ClawVault 🐘

An elephant never forgets. Structured memory for OpenClaw agents.

Built for OpenClaw — install via

clawhub install clawvault

Install

npm install -g clawvault

Setup

# Initialize vault (creates folder structure + templates)
clawvault init ~/my-vault

# Or set env var to use existing vault
export CLAWVAULT_PATH=/path/to/memory

# Optional: shell integration (aliases + CLAWVAULT_PATH)
clawvault shell-init >> ~/.bashrc

Quick Start for New Agents

# Start your session (recover + recap + summary)
clawvault wake

# Capture and checkpoint during work
clawvault capture "TODO: Review PR tomorrow"
clawvault checkpoint --working-on "PR review" --focus "type guards"

# End your session with a handoff
clawvault sleep "PR review + type guards" --next "respond to CI" --blocked "waiting for CI"

# Health check when something feels off
clawvault doctor

Core Commands

Wake + Sleep (primary)

clawvault wake
clawvault sleep "what I was working on" --next "ship v1" --blocked "waiting for API key"

Store memories by type

# Types: fact, feeling, decision, lesson, commitment, preference, relationship, project
clawvault remember decision "Use Postgres over SQLite" --content "Need concurrent writes for multi-agent setup"
clawvault remember lesson "Context death is survivable" --content "Checkpoint before heavy work"
clawvault remember relationship "Justin Dukes" --content "Client contact at Hale Pet Door"

Quick capture to inbox

clawvault capture "TODO: Review PR tomorrow"

Search (requires qmd installed)

# Keyword search (fast)
clawvault search "client contacts"

# Semantic search (slower, more accurate)
clawvault vsearch "what did we decide about the database"

Context Death Resilience

Wake (start of session)

clawvault wake

Sleep (end of session)

clawvault sleep "what I was working on" --next "finish docs" --blocked "waiting for review"

Checkpoint (save state frequently)

clawvault checkpoint --working-on "PR review" --focus "type guards" --blocked "waiting for CI"

Recover (manual check)

clawvault recover --clear
# Shows: death time, last checkpoint, recent handoff

Handoff (manual session end)

clawvault handoff \
  --working-on "ClawVault improvements" \
  --blocked "npm token" \
  --next "publish to npm, create skill" \
  --feeling "productive"

Recap (bootstrap new session)

clawvault recap
# Shows: recent handoffs, active projects, pending commitments, lessons

Auto-linking

Wiki-link entity mentions in markdown files:

# Link all files
clawvault link --all

# Link single file
clawvault link memory/2024-01-15.md

Folder Structure

vault/
├── .clawvault/           # Internal state
│   ├── last-checkpoint.json
│   └── dirty-death.flag
├── decisions/            # Key choices with reasoning
├── lessons/              # Insights and patterns
├── people/               # One file per person
├── projects/             # Active work tracking
├── handoffs/             # Session continuity
├── inbox/                # Quick captures
└── templates/            # Document templates

Best Practices

1. Wake at session start —

   clawvault wake

   restores context
2. Checkpoint every 10-15 min during heavy work
3. Sleep before session end —

   clawvault sleep

   captures next steps
4. Use types — knowing WHAT you're storing helps WHERE to put it
5. Wiki-link liberally —

   [[person-name]]

   builds your knowledge graph

Checklist for AGENTS.md

## Memory Checklist
- [ ] Run `clawvault wake` at session start
- [ ] Checkpoint during heavy work
- [ ] Capture key decisions/lessons with `clawvault remember`
- [ ] Use wiki-links like `[[person-name]]`
- [ ] End with `clawvault sleep "..." --next "..." --blocked "..."`
- [ ] Run `clawvault doctor` when something feels off

Session Transcript Repair (v1.5.0+)

When the Anthropic API rejects with "unexpected tool_use_id found in tool_result blocks", use:

# See what's wrong (dry-run)
clawvault repair-session --dry-run

# Fix it
clawvault repair-session

# Repair a specific session
clawvault repair-session --session <id> --agent <agent-id>

# List available sessions
clawvault repair-session --list

What it fixes:

• Orphaned

  tool_result

  blocks referencing non-existent

  tool_use

  IDs
• Aborted tool calls with partial JSON
• Broken parent chain references

Backups are created automatically (use

--no-backup

Troubleshooting

• qmd not installed — run

  bun install -g github:tobi/qmd

  or

  npm install -g qmd

• No ClawVault found — run

  clawvault init

  or set

  CLAWVAULT_PATH

• CLAWVAULT_PATH missing — run

  clawvault shell-init

  and add to shell rc
• Too many orphan links — run

  clawvault link --orphans

• Inbox backlog warning — process or archive inbox items
• "unexpected tool_use_id" error — run

  clawvault repair-session

Integration with qmd

ClawVault uses qmd for search:

# Install qmd
bun install -g github:tobi/qmd

# Add vault as collection
qmd collection add /path/to/vault --name my-memory --mask "**/*.md"

# Update index
qmd update && qmd embed

Environment Variables

• CLAWVAULT_PATH

  — Default vault path (skips auto-discovery)

Links

• npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/clawvault
• GitHub: https://github.com/Versatly/clawvault
• Issues: https://github.com/Versatly/clawvault/issues