Migrating from Hermes

Carina ships a migration command that imports configuration, credentials, memory, and skills from an existing Hermes installation.

What migrates

Item	Status
Provider API keys from config.yaml	Imported
Provider model preferences	Imported
.env values (merged, not overwritten)	Imported
Episodic memory database	Partial; see below
Skills / tool definitions	Imported where format is compatible
Session history	Not migrated
Hermes-specific plugins	Not migrated

Partial imports: Episodic memory requires compatible PostgreSQL schemas. If the Hermes schema differs, memory entries are skipped and listed in the report. Run carina doctor --repair after migration to rebuild indexes.

Prerequisites

• Hermes installed and previously configured at ~/.hermes (the default location).
• Carina installed: npm install -g carina-agent.
• The destination Carina config directory (~/.carina) is writable.

Steps

1. Preview the plan

Always preview before applying:

carina migrate status

This scans ~/.hermes and reports what it found:

Migration sources

  hermes         found    /home/you/.hermes (config.yaml, skills)
  openclaw       not found    /home/you/.openclaw
  claude         found    /home/you/.claude

Preview the Hermes migration specifically:

carina migrate hermes --dry-run

The report lists every file that would be copied, merged, or skipped.

2. Apply the migration

carina migrate hermes --force

Carina creates a timestamped backup of ~/.carina before writing anything. Confirm the prompt when asked.

The report shows the outcome for each item:

Migration report (hermes -> /home/you/.carina)

  ok        config.yaml
  ok        .env (merged)
  ok        skills/my-skill.md
  skipped   episodic-memory.db (schema mismatch)

1 manual step(s):
  - Re-enter credentials that could not be read from config.yaml

3. Run post-migration checks

carina doctor --repair
carina secrets audit

doctor --repair rebuilds indexes and verifies the configuration. secrets audit confirms all required API keys are present.

4. Test

carina

Type a message. If providers respond, the migration was successful.

Migrating from a non-default path

If Hermes is installed elsewhere:

carina migrate hermes --from /path/to/hermes-config --force

What is not migrated

• Session turn history (not preserved across agents).
• Hermes-specific plugin binaries or sidecar services.
• Custom prompt injections or system-prompt files; move these to ~/.carina/system-prompt.md manually.
• OAuth tokens; log in again with carina credentials oauth login <provider>.

Exporting from Carina (bundle format)

To export your Carina config for transfer to another machine:

carina migrate export my-backup

To import it elsewhere:

carina migrate import my-backup.tar.gz --dry-run
carina migrate import my-backup.tar.gz --force

Other migration sources

Source	Command
OpenClaw	carina migrate openclaw --force
Claude Code config	carina migrate claude --force

Getting help

Run carina migrate status at any time to see what sources are available and what would be imported.