How to Migrate from Self-Hosted Paperclip to Managed Hosting

Migrating from self-hosted Paperclip to managed hosting sounds daunting. It isn’t. Here’s the exact process — including the safety nets that make it risk-free.

Before You Start

You’ll need:

• Access to your self-hosted Paperclip configuration
• Your agent’s memory data (if applicable)
• 30 minutes to 2 hours (depending on setup complexity)
• A HostAgentes account (free trial works)

Step 1: Export Your Agent Configuration

From your self-hosted setup, export your agent’s configuration file. This includes:

• Model provider and model selection
• System prompt and behavior settings
• Tool definitions
• Environment variables (API keys, endpoints)

Most self-hosted setups store this in a YAML or JSON file. If you’re using Docker Compose, check your volume-mounted config files.

Step 2: Create Your HostAgentes Agent

In your HostAgentes dashboard:

1. Click New Agent
2. Enter the same name as your self-hosted agent
3. Select the same deployment region (or closer to your users)
4. Add your LLM provider API key

Don’t deploy yet — we’ll configure it first.

Step 3: Import Configuration

Use the dashboard import tool:

1. Go to your agent’s Settings tab
2. Click Import Configuration
3. Upload your exported config file
4. Review the parsed settings and confirm

The import tool reads your YAML/JSON and maps settings to the HostAgentes configuration format. It handles model settings, tool definitions, and behavior configuration automatically.

Step 4: Transfer Persistent Memory

If your agent uses persistent memory (vector store or key-value data):

1. Export your vector embeddings from your self-hosted database
2. In your agent’s Memory tab, click Import
3. Upload your vector data and key-value exports
4. Verify the import count matches

Your agent will remember everything it knew before — conversations, facts, and learned preferences carry over completely.

Step 5: Test in Parallel

Deploy your agent on HostAgentes. Now run both setups simultaneously:

• Send test requests to both endpoints
• Compare responses for consistency
• Verify tool calls work identically
• Check memory recall accuracy

Both endpoints run in parallel, so there’s no risk. Your production traffic still hits the self-hosted endpoint.

Step 6: Switch Your API Endpoint

When you’re confident the migrated agent works correctly:

1. Update your application’s API endpoint to point to the HostAgentes URL
2. Monitor for 24-48 hours
3. Keep the self-hosted instance running as a fallback

The HostAgentes endpoint format:

POST https://your-agent.hostagentes.com/api/v1/chat
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY

Step 7: Decommission

After 24-48 hours of confirmed operation:

1. Verify no traffic is hitting the old endpoint (check logs)
2. Shut down your self-hosted instance
3. Cancel your VPS or cloud subscription

You’re now fully managed. No more maintenance, updates, or 2am alerts.

Time Estimates

Setup	Time	Difficulty
Simple agent (no memory)	30 min	Easy
Multi-agent with tools	1-2 hrs	Medium
Enterprise with custom integrations	4-8 hrs	Advanced

Need Help?

Our support team can assist with any migration step. Contact us and we’ll walk you through it.

Start your migration →