# Openclaw Memory Stack

> Total recall, 90% fewer tokens. Open source OpenClaw memory plugin — 5-engine local search, structured fact extraction, smart dedup, cross-agent sharing, and self-healing. Replace native memory with something that actually remembers. No cloud API, no subscription, MIT licensed and free.

- Skill: `lord1egypt/openclaw-memory-stack` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add lord1egypt/openclaw-memory-stack`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/lord1egypt/openclaw-memory-stack/raw
- Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS)
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: DevOps & Infra
- License: mit
- Author: Lord1Egypt (https://skillmd.com/u/lord1egypt)
- Updated: 2026-09-08
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/lord1egypt/openclaw-memory-stack

---


# OpenClaw Memory Stack

**Total recall. 90% fewer tokens.**

Your agent forgets past decisions and burns tokens re-reading the same context. Memory Stack runs 5 search engines locally, returns only what matters, and never loses a fact.

> **Free and open source. MIT license.** No subscription, no cloud API costs.
> All search and storage runs entirely on your machine.
> GitHub: [github.com/Apptah/openclaw-memory-stack](https://github.com/Apptah/openclaw-memory-stack)

## Architecture

```
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                  OPENCLAW MEMORY STACK                        │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                              │
│  SEARCH PIPELINE (runs on every conversation turn)           │
│                                                              │
│  ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐               │
│  │  E1  │ │  E2  │ │  E3  │ │  E4  │ │  E5  │               │
│  │ Full │ │Vector│ │ DAG  │ │ Fact │ │  MD  │               │
│  │ Text │ │Search│ │Compr.│ │Store │ │Files │               │
│  └──┬───┘ └──┬───┘ └──┬───┘ └──┬───┘ └──┬───┘               │
│     └────────┴────────┴────────┴────────┘                    │
│                        │                                     │
│                        ▼                                     │
│               ┌──────────────┐                               │
│               │ Result Fusion│                               │
│               │ + Reranking  │                               │
│               └──────────────┘                               │
│                        │                                     │
│              ┌─────────┼─────────┐                           │
│              ▼         ▼         ▼                           │
│          ┌──────┐  ┌──────┐  ┌──────┐                        │
│          │  L0  │  │  L1  │  │  L2  │  Token Budget           │
│          │~100t │  │~800t │  │ full │  Control                │
│          └──────┘  └──────┘  └──────┘                        │
│                                                              │
│  CAPTURE (runs after every conversation turn)                │
│                                                              │
│  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐        │
│  │    Fact       │  │   Entity     │  │   Dedup &    │        │
│  │  Extraction   │  │  Tracking    │  │  Supersede   │        │
│  │  (8 types)    │  │  (queryable) │  │  (3-level)   │        │
│  └──────────────┘  └──────────────┘  └──────────────┘        │
│                                                              │
│  CROSS-AGENT SHARING                                         │
│                                                              │
│  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐        │
│  │   CLI API    │  │  Drop Zone   │  │   Unified    │        │
│  │ query/add/   │  │  ~/.openclaw │  │   Global     │        │
│  │   recent     │  │  /external/  │  │   Memory     │        │
│  └──────────────┘  └──────────────┘  └──────────────┘        │
│         ▲                 ▲                 ▲                 │
│  Claude Code       Cursor / Windsurf    Any MCP client       │
│                                                              │
│  SELF-HEALING MAINTENANCE (24h cycle, zero config)           │
│                                                              │
│  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐        │
│  │  Auto-Init   │  │   Graceful   │  │   Health     │        │
│  │  workspace   │  │   Fallback   │  │   Monitor    │        │
│  │  + indexing   │  │  FTS5-only   │  │  + alerting  │        │
│  └──────────────┘  └──────────────┘  └──────────────┘        │
│                                                              │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

## Built-in Code Search

Find function names, variable names, or any pattern across your entire memory — instantly. No extra tools needed, works offline, gets faster the more you use it.

## 5-Engine Search

Five engines search in parallel on every conversation turn:

| Engine | What it does |
|--------|-------------|
| Full-text | Keyword matching with relevance ranking |
| Vector | Semantic search — understands meaning, not just words |
| Compressed history | Conversation DAG with drill-down |
| Fact store | Structured facts — decisions, deadlines, requirements |
| Markdown | Scans memory files directly |

Results are merged with rank fusion, deduplicated, reranked for diversity, and scored with time decay.

## 3-Tier Token Control

Every wasted token is money burned. Memory Stack eliminates the waste.

| Tier | Tokens | When used |
|------|--------|-----------|
| L0 | ~100 | Auto-recall every turn — minimal cost |
| L1 | ~800 | On-demand search summary |
| L2 | full | Full content on request |

**The agent generates summaries — no separate LLM service required.**

When the OpenClaw agent stores or surfaces a memory, it should also produce L0/L1
summaries from its own context (it is already an LLM) and persist them via:

