Claw Memory Management

Memory Management

Memory Layers

Key difference: memory/ is what you need to know to continue working. Keep it concise — do not stuff it with exhaustive operational details.

Writing Rules

1. Write memory after action — Each round produces one concise memory index entry.
2. Keep memory concise — memory/ is for quick context recovery. If it becomes too long to scan at a glance, you are writing too much detail.
3. Use timestamps inside entries — Use HH:MM:SS inside entries. The ## heading already provides the date.
4. Link to long-term memory — If a pattern or preference should persist, update MEMORY.md directly.
5. Silent writing — Write memory as part of tool calls. Do not mention logging in your text replies to the user.
6. Log every reply — Every memory entry must include a Sent field summarizing what you output to the user. If you said nothing, write "No reply".
7. Check before replying — Before replying, scan today's memory/ entries for the Sent field. If you already answered this question, do not repeat it.
8. Check context on short/ambiguous replies — If the user's message is brief or seems to reference something not in their message (e.g., "ok", "好的", "why", "next time"), ALWAYS check the most recent Sent entry in memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md. The user may be responding to a heartbeat notification. If so, acknowledge the notification context in your reply.

Memory Index Entry Format

Append entries to memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md. Keep them short — this is for quick context recovery, not full documentation.

## HH:MM:SS — [One-sentence task summary]

- **Request**: [What the user asked for]
- **Method**: [Brief description of the approach or pattern used]
- **Key decision**: [Important choices and rationale]
- **Changes**: [List of files touched]
- **Status**: [Complete / Partial / Blocked / Needs review]
- **Sent**: [Brief summary of what you sent to the user, e.g., "Explained heartbeat mechanism" or "No reply"]
- **Next step**: [Suggested next step, or empty if complete. If you sent a message to the user and expect a reply, write: "If user replies, they are likely responding to: <summary of what you sent>". This helps the next agent session understand the context when the user replies.]

Do not output these logs in your text replies. Write them directly to files.

Memory Maintenance

Periodically (every few days or when you notice accumulation), review and maintain your memory:

1. Read recent memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md files
2. Identify significant events, lessons, insights worth saving long-term
3. Update MEMORY.md with distilled learnings (not raw logs)
4. Delete outdated information in MEMORY.md that is no longer relevant

This is like a human reviewing a diary and updating their mental model. Daily files are raw notes; MEMORY.md is curated wisdom.

Key rule: If you want to remember something, write it to a file.