Agent Memory Setup

Set up a complete 3-tier memory system for any OpenClaw agent. Includes directory structure, memory files, semantic search, and context compaction.

Quick Start

# 1. Run setup script
bash scripts/setup_memory.sh /path/to/workspace

# 2. Copy AGENTS.md template to workspace
# (read references/AGENTS_TEMPLATE.md, adapt, write to workspace/AGENTS.md)

# 3. Add config to openclaw.json (see Step 3 below for exact JSON)

# 4. Restart
openclaw gateway restart

For full details, read the sections below.

When NOT to Use This Skill

• Backing up or exporting memory — this skill sets up memory, it doesn't handle backup/migration
• Memory is already set up — run the verification checklist in Step 4 instead of re-running setup
• Debugging a specific memory issue — check the Troubleshooting section directly
• Changing memory tier content — that's the agent's job during normal operation, not a setup task

Prerequisites

Before running setup, ensure:

• OpenClaw CLI is installed and on your PATH (

  openclaw --version

  ). If not installed, the setup script will still create directories and memory files, but plugin installation and config changes must be done manually.
• Python 3.8+ (for QMD only — optional). Check with

  python3 --version

  . QMD provides semantic search (

  memory_search

  ) over memory files. The core memory system (tiers, daily logs, Lossless Claw) works fully without it. If you can't install QMD (no Python, restricted server), you lose semantic search but keep everything else.
• Node.js 18+ (for OpenClaw and Lossless Claw plugin).

Platform Notes

• Linux: Fully supported. No special considerations.
• macOS: Fully supported. Config lives at

  ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json

  (same as Linux). The setup script uses POSIX-compatible

  date

  and

  mkdir

  — no GNU-specific flags.
• Windows (WSL2): Supported via WSL2 with Ubuntu or similar. Run everything inside WSL, not from Windows CMD/PowerShell. Gotcha: If your workspace is on a Windows-mounted drive (

  /mnt/c/...

  ), file permissions may behave unexpectedly — prefer using a path inside the WSL filesystem (

  ~/workspace

  ) for reliable permission handling. The script's

  set -euo pipefail

  and

  mkdir -p

  work fine under WSL2.
• Windows (native): Not supported. OpenClaw requires a Unix shell.

Setup Steps

Step 1: Run the setup script

bash scripts/setup_memory.sh /path/to/agent/workspace

This creates:

• memory/

  ,

  memory/hot/

  ,

  memory/warm/

  directories

• memory/hot/HOT_MEMORY.md

  (active session state)

• memory/warm/WARM_MEMORY.md

  (stable config & preferences)

• MEMORY.md

  (long-term archive)

• memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md

  (today's daily log)

• memory/heartbeat-state.json

  (heartbeat tracking)

It also checks for QMD and Lossless Claw, installing them if possible.

Step 2: Copy the AGENTS.md template

Read

references/AGENTS_TEMPLATE.md

AGENTS.md

What to customize:

• Heartbeat section — adapt checks to the agent's domain (e.g., a CFO agent checks costs, a marketing agent checks social metrics, a DevOps agent checks CI pipelines)
• HEARTBEAT.md — create a small checklist of periodic tasks specific to the agent's role
• Memory tier descriptions — keep as-is unless the agent has unusual memory patterns

What to keep as-is:

• The session startup sequence (read SOUL.md, USER.md, memory files)
• Memory tiering instructions (HOT/WARM/COLD flow)
• The "Write It Down" and "No Mental Notes" sections
• MEMORY.md security rules (main session only)

Step 3: Configure openclaw.json

Add to

agents.defaults

"memorySearch": { "provider": "local" },
"compaction": { "mode": "safeguard" },
"contextPruning": { "mode": "cache-ttl", "ttl": "1h" },
"heartbeat": { "every": "1h" }

What each setting does:

memorySearch

"local"

compaction: safeguard

lcm_expand

contextPruning: cache-ttl

ttl

"5m"

"2h"

heartbeat

"every"

"5m"

"1h"

"4h"

Enable these plugins for the agent:

"session-memory": { "enabled": true },
"bootstrap-extra-files": { "enabled": true },
"lossless-claw": { "enabled": true }

What each plugin does:

session-memory

bootstrap-extra-files

lossless-claw

lcm_expand

lcm_grep

lcm_expand_query

Manual plugin install (if the setup script didn't install them):

pip install qmd                # or: pipx install qmd / brew install qmd
openclaw plugins install @martian-engineering/lossless-claw

Step 4: Restart and verify

openclaw gateway restart

Verification checklist — run each and confirm:

# 1. Memory directories exist
ls -d memory/ memory/hot/ memory/warm/

# 2. Memory files exist
ls memory/hot/HOT_MEMORY.md memory/warm/WARM_MEMORY.md MEMORY.md memory/heartbeat-state.json

# 3. Today's daily log exists
ls memory/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).md

# 4. QMD is installed
qmd --version

# 5. Lossless Claw plugin is active
openclaw plugins list | grep lossless-claw

# 6. AGENTS.md is in place
head -5 AGENTS.md

# 7. Config is applied (check openclaw.json)
grep -c "memorySearch\|compaction\|contextPruning\|lossless-claw" ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json

If any check fails, see the Troubleshooting section below.