```bash
openclaw-memory tier set <file> \
  --l0 "<one-sentence abstract, ≤100 tokens>" \
  --l1 "<focused overview, ≤800 tokens, covers what + why + when to use>"
```

Read back at any tier:

```bash
openclaw-memory tier show <file> --level L0   # or L1, L2
```

For unattended/offline contexts where no agent is available, fall back to a pure
heuristic (first non-empty line for L0, char-bounded prefix for L1):

```bash
openclaw-memory tier auto <file>
```

## Structured Fact Memory

Extracts 8 fact types automatically: decisions, deadlines, requirements, entities, preferences, workflows, relationships, corrections.

- Structured key/value storage with confidence scores
- Negation-aware — "We will NOT use MongoDB" preserved correctly
- Automatic supersede — when a fact changes, old version archived, new one takes over

## Smart Dedup & Conflict Resolution

- 3-level write-time dedup: exact match, normalized text, structured key match
- Full audit trail via archive table
- Removes duplicates before sending — you never pay twice for the same memory

## Cross-Agent Memory Sharing

Works across Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and any MCP-compatible client.

- CLI commands: `openclaw-memory query/add/recent` — any tool can read/write facts
- Drop zone: drop `.md` files into `~/.openclaw/memory/external/` — auto-ingested, no duplicates
- Unified global memory under `~/.openclaw/memory/` — your memory follows you across workspaces

## Self-Healing Maintenance

Zero maintenance. The plugin takes care of itself.

- Auto-init: detects workspace, creates search index, schedules embedding — no manual setup
- Graceful fallback: if vector search unavailable, runs in keyword-only mode — always functional
- 24h maintenance cycle: rebuilds index on corruption, archives stale facts, alerts on health issues

## OpenClaw Native vs Memory Stack

| | Native | Memory Stack |
|---|--------|-------------|
| Search engines | 2 | 5 (parallel, fused) |
| Token efficiency | Full text every time | Up to 90% fewer |
| Output tiers | Full text | 3 tiers (~100 / ~800 / full) |
| Fact extraction | No | 8 types, structured, negation-aware |
| Duplicate handling | Can pay twice | 3-level dedup, auto-supersede |
| Entity tracking | No | Yes, queryable |
| Cross-agent | No | CLI + drop zone, works with any tool |
| Memory across projects | Separate per workspace | Unified global memory — follows you everywhere |
| Self-healing | No | Auto-maintain, auto-fallback |
| Runs locally | Yes | Yes — all search runs locally, no cloud dependency |

## Memory Stack vs Other AI Memory Systems

Most AI memory systems make you choose between control and convenience. Memory Stack doesn't.

| | Hermes Agent | Google Always-On | Memory Stack |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Trigger** | Explicit tool call | Automatic (Google decides) | Deterministic router — 7 explicit rules |
| **Routing logic** | Agent judgment (opaque) | Black box | Keyword pattern matching — fully inspectable |
| **Fallback on poor recall** | None | Uncontrollable | Sequential chain — relevance < 0.4 → next backend |
| **Storage location** | Developer-managed DB | Google cloud | Local git branch + SQLite — nothing leaves your machine |
| **Token control** | None | None | 3 tiers: ~100 / ~800 / full |
| **Deduplication** | Manual | Unknown | 4-level auto-dedup |
| **Works offline** | Depends on DB | No | Yes — core search fully offline |
| **Open source** | Varies | No | MIT — full source on GitHub |
| **Setup time** | Hours | Minutes (Gemini only) | One command, any MCP client |

Hermes gives developers control but no routing or fallback infrastructure. Google gives convenience but no privacy and no control. Memory Stack gives you both.

## Install

```bash
npx clawhub@latest package install openclaw-memory-stack
```

Or clone and run directly:

```bash
git clone https://github.com/Apptah/openclaw-memory-stack
cd openclaw-memory-stack
./install.sh
```

Runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows (WSL2). Requires bash, python3, and OpenClaw 2026.3.2 or later. Bun is optional (enables QMD vector search).

## What the installer does

The included `install.sh` performs the following actions:

- **Files**: Copies plugin and backend files to `~/.openclaw/memory-stack/`, registers plugin in `~/.openclaw/extensions/openclaw-memory-stack/`, updates `~/.openclaw/openclaw.json`
- **Upgrade downloads**: `install.sh --upgrade` downloads new versions with mandatory SHA-256 checksum verification
- **No telemetry**: No usage data, memory content, or analytics are ever sent
- **Optional LLM**: `OPENCLAW_LLM_API_KEY` / `OPENAI_API_KEY` env vars are optional, used only for LLM-powered fact extraction. If not set, falls back to local Ollama/MLX. These keys are sent only to the endpoint you configure (default: api.openai.com), never to our servers

All search and storage runs entirely on your machine.

## License

MIT. Free and open source. See [LICENSE](https://github.com/Apptah/openclaw-memory-stack/blob/main/LICENSE).

## Support

Questions or issues? Open a GitHub issue at [github.com/Apptah/openclaw-memory-stack](https://github.com/Apptah/openclaw-memory-stack/issues).