# Manage Sandbox Lifecycle: Details ## What Changes During a Rebuild Each rebuild destroys the existing container and creates a new one. NemoClaw protects your data through the same backup-and-restore flow as `nemoclaw rebuild` (use the `nemoclaw-user-reference` skill): - NemoClaw preserves manifest-defined workspace state. Before deleting the old container, NemoClaw snapshots the state directories and durable state files defined in the agent manifest, typically `/sandbox/.openclaw/workspace/`; for Hermes this also includes `SOUL.md` and the SQLite database behind `.hermes/state.db`. Stored credentials (`~/.nemoclaw/credentials.json`) and registered policy presets live on the host and are re-applied to the new sandbox automatically. - NemoClaw does not preserve runtime changes outside the workspace state directories. This includes packages installed inside the running container with `apt` or `pip`, files in non-workspace paths, and in-memory or process state. If you have customized the running container at runtime, capture that as `Dockerfile` changes for `nemoclaw onboard --from` or a manual `openshell sandbox download` before the rebuild starts. Aborts before the destroy step are non-destructive. The flow refuses to proceed past preflight if a credential is missing or past backup if required manifest-defined state cannot be copied, so a failed run leaves the original sandbox intact and ready to retry. When a backup command reports partial archive output, NemoClaw keeps the usable entries and reports only the manifest-defined paths that could not be archived. See [Backup and Restore](backup-restore.md) for the full list of state-preservation guarantees, snapshot retention, and instructions for manual backups when the auto-flow is not enough. **If the rebuild aborts with `Missing credential: `:** The rebuild preflight reads the provider credential recorded by your last `nemoclaw onboard` session. If you have switched providers since onboarding, for example from a remote API to a local Ollama setup, the preflight may still reference the old key and fail before any destroy step runs. To recover, re-run `nemoclaw onboard` and select your current provider. This refreshes the session metadata. Your existing container keeps serving traffic until the new image is ready.