Description

nemoclaw uninstall --yes on Ubuntu 24.04 removes the entire ~/.nemoclaw/ directory tree (including snapshots/, source/, state/) AND destroys all docker sandbox containers (with their /sandbox/.openclaw/workspace/ contents). After uninstall, no user-authored files (USER.md, SOUL.md) and no sandbox snapshots survive on the host. There is no apparent preservation contract honored despite the case spec (T632280) referring to "documented preservation paths". This is either (a) a product bug if such a contract is documented, or (b) the case spec depends on a manual backup-all export step that should be made obvious to the user before uninstall.

Environment

Device:        DGX Spark (spark-8158)
OS:            Ubuntu 24.04
Architecture:  aarch64
Node.js:       v22.22.3 (installed via nvm during nemoclaw install)
npm:           10.9.8
Docker:        29.x
OpenShell CLI: 0.0.44
NemoClaw:      v0.0.50
OpenClaw:      2026.5.18 (50a2481) (in sandbox prior to uninstall)

Steps to Reproduce

1. Fresh curl|bash install + nemoclaw onboard --non-interactive --name test-c --fresh (NVIDIA Cloud API).
2. Inside the sandbox (via docker exec -u sandbox <cname>), author user-data files in the workspace:

   echo "Eric Wang (preserve me)" > /sandbox/.openclaw/workspace/USER.md
   echo "My soul"                  > /sandbox/.openclaw/workspace/SOUL.md

3. Record SHA256 of those files:

   docker exec -u sandbox <cname> sha256sum \
       /sandbox/.openclaw/workspace/USER.md \
       /sandbox/.openclaw/workspace/SOUL.md

4. Take a snapshot (per the case-spec precondition "snapshot or backup-all output saved per docs"):

   ~/.local/bin/nemoclaw test-c snapshot create --name pre-uninstall-snap
   ~/.local/bin/nemoclaw test-c snapshot list   # verify snapshot is registered

5. Run uninstall:

   ~/.local/bin/nemoclaw uninstall --yes

6. After uninstall completes, search the host for any preserved USER.md / SOUL.md / snapshots:

   find ~ -name 'USER.md' -o -name 'SOUL.md' 2>/dev/null
   ls -la ~/.nemoclaw 2>&1                  # whole directory expected to be gone
   ls -la ~/.nemoclaw/snapshots 2>&1
   ls -la ~/.nemoclaw/rebuild-backups 2>&1

Expected Result

Either:

• The documented preservation paths still exist on the host after uninstall, with their SHA256 content unchanged from before uninstall.
• OR the uninstall flow surfaces a clear, explicit warning before destruction that names which user data will be removed (workspace files + snapshots) and how to back them up (e.g., Run \nemoclaw snapshot export --to ` before uninstall to preserve workspace data`), so the user can opt out / take action.

Actual Result

Uninstall output (Spark, 2026-05-26):

Removed global NemoClaw CLI package
Removed /home/nvidia/.local/bin/nemoclaw
Removed NemoClaw PATH entries from /home/nvidia/.bashrc
[4/6] Docker resources
Removed Docker container 36d05ced43dd
Removed Docker container 186103ddcbd6
Removed Docker container 3faa687c6043
Removed Docker image  5689551397bf
Removed Docker image  c1d1562ac83f
Removed Docker image  e3d5f2bb0c2d
Removed Docker image  3d9391e6c27c
[5/6] Ollama models
Keeping Ollama models as requested.
[6/6] State and binaries
No /swapfile found; skipping swap cleanup.
Removed /home/nvidia/.local/bin/openshell
Removed /home/nvidia/.local/bin/openshell-gateway
Removed /home/nvidia/.local/bin/openshell-sandbox
Removed /home/nvidia/.nemoclaw
Removed /home/nvidia/.local/state/nemoclaw
Removed /home/nvidia/.config/openshell
NemoClaw
Claws retracted. Until next time.

Post-uninstall verification:

$ find ~ -name 'USER.md' -o -name 'SOUL.md' 2>/dev/null
(empty)
$ ls -la ~/.nemoclaw 2>&1
ls: cannot access '/home/nvidia/.nemoclaw': No such file or directory
$ ls -la ~/.nemoclaw/snapshots 2>&1
ls: cannot access ...: No such file or directory
$ ls -la ~/.nemoclaw/rebuild-backups 2>&1
ls: cannot access ...: No such file or directory

User data lost: USER.md, SOUL.md (authored inside sandbox), and the explicitly-created pre-uninstall-snap snapshot.

There is no in-flow prompt before the destructive Removed /home/nvidia/.nemoclaw step saying "this will permanently delete workspace files (USER.md, SOUL.md) and snapshots — back them up first".

Logs

Pre-uninstall SHAs (recorded from inside sandbox container):
  9c5b...  USER.md
  d2e1...  SOUL.md
  (full hashes captured in test run; both files were 28 and 11 bytes respectively)

Snapshot created and listed prior to uninstall:
  ~/.local/bin/nemoclaw test-c snapshot create --name pre-uninstall-snap   # succeeded
  ~/.local/bin/nemoclaw test-c snapshot list                                # listed pre-uninstall-snap

Post-uninstall: snapshot, source tree, and all workspace contents gone with `rm -rf ~/.nemoclaw` performed by uninstall.

Related (different surface): NVB#6177367 — "[Ubuntu 24.04][Install][GitHub Issue #3516] nemoclaw uninstall does not kill running openshell-gateway host process — port 8080 leaks after uninstall". That bug is about gateway-process leftover; the current bug is about user-data destruction.

NVB#6222219