Migrating Existing Memory

If you already have

MEMORY.md

1. Run the setup script normally — it checks

   if [ ! -f ]

   before creating each file, so your existing files are preserved untouched.
2. Reorganize existing content into tiers:
   • Move active/temporary context from MEMORY.md →

     memory/hot/HOT_MEMORY.md

   • Move stable preferences, API refs, recurring config →

     memory/warm/WARM_MEMORY.md

   • Keep long-term decisions, milestones, lessons learned in

     MEMORY.md

     (COLD tier)
3. Existing daily logs stay in

   memory/

   as-is — the system reads them from there already.

Recovery

Corrupted memory file: Delete the corrupted file and re-run

bash scripts/setup_memory.sh /path/to/workspace

Lost or deleted AGENTS.md: Re-copy from

references/AGENTS_TEMPLATE.md

Broken openclaw.json: Restore from backup (the setup script doesn't modify openclaw.json — config changes are manual). If no backup exists, re-add the config from Step 3 above.

General principle: The setup script is always safe to re-run. It never overwrites existing files.

Using Lossless Claw After Setup

Once installed, Lossless Claw works automatically:

1. Compaction is automatic — as conversations grow long, old messages are compacted into summaries behind the scenes.
2. The agent retrieves context on demand using these tools:

   • lcm_expand

     — expand a compacted summary back into its original messages

   • lcm_grep

     — search across all compacted history by regex or text

   • lcm_expand_query

     — ask a question and get answers from compacted context
3. No agent code changes needed — if the agent has access to lcm_* tools (standard in OpenClaw), it can retrieve anything that was compacted.
4. AGENTS.md instructs the agent to update HOT_MEMORY before compaction flushes, so critical working state survives even when context is pruned.

How the Tiers Work

memory/hot/HOT_MEMORY.md

memory/warm/WARM_MEMORY.md

MEMORY.md

Concrete examples per tier

🔥 HOT — "Currently debugging auth flow for client X. Waiting on API key from Bob. Next step: test endpoint once key arrives."

🌡️ WARM — "User prefers bullet lists over paragraphs. Slack workspace is #eng-team. API rate limit is 100 req/min. Always use UTC timestamps."

❄️ COLD — "2025-03-15: Migrated from v1 to v2 API. Key lesson: always pin dependency versions. Decision: adopted trunk-based development."

Daily logs (

memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md

Multi-Agent & Multi-Context Workspaces

Shared workspaces (multiple agents, one directory)

• HOT_MEMORY is shared — all agents read it. Never put agent-specific debugging context here (e.g., "Current task: fix auth bug"). Other agents (including voice/avatar) will pick it up and fixate on it.
• Keep HOT_MEMORY generic — use it for general state like "User is in a meeting until 3pm" or "Deploy freeze until Friday."
• Daily logs are shared too — agents writing to the same

  memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md

  should prefix entries with their name to avoid confusion.
• WARM and COLD are typically safe — preferences and long-term memory apply across agents.

Separate contexts (one agent, multiple domains)

Each OpenClaw agent maps to one workspace. If you need separate memory contexts (e.g., work vs. personal):

• Option A: Two separate agents — each with its own workspace and memory system. Cleanest separation.
• Option B: Use WARM memory for context switching — track multiple contexts in WARM_MEMORY (sections for "Work" and "Personal"), switching focus based on conversation.
• Option C: Separate memory subdirectories — create

  memory/work/

  and

  memory/personal/

  with separate HOT files, and instruct the agent (via AGENTS.md) which to use based on context. Advanced; requires custom AGENTS.md logic.

Long-Term Maintenance

Daily logs grow over time. Each day creates a new

memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md

• Archive old logs: Move logs older than 90 days to

  memory/archive/

  to keep the main

  memory/

  directory fast to scan. QMD can still index the archive if configured.
• The agent handles promotion: During heartbeats, the agent reviews daily logs and promotes important items to COLD (MEMORY.md). Once promoted, daily logs become reference-only.
• Disk usage is modest: Even with years of logs, expect tens of MB at most. Lossless Claw summaries are stored separately by the plugin and managed automatically.

Troubleshooting

references/AGENTS_TEMPLATE.md

AGENTS.md

memory_search

qmd --version

"memorySearch": { "provider": "local" }

openclaw plugins list

openclaw gateway restart

openclaw --version

npm install -g openclaw

if [ ! -f ]