diff --git a/letta/server/rest_api/routers/v1/agents.py b/letta/server/rest_api/routers/v1/agents.py
index 1dc6c632..9914faff 100644
--- a/letta/server/rest_api/routers/v1/agents.py
+++ b/letta/server/rest_api/routers/v1/agents.py
@@ -130,6 +130,10 @@ async def import_agent_serialized(
         description="If set to True, existing tools can get their source code overwritten by the uploaded tool definitions. Note that Letta core tools can never be updated externally.",
     ),
     project_id: Optional[str] = Query(None, description="The project ID to associate the uploaded agent with."),
+    strip_messages: bool = Query(
+        False,
+        description="If set to True, strips all messages from the agent before importing.",
+    ),
 ):
     """
     Import a serialized agent file and recreate the agent in the system.
@@ -149,6 +153,7 @@ async def import_agent_serialized(
             append_copy_suffix=append_copy_suffix,
             override_existing_tools=override_existing_tools,
             project_id=project_id,
+            strip_messages=strip_messages,
         )
         return new_agent
 
diff --git a/letta/services/agent_manager.py b/letta/services/agent_manager.py
index f0ada545..19e7fb35 100644
--- a/letta/services/agent_manager.py
+++ b/letta/services/agent_manager.py
@@ -525,6 +525,7 @@ class AgentManager:
         append_copy_suffix: bool = True,
         override_existing_tools: bool = True,
         project_id: Optional[str] = None,
+        strip_messages: Optional[bool] = False,
     ) -> PydanticAgentState:
         serialized_agent = serialized_agent.model_dump()
         tool_data_list = serialized_agent.pop("tools", [])
@@ -536,6 +537,10 @@ class AgentManager:
                 agent.name += "_copy"
             if project_id:
                 agent.project_id = project_id
+
+            if strip_messages:
+                # we want to strip all but the first (system) message
+                agent.message_ids = [agent.message_ids[0]]
             agent = agent.create(session, actor=actor)
             pydantic_agent = agent.to_pydantic()