ClawVault

ClawVault 🐘

An elephant never forgets. Structured memory for OpenClaw agents. Built for OpenClaw. Canonical install: npm CLI + hook install + hook enable.

Security & Transparency

What this skill does: Reads/writes markdown files in your vault directory (CLAWVAULT_PATH or auto-discovered) repair-session reads and modifies OpenClaw session transcripts (~/.openclaw/agents/) — creates backups before writing Provides an OpenClaw hook pack (hooks/clawvault/handler.js) with lifecycle events (gateway:startup, gateway:heartbeat, command:new, session:start, compaction:memoryFlush, cron.weekly). Hook is opt-in and must be installed/enabled. observe --compress makes LLM API calls (Gemini Flash by default) to compress session transcripts into observations Environment variables used: CLAWVAULT_PATH — vault location (optional, auto-discovered if not set) OPENCLAW_HOME / OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR — used by repair-session to find session transcripts GEMINI_API_KEY — used by observe for LLM compression (optional, only if using observe features) No cloud sync — all data stays local. No network calls except LLM API for observe compression. This is a full CLI tool, not instruction-only. It writes files, registers hooks, and runs code. Auditability: the published ClawHub skill bundle includes SKILL.md, HOOK.md, and hooks/clawvault/handler.js so users can inspect hook behavior before enabling it.

Install (Canonical)

npm install -g clawvault openclaw hooks install clawvault openclaw hooks enable clawvault # Verify and reload openclaw hooks list --verbose openclaw hooks info clawvault openclaw hooks check # restart gateway process clawhub install clawvault can install skill guidance, but does not replace explicit hook pack installation.

Recommended Safe Install Flow

# 1) Review package metadata before install npm view clawvault version dist.integrity dist.tarball repository.url # 2) Install CLI + qmd dependency npm install -g clawvault@latest npm install -g github:tobi/qmd # 3) Install hook pack, but DO NOT enable yet openclaw hooks install clawvault # 4) Review hook source locally before enabling node -e "const fs=require('fs');const p='hooks/clawvault/handler.js';console.log(fs.existsSync(p)?p:'hook file not found in current directory')" openclaw hooks info clawvault # 5) Enable only after review openclaw hooks enable clawvault openclaw hooks check

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

Reality Checks Before Use

# Verify runtime compatibility with current OpenClaw setup clawvault compat # Verify qmd is available qmd --version # Verify OpenClaw CLI is installed in this shell openclaw --version ClawVault currently depends on qmd for core vault/query flows.

Memory Graph

ClawVault builds a typed knowledge graph from wiki-links, tags, and frontmatter: # View graph summary clawvault graph # Refresh graph index clawvault graph --refresh Graph is stored at .clawvault/graph-index.json — schema versioned, incremental rebuild.

Graph-Aware Context Retrieval

# Default context (semantic + graph neighbors) clawvault context "database decision" # With a profile preset clawvault context --profile planning "Q1 roadmap" clawvault context --profile incident "production outage" clawvault context --profile handoff "session end" # Auto profile (used by OpenClaw hook) clawvault context --profile auto "current task"

Context Profiles

ProfilePurposedefaultBalanced retrievalplanningBroader strategic contextincidentRecent events, blockers, urgent itemshandoffSession transition contextautoHook-selected profile based on session intent

OpenClaw Compatibility Diagnostics

# Check hook wiring, event routing, handler safety clawvault compat # Strict mode for CI clawvault compat --strict

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"

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

Wake at session start — clawvault wake restores context Checkpoint every 10-15 min during heavy work Sleep before session end — clawvault sleep captures next steps Use types — knowing WHAT you're storing helps WHERE to put it 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
• Append this checklist to existing memory instructions. Do not replace your full AGENTS.md behavior unless you intend to.

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 to skip).

Troubleshooting

qmd not installed — install qmd, then confirm with qmd --version 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 OpenClaw integration drift — run clawvault compat Hook enable fails / hook not found — run openclaw hooks install clawvault, then openclaw hooks enable clawvault, restart gateway, and verify via openclaw hooks list --verbose Graph out of date — run clawvault graph --refresh Wrong context for task — try clawvault context --profile incident or --profile planning

Stability Snapshot

Typecheck passes (npm run typecheck) Test suite passes (449/449) Cross-platform path handling hardened for Windows in: qmd URI/document path normalization WebDAV path safety and filesystem resolution shell-init output expectations OpenClaw runtime wiring validated by clawvault compat --strict (requires local openclaw binary for full runtime validation)

Integration with qmd

ClawVault uses qmd for search: # Install qmd bun install -g github:tobi/qmd # Alternative npm 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) OPENCLAW_HOME — OpenClaw home directory (used by repair-session) OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR — OpenClaw state directory (used by repair-session) GEMINI_API_KEY — Used by observe for LLM-powered compression (optional)

Links

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