Failure Memory

failure-memory (記憶)

Unified skill for failure detection, observation recording, memory search, and pattern convergence. Consolidates 10 granular skills into a single coherent memory system. Trigger: 失敗発生 (failure occurred) Source skills: failure-tracker, observation-recorder, memory-search, topic-tagger, failure-detector, evidence-tier, effectiveness-metrics, pattern-convergence-detector, positive-framer, contextual-injection

Installation

openclaw install leegitw/failure-memory Dependencies: leegitw/context-verifier (for file change detection) # Install with dependencies openclaw install leegitw/context-verifier openclaw install leegitw/failure-memory Standalone usage: This skill can function independently for basic failure tracking. For full lifecycle management, install the complete suite (see Neon Agentic Suite). Data handling: This skill operates within your agent's trust boundary. When triggered, it uses your agent's configured model for failure detection and pattern recording. No external APIs or third-party services are called. Results are written to .learnings/ in your workspace.

What This Solves

AI systems often make the same mistakes repeatedly — deleting working code, missing edge cases, forgetting context. This skill turns failures into learning by: Detecting failures when they happen (not after) Recording observations with R/C/D counters (Recurrence/Confirmations/Disconfirmations) Finding patterns within the workspace's .learnings/ directory Promoting to constraints when evidence threshold is met The insight: Systems learn better from consequences than instructions. A failure that happened teaches more than a rule that might apply. Scope note: Pattern detection operates within the current workspace only. Observations are stored in .learnings/ and searched locally. No cross-project data access occurs.

Usage

/fm <sub-command> [arguments]

Sub-Commands

CommandCJKLogicTrigger/fm detect検出fail∈{test,user,API}→recordNext Steps (auto)/fm record記録pattern→obs, R++∨C++∨D++Next Steps (auto)/fm search索引query(pattern∨tag∨slug)→obs[]Explicit/fm classify分類obs→tier∈{N=1:弱,N=2:中,N≥3:強}Explicit/fm status状態eligible:R≥3∧C≥2, recent:30dExplicit/fm refactor整理obs[]→merge∨split∨restructureExplicit/fm converge収束pattern[]→detect(similarity≥0.8)Explicit

/fm detect

ArgumentRequiredDescriptiontypeYesFailure type: test, user, api, errorcontextNoAdditional context for the failure

/fm record

ArgumentRequiredDescriptionpatternYesPattern description or observation IDcounterNoCounter to increment: R (default), C, or D

/fm search

ArgumentRequiredDescriptionqueryYesSearch pattern, tag, or slugstatusNoFilter by status: pending, eligible, all (default)

/fm classify

ArgumentRequiredDescriptionobservationYesObservation ID or pattern

/fm status

ArgumentRequiredDescription--eligibleNoShow only eligible observations (R≥3 ∧ C≥2)--recentNoShow only observations from last 30 days

/fm refactor

ArgumentRequiredDescriptionobservationsYesComma-separated observation IDsactionYesAction: merge, split, restructure

/fm converge

ArgumentRequiredDescription--thresholdNoSimilarity threshold (default: 0.8)

Detection Triggers

These patterns indicate when /fm detect should be invoked (user or orchestrator triggers): PatternSourceActiontest.exit_code != 0Tool output/fm detect test"Actually...", "No, that's wrong"User message/fm record correction"I meant...", "Not X, Y"User message/fm record correctionAPI 4xx/5xx responseTool output/fm detect api"error:", "failed", "Exception"Tool output/fm detect errorDeployment rollbackCI/CD output/fm detect deploymentDatabase migration failedTool output/fm detect migration

Example: API Failure Detection

[DETECTED] api failure Pattern: payment-api-timeout Context: Payment API returned 504 after 30s Observation: OBS-20260215-002 R: 1 → 3 Status: Eligible for constraint (R≥3)

Example: Deployment Failure Detection

[DETECTED] deployment failure Pattern: staging-healthcheck-fail Context: Staging deployment failed health check on /api/health Observation: OBS-20260215-003 R: 1 → 2 Status: Monitoring (R<3)

R/C/D Counters

CounterMeaningUpdated ByR (Recurrence)Auto-detected occurrences/fm detect, /fm recordC (Confirmations)Human-verified true positivesHuman via /fm record CD (Disconfirmations)Human-verified false positivesHuman via /fm record D

