Claw Memory Manager
- Version: 1.1.1
- License: MIT
- Author: Evan Song · github.com/Songhonglei
- Repository: https://github.com/Songhonglei/better-agent-skills
Manage OpenClaw Agent's built-in memory features through one safe CLI: enable/disable, tune parameters, preview with dry-run, auto-backup, and auto-restart.
What it does
OpenClaw Agent has two built-in memory features:
- Dreaming — scheduled job (default 03:00 local time) that scans your
daily memory signals, scores them, and auto-promotes high-recall items
to long-term
MEMORY.md. - Active Memory — lightweight sub-agent that runs before every turn, retrieves relevant memories, and injects them into the model context window for better recall.
Both require editing nested config trees, syncing to multiple paths in managed environments, and restarting the gateway. This skill does it all in one command, safely.
Supported features
| Feature | What | CLI flags |
|---|---|---|
dreaming |
Light→REM→Deep three-phase memory consolidation | --half-life, --max-age, --timezone |
active-memory |
Proactive memory injection with style presets | --style {conservative,balanced,aggressive} |
See references/features.md for full schema details.
Quick start — Dreaming
# Check OpenClaw support
python3 scripts/agent_memory.py check dreaming
# See current state
python3 scripts/agent_memory.py status dreaming
# Enable with defaults (half-life 30d, max-age 60d, timezone UTC)
python3 scripts/agent_memory.py enable dreaming
# Custom tuning
python3 scripts/agent_memory.py enable dreaming --half-life 14 --timezone America/New_York
# Preview only
python3 scripts/agent_memory.py enable dreaming --dry-run
# Disable
python3 scripts/agent_memory.py disable dreaming
Quick start — Active Memory
# Enable with default style (balanced)
python3 scripts/agent_memory.py enable active-memory
# Pick a style preset
python3 scripts/agent_memory.py enable active-memory --style conservative
python3 scripts/agent_memory.py enable active-memory --style aggressive
# Inspect current style + parameters
python3 scripts/agent_memory.py status active-memory
# Preview only
python3 scripts/agent_memory.py enable active-memory --style aggressive --dry-run
# Disable
python3 scripts/agent_memory.py disable active-memory
Active Memory style presets
| Style | Use case | queryMode | promptStyle | Context window | Inject cap | Timeout | Thinking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
conservative |
Fastest, precision-focused | message |
precision-heavy |
user 1×120 / assist 0 | 150 chars | 8 s | off |
balanced (default) |
Everyday use | recent |
balanced |
user 2×220 / assist 1×180 | 220 chars | 15 s | off |
aggressive |
Best recall, larger context | full |
recall-heavy |
user 4×500 / assist 2×400 | 500 chars | 25 s | minimal |
Style is inferred back from queryMode when running status active-memory.
CLI flags
| Flag | Applies to | Purpose | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
--half-life N |
dreaming | Signal decay half-life (1-90 days) | 30 |
--max-age N |
dreaming | Signal hard expiry (1-90 days) | 60 |
--timezone TZ |
dreaming | IANA timezone for schedule | UTC |
--style NAME |
active-memory | conservative / balanced / aggressive |
balanced |
--dry-run |
all | Print planned changes; do not write | off |
--no-backup |
all | Skip *.bak.<timestamp> creation |
off (backup on) |
--no-restart |
all | Skip openclaw gateway restart after change |
off (auto-restart on) |
Safety features
| Layer | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Auto-backup | Every write creates openclaw.json.bak.<YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS> (use --no-backup to opt out) |
| Dry-run | --dry-run prints exact JSON change + sync targets + restart action without touching disk |
| Managed-env auto-detect | /app/clawconfig/ and /app/k8s-config/clawconfig/ auto-detected — synced if present, silently skipped if not |
| Validation | Half-life and max-age ranges enforced (1-90); --style enforced by argparse choices |
| Verify after write | Re-reads config to confirm change took effect before reporting success |
Configuration sources
The script reads/writes:
- Runtime config:
~/.openclaw/openclaw.json(or$OPENCLAW_CONFIG) - Managed-environment mirrors (auto-detected, optional):
/app/clawconfig/openclaw.json(Pod restart source in K8s)/app/k8s-config/clawconfig/openclaw.json(K8s ConfigMap source)
If you run OpenClaw locally (e.g. npm install -g openclaw on your laptop),
only the runtime config exists and the script does the right thing
automatically.
Why use this skill
Without this skill, enabling Active Memory requires:
- Reading the OpenClaw plugins config schema
- Editing nested JSON under
plugins.entries.active-memorywith 10+ fields - Picking sensible defaults for
queryMode/promptStyle/ context windows - Copying to 2 mirror paths (in K8s environments)
- Running
openclaw gateway restart - Manually verifying
This skill: one command + a style preset, with backup + dry-run + verify built in.
Extending to new memory features
Add a new entry to the FEATURES dict at the top of agent_memory.py:
FEATURES["my-feature"] = {
"path": ["plugins", "entries", "my-plugin", "config"],
"enable_patch": {"enabled": True, ...},
"disable_patch": {"enabled": False},
"check_key": "enabled",
"status_key": "frequency", # field shown in `status`
"description": "What this feature does",
}
For features with preset-style choices (like active-memory), follow the
ACTIVE_MEMORY_STYLES pattern and set supports_style: True in the entry.
Files
claw-memory-manager/
├── SKILL.md ← agent entry point
├── README.md ← this file
├── LICENSE ← MIT
├── .gitignore
├── scripts/
│ └── agent_memory.py ← single Python entry, zero external deps
└── references/
└── features.md ← feature catalog + schema reference
Changelog
See CHANGELOG.md for the full version history.
See also
references/features.md— full feature catalog, config schemas, and extension guide- OpenClaw docs — platform reference