Context Clean Up

Context Clean Up (audit-only)

This skill is a runbook to identify what is bloating your OpenClaw prompt context and produce a safe, reversible plan.

Important: This skill is intentionally audit-only.

• It will not delete files, prune sessions, patch config, or modify cron jobs.
• If you ask for changes, it will propose an exact patch + rollback plan and wait for explicit approval.

Quick start

• /context-clean-up → audit + actionable plan (no changes)

Common offenders (what usually causes bloat)

Typical high-impact sources (roughly in descending frequency):

1. Tool result dumps

• Large exec output pasted back into chat
• Big read outputs (logs, JSON, lockfiles)
• Web fetches that inject long pages

2. Automation transcript noise

• Cron jobs that report “OK” every run
• Heartbeat outputs that are not strictly alert-only

3. Bootstrap reinjection bloat

• Overgrown AGENTS.md / MEMORY.md / SOUL.md / USER.md
• Large “runbooks” embedded directly in SKILL.md instead of references/

4. Repeated summaries that never get trimmed

• Summaries that accrete historical detail instead of staying restart-critical

Negative examples (don’t run this skill)

• “Delete old sessions / prune logs / apply fixes now” → this skill is audit-only.
• “Change my OpenClaw config automatically” → must ask first.
• “Investigate a specific bug in app code” → use repo-specific debugging instead.

Workflow (audit → plan)

Step 0 — Determine scope

Find:

• Workspace dir: where your OpenClaw workspace / project files live
• State dir: where OpenClaw stores runtime state (sessions, memory, etc.)

The state dir is often:

• macOS/Linux: ~/.openclaw
• Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.openclaw

…but it can differ per installation. The audit script supports overrides via --state-dir or OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR.

If you want a quick sanity check:

# POSIX (macOS/Linux)
echo "WORKDIR=$PWD"; echo "HOME=$HOME"; ls -ld ~/.openclaw

# PowerShell (Windows)
Write-Host "WORKDIR=$PWD"; Write-Host "USERPROFILE=$env:USERPROFILE"; Get-Item "$env:USERPROFILE\.openclaw"

Step 1 — Run the audit script

This script prints a short summary and can write a full JSON report.

# Run the audit script shipped with this skill.
# From the skill folder, run:
python3 scripts/context_cleanup_audit.py --out context-cleanup-audit.json

# If your Python executable is not `python3` (common on Windows):
#   py -3 scripts/context_cleanup_audit.py --out context-cleanup-audit.json

# Optional overrides:
#   --workspace   (defaults to current directory)
#   --state-dir   (defaults to ~/.openclaw or OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR)
python3 scripts/context_cleanup_audit.py --workspace . --state-dir <PATH_TO_OPENCLAW_STATE> --out context-cleanup-audit.json

Interpretation cheatsheet:

• Huge toolResult entries (exec/read/web_fetch): transcript bloat
• Many System: / Cron: lines: automation bloat
• Large bootstrap docs (AGENTS/MEMORY/SOUL/USER): reinjected rules bloat

Step 2 — Produce a fix plan (lowest-risk first)

Create a short plan with:

• Top offenders (largest transcript entries)
• Noisiest recurring jobs (cron/heartbeat)
• Quick wins (reversible)

Use these standard levers:

Lever A — Make no-op automation truly silent

Goal: maintenance loops should output exactly NO_REPLY unless there is an anomaly.

Pattern: update prompts so the last line forces:

• Finally output ONLY: NO_REPLY

Lever B — Keep notifications, avoid transcript injection

If you want alerts but want the interactive session lean:

• Send out-of-band (Telegram/Slack/etc.)
• Then output NO_REPLY

See: references/out-of-band-delivery.md

Lever C — Keep injected bootstrap files small

• Keep only restart-critical rules in MEMORY.md
• Move bulky notes into references/*.md or memory/*.md

Step 3 — Verify

After you apply any changes:

• Confirm the next cron/heartbeat runs are silent on success.
• Watch context growth rate (it should flatten).

Sample report skeleton (what “good output” looks like)

Use this structure when you report the audit (even if you do not write JSON):

# Context Clean Up — Audit Report (No Changes)

## Executive Summary
- Symptoms observed:
- Primary bloat drivers:
- Recommended first action:

## Top Offenders
1) <offender> — <why it matters> — <quick fix>
2) <offender> — <why it matters> — <quick fix>

## Automation Noise (Cron/Heartbeat)
- Findings:
- Proposed changes (audit-only):
- Risk/rollback notes:

## Bootstrap Size
- Files contributing most:
- Recommendation:

## Plan (3–8 steps)
1) ...
2) ...

## Rollback Plan
- How to revert each step:

## Verification
- What to check after changes:

References

• references/out-of-band-delivery.md
• references/cron-noise-checklist.md