Memory Tools

Agent-controlled persistent memory for OpenClaw.

Why Memory-as-Tools?

Traditional memory systems auto-capture everything, flooding context with irrelevant information. Memory Tools follows the AgeMem approach: the agent decides when to store and retrieve memories.

Features

•6 Memory Tools: memory_store, memory_update, memory_forget, memory_search, memory_summarize, memory_list
•Confidence Scoring: Track how certain you are (1.0 = explicit, 0.5 = inferred)
•Importance Scoring: Prioritize critical instructions over nice-to-know facts
•Decay/Expiration: Temporal memories automatically become stale
•Semantic Search: Vector-based similarity via LanceDB
•Hybrid Storage: SQLite (debuggable) + LanceDB (fast vectors)
•Conflict Resolution: New info auto-supersedes old (no contradictions)

Installation

Step 1: Install from ClawHub

bash

clawhub install memory-tools

Step 2: Build the plugin

bash

cd skills/memory-tools
npm install
npm run build

Step 3: Activate the plugin

bash

openclaw plugins install --link .
openclaw plugins enable memory-tools

Step 4: Restart the gateway

Standard (systemd):

bash

openclaw gateway restart

Docker (no systemd):

bash

# Kill existing gateway
pkill -f openclaw-gateway

# Start in background
nohup openclaw gateway --port 18789 --verbose > /tmp/openclaw-gateway.log 2>&1 &

Requirements

•OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable (for embeddings)

Memory Categories

Category	Use For	Example
fact	Static information	"User's dog is named Rex"
preference	Likes/dislikes	"User prefers dark mode"
event	Temporal things	"Dentist Tuesday 3pm"
relationship	People connections	"Sarah is user's wife"
instruction	Standing orders	"Always respond in Spanish"
decision	Choices made	"We decided to use PostgreSQL"
context	Situational info	"User is job hunting"
entity	Named things	"Project Apollo is their startup"

Tool Reference

memory_store

code

memory_store({
  content: "User prefers bullet points",
  category: "preference",
  confidence: 0.9,
  importance: 0.7,
  tags: ["formatting", "communication"]
})

memory_search

code

memory_search({
  query: "formatting preferences",
  category: "preference",
  limit: 10
})

memory_update

code

memory_update({
  id: "abc123",
  content: "User now prefers numbered lists",
  confidence: 1.0
})

memory_forget

code

memory_forget({
  query: "bullet points",
  reason: "User corrected preference"
})

memory_summarize

code

memory_summarize({
  topic: "user's work projects",
  maxMemories: 20
})

memory_list

code

memory_list({
  category: "instruction",
  sortBy: "importance",
  limit: 20
})

Debugging

Inspect what your agent knows:

bash

sqlite3 ~/.openclaw/memory/tools/memory.db "SELECT id, category, content FROM memories"

Export all memories:

bash

openclaw memory-tools export > memories.json

Troubleshooting

"Database connection not open" error:

•Hard restart the gateway: pkill -f openclaw-gateway
•Check permissions: chown -R $(whoami) ~/.openclaw/memory/tools

Plugin not loading:

•Verify build: ls skills/memory-tools/dist/index.js
•Check doctor: openclaw doctor --non-interactive

License

MIT — Purple Horizons