init --recursive
uv pip install -e ".[all]"
warning

Rolling back may cause config incompatibilities if new options were added. Run clawbot config check after rolling back and remove any unrecognized options from config.yaml if you encounter errors.

Note for Nix users​

If you installed via Nix flake, updates are managed through the Nix package manager:

# Update the flake input
nix flake update clawbot-agent

# Or rebuild with the latest
nix profile upgrade clawbot-agent

Nix installations are immutable — rollback is handled by Nix's generation system:

nix profile rollback

See Nix Setup for more details.

Uninstalling​

Git installs​

clawbot uninstall

The uninstaller gives you the option to keep your configuration files (~/.clawbot/) for a future reinstall.

pip installs​

pip uninstall clawbot-agent
rm -rf ~/.clawbot            # Optional — keep if you plan to reinstall

Manual Uninstall​

rm -f ~/.local/bin/clawbot
rm -rf /path/to/clawbot-agent
rm -rf ~/.clawbot            # Optional — keep if you plan to reinstall
info

If you installed the gateway as a system service, stop and disable it first:

clawbot gateway stop
# Linux: systemctl --user disable clawbot-gateway
# macOS: launchctl remove ai.clawbot.gateway