Evidence Tiers

TierCriteriaMeaning弱 (weak)N=1Single occurrence, may be noise中 (emerging)N=2Pattern emerging, monitor強 (strong)N≥3Established pattern, actionable

Slug Taxonomy

Observations are tagged with slugs: git-*, test-*, workflow-*, security-*, docs-*, quality-*

Metrics

prevention_rate: Failures prevented / Total potential failures false_positive_rate: D / (C + D)

/fm detect output

[DETECTED] test failure Pattern: lint-before-commit Observation: OBS-20260215-001 R: 1 → 2 Status: Monitoring (R<3)

/fm status output

• === Failure Memory Status ===
• Eligible for constraint (R≥3 ∧ C≥2):
• OBS-20260210-003: lint-before-commit (R=4, C=2, D=0)
• OBS-20260212-007: test-before-push (R=3, C=3, D=1)
• Recent (last 30d): 12 observations
• Pending review: 3 observations

Configuration

Configuration is loaded from (in order of precedence): .openclaw/failure-memory.yaml (OpenClaw standard) .claude/failure-memory.yaml (Claude Code compatibility) Defaults (built-in) # .openclaw/failure-memory.yaml detection: auto_detect: true # Enable automatic failure detection patterns: # Custom detection patterns - "FATAL:" - "CRITICAL:" thresholds: eligibility_R: 3 # Recurrence threshold (default: 3) eligibility_C: 2 # Confirmation threshold (default: 2) false_positive_max: 0.2 # Max D/(C+D) ratio (default: 0.2)

Integration

Layer: Core Depends on: context-verifier (for file change detection) Used by: constraint-engine (for eligibility checks), governance (for state queries)

Failure Modes

ConditionBehaviorInvalid sub-commandList available sub-commandsMissing observation IDError with usage exampleNo matches found"No observations match query"Duplicate detectionIncrement R counter, don't create new observation

Next Steps

After invoking this skill: ConditionActionR incrementedCheck eligibility: R≥3 ∧ C≥2 → notify userR≥3 ∧ C≥2Suggest /ce generate for constraintPattern recurringLink with See Also, bump priorityAlwaysUpdate .learnings/ERRORS.md or .learnings/LEARNINGS.md

Workspace Files

This skill reads/writes: .learnings/ ├── ERRORS.md # [ERR-YYYYMMDD-XXX] command failures ├── LEARNINGS.md # [LRN-YYYYMMDD-XXX] corrections, best practices └── observations/ # Individual observation files └── OBS-YYYYMMDD-XXX.md

Security Considerations

What this skill accesses: Configuration files in .openclaw/failure-memory.yaml and .claude/failure-memory.yaml Tool output and user messages in the current session (for failure detection) Its own workspace directory .learnings/ (read/write) What this skill does NOT access: Files outside declared workspace paths System environment variables Other projects or sessions (observations are workspace-local) Network resources or external APIs What this skill does NOT do: Send data to external services Access "across sessions and projects" beyond the current workspace Execute arbitrary code or run external commands Data scope clarification: "Failure detection" scans tool output and user messages within the current agent session Observations are stored in .learnings/ within the current workspace only No cross-project or cross-session data access occurs Pattern matching is local to the configured workspace Detection trigger clarification: The "Detection Triggers" table describes patterns that indicate when this skill should be invoked. The agent can auto-invoke /fm detect when these patterns are detected, or users can invoke manually. This enables true agentic behavior — failures are captured automatically. Provenance note: This skill is developed by Live Neon (https://github.com/live-neon/skills) and published to ClawHub under the leegitw account. Both refer to the same maintainer.

Acceptance Criteria

/fm detect creates or updates observation with R++ /fm record supports R, C, D counter updates /fm search finds observations by pattern, tag, or slug /fm classify returns correct tier based on N count /fm status shows eligible observations /fm refactor merges/splits observations correctly /fm converge detects similar patterns (≥0.8 similarity) Detection triggers work for test failures, user corrections, API errors Workspace files follow self-improving-agent format Consolidated from 10 skills as part of agentic skills consolidation (2026-02-15).