Honcho Setup

Honcho Setup

Install the @honcho-ai/openclaw-honcho plugin. The plugin includes openclaw honcho setup, which handles API key configuration and migration of any legacy memory files to Honcho.

⚠️ DATA UPLOAD WARNING: openclaw honcho setup (run in Step 2) will offer to upload your workspace memory files (USER.md, MEMORY.md, IDENTITY.md, memory/, canvas/, SOUL.md, AGENTS.md, BOOTSTRAP.md, TOOLS.md) to an external API. HEARTBEAT.md is excluded. By default, data is sent to api.honcho.dev. For self-hosted instances, data is sent to your configured HONCHO_BASE_URL. The setup command will show exactly which files will be uploaded and ask for explicit confirmation before proceeding.

No local files are deleted, moved, or modified. Originals remain exactly in place.

Step 1: Install the Plugin

Install the Honcho plugin using the OpenClaw plugin system. Use this exact command — do not install @honcho-ai/sdk directly or use npm install in the workspace.

openclaw plugins install @honcho-ai/openclaw-honcho

Then enable it:

openclaw plugins enable openclaw-honcho

Verify the plugin loaded without errors. If the gateway logs show Cannot find module '@honcho-ai/sdk', install dependencies manually:

cd ~/.openclaw/extensions/openclaw-honcho && npm install

This is a known issue with the OpenClaw plugin installer not running dependency resolution for plugin packages.

Step 2: Run Setup

Run the setup command that ships with the plugin:

openclaw honcho setup

This command will:

1. Prompt interactively for your Honcho API key
2. Write configuration to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
3. Scan for legacy memory files and offer to migrate them to Honcho

Follow the prompts. Migration is optional — if you have no legacy files or want to skip, you can skip the upload step.

For managed Honcho, you need an API key from https://app.honcho.dev. For self-hosted instances, set HONCHO_BASE_URL to your instance URL and the API key is optional.

Step 3: Restart the Gateway

openclaw gateway restart

Step 4: Confirm

Verify the plugin is active by checking gateway logs or running:

openclaw honcho status

Honcho memory is now active.

Ongoing behavior after setup: Once enabled, the plugin will persistently observe conversations in this workspace and send conversation data to api.honcho.dev (or your configured HONCHO_BASE_URL) to build and retrieve memory. This is ongoing network activity that continues across sessions. Memory is made available via honcho_context, honcho_search_conclusions, honcho_ask, honcho_search_messages, honcho_session, and related tools. To stop this behavior, disable the plugin with openclaw plugins disable openclaw-honcho.

Security & Privacy Disclosure

This skill has been designed with transparency and safety as priorities. Below is a complete disclosure of what this skill does:

What This Skill Does

This skill runs three commands: openclaw plugins install, openclaw honcho setup, and openclaw gateway restart. The data upload and file access described below is performed by openclaw honcho setup, not by this skill directly.

Data Upload

• uploaded_content: USER.md, MEMORY.md, IDENTITY.md, all files under memory/, all files under canvas/, SOUL.md, AGENTS.md, BOOTSTRAP.md, TOOLS.md — uploaded by openclaw honcho setup during migration
• not_uploaded: HEARTBEAT.md — excluded by design, never read or uploaded
• Where it goes: By default to api.honcho.dev (managed Honcho cloud service). For self-hosted instances, to your configured HONCHO_BASE_URL
• User control: openclaw honcho setup always requires explicit interactive confirmation before any upload, even when HONCHO_API_KEY is pre-set in the environment. You will see the exact list of files and the destination URL
• Purpose: Migrating file-based memory system to Honcho API for AI agent personalization and memory

File Modifications

• Config written: openclaw honcho setup writes API key and config to ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json
• Workspace files: Never modified — originals remain exactly in place
• HEARTBEAT.md: Never read or uploaded — excluded by design

Credentials

• HONCHO_API_KEY: Required only for managed Honcho (api.honcho.dev). Not required for self-hosted instances. Stored in ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json by the setup command.
• No other credentials: This skill does not access, read, or transmit any other credentials or secrets

Network Access

• Managed mode: Connects to api.honcho.dev (Honcho cloud service)
• Self-hosted mode: Connects to your configured HONCHO_BASE_URL (e.g., http://localhost:8000)

Ongoing Behavior After Setup

• Persistent observation: Once enabled, the plugin observes all conversations in the workspace and transmits conversation data to the configured Honcho endpoint on an ongoing basis
• Network activity: Continues across sessions as long as the plugin is enabled — this is not a one-time migration
• How to stop: Run openclaw plugins disable openclaw-honcho to stop all observation and network activity

Open Source

• Honcho SDK: Open source at https://github.com/plastic-labs/honcho
• Plugin code: Available at ~/.openclaw/extensions/openclaw-honcho after installation
• This skill: You are reading the complete skill instructions - there is no hidden behavior

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