--- name: clawvault version: "2.5.11" description: Agent memory system with memory graph, context profiles, checkpoint/recover, structured storage, semantic search, and observational memory. Use when: storing/searching memories, preventing context death, graph-aware context retrieval, repairing broken sessions. Don't use when: general file I/O. author: Versatly repository: https://github.com/Versatly/clawvault homepage: https://clawvault.dev user-invocable: true always: false openclaw: {"emoji":"🐘","requires":{"bins":["clawvault","qmd"]}} requires: {"bins":["clawvault","qmd"],"env_optional":["CLAWVAULT_PATH","OPENCLAW_HOME","OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR","GEMINI_API_KEY"]} install: [{"id":"node","kind":"node","package":"clawvault","bins":["clawvault"],"label":"Install ClawVault CLI (npm)"},{"id":"qmd","kind":"node","package":"github:tobi/qmd","bins":["qmd"],"label":"Install qmd backend (required for query/context workflows)"}] metadata: {"openclaw":{"emoji":"🐘","requires":{"bins":["clawvault","qmd"]},"install":[{"id":"node","kind":"node","package":"clawvault","bins":["clawvault"],"label":"Install ClawVault CLI (npm)"},{"id":"qmd","kind":"node","package":"github:tobi/qmd","bins":["qmd"],"label":"Install qmd backend (required for query/context workflows)"}],"env_optional":["CLAWVAULT_PATH","OPENCLAW_HOME","OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR","GEMINI_API_KEY"],"homepage":"https://clawvault.dev"}} ---

ClawVault 🐘

An elephant never forgets. Structured memory for OpenClaw agents.

> Built for OpenClaw. Canonical install: npm CLI + hook install + hook enable.

Security & Transparency

What this skill does:

• Reads/writes markdown files in your vault directory (CLAWVAULT_PATH or auto-discovered)
• repair-session reads and modifies OpenClaw session transcripts (~/.openclaw/agents/) — creates backups before writing
• Provides an OpenClaw hook pack (hooks/clawvault/handler.js) with lifecycle events (gateway:startup, gateway:heartbeat, command:new, session:start, compaction:memoryFlush, cron.weekly). Hook is opt-in and must be installed/enabled.
• observe --compress makes LLM API calls (Gemini Flash by default) to compress session transcripts into observations

Environment variables used:

• CLAWVAULT_PATH — vault location (optional, auto-discovered if not set)
• OPENCLAW_HOME / OPENCLAW_STATE_DIR — used by repair-session to find session transcripts
• GEMINI_API_KEY — used by observe for LLM compression (optional, only if using observe features)

No cloud sync — all data stays local. No network calls except LLM API for observe compression.

This is a full CLI tool, not instruction-only. It writes files, registers hooks, and runs code.

Auditability: the published ClawHub skill bundle includes SKILL.md, HOOK.md, and hooks/clawvault/handler.js so users can inspect hook behavior before enabling it.

Install (Canonical)

npm install -g clawvault
openclaw hooks install clawvault
openclaw hooks enable clawvault

# Verify and reload
openclaw hooks list --verbose
openclaw hooks info clawvault
openclaw hooks check
# restart gateway process

clawhub install clawvault can install skill guidance, but does not replace explicit hook pack installation.

Recommended Safe Install Flow

# 1) Review package metadata before install
npm view clawvault version dist.integrity dist.tarball repository.url

# 2) Install CLI + qmd dependency
npm install -g clawvault@latest
npm install -g github:tobi/qmd

# 3) Install hook pack, but DO NOT enable yet
openclaw hooks install clawvault

# 4) Review hook source locally before enabling
node -e "const fs=require('fs');const p='hooks/clawvault/handler.js';console.log(fs.existsSync(p)?p:'hook file not found in current directory')"
openclaw hooks info clawvault

# 5) Enable only after review
openclaw hooks enable clawvault
openclaw hooks check

Setup

# Initialize vault (creates folder structure + templates)
clawvault init ~/my-vault

# Or set env var to use existing vault
export CLAWVAULT_PATH=/path/to/memory

# Optional: shell integration (aliases + CLAWVAULT_PATH)
clawvault shell-init >> ~/.bashrc

Quick Start for New Agents

# Start your session (recover + recap + summary)
clawvault wake

# Capture and checkpoint during work
clawvault capture "TODO: Review PR tomorrow"
clawvault checkpoint --working-on "PR review" --focus "type guards"

# End your session with a handoff
clawvault sleep "PR review + type guards" --next "respond to CI" --blocked "waiting for CI"

# Health check when something feels off
clawvault doctor

Reality Checks Before Use

# Verify runtime compatibility with current OpenClaw setup
clawvault compat

# Verify qmd is available
qmd --version

# Verify OpenClaw CLI is installed in this shell
openclaw --version

ClawVault currently depends on qmd for core vault/query flows.

Current Feature Set

Memory Graph

ClawVault builds a typed knowledge graph from wiki-links, tags, and frontmatter:

# View graph summary
clawvault graph

# Refresh graph index
clawvault graph --refresh

Graph is stored at .clawvault/graph-index.json — schema versioned, incremental rebuild.

Graph-Aware Context Retrieval

# Default context (semantic + graph neighbors)
clawvault context "database decision"

# With a profile preset
clawvault context --profile planning "Q1 roadmap"
clawvault context --profile incident "production outage"
clawvault context --profile handoff "session end"

# Auto profile (used by OpenClaw hook)
clawvault context --profile auto "current task"

Context Profiles

| Profile | Purpose | |---------|---------| | default | Balanced retrieval | | planning | Broader strategic context | | incident | Recent events, blockers, urgent items | | handoff | Session transition context | | auto | Hook-selected profile based on session intent |

OpenClaw Compatibility Diagnostics

# Check hook wiring, event routing, handler safety
clawvault compat

# Strict mode for CI
clawvault compat --strict

Core Commands

Wake + Sleep (primary)

clawvault wake
clawvault sleep "what I was working on" --next "ship v1" --blocked "waiting for API key"

Store memories by type

# Types: fact, feeling, decision, lesson, commitment, preference, relationship, project
clawvault remember decision "Use Postgres over SQLite" --content "Need concurrent writes for multi-agent setup"
clawvault remember lesson "Context death is survivable" --content "Checkpoint before heavy work"
clawvault remember relationship "Justin Dukes" --content "Client contact at Hale Pet Door"

Quick capture to inbox

clawvault capture "TODO: Review PR tomorrow"

Search (requires qmd installed)

# Keyword search (fast)
clawvault search "client contacts"

# Semantic search (slower, more accurate)
clawvault vsearch "what did we decide about the database"

Context Death Resilience

Wake (start of session)

clawvault wake

Sleep (end of session)

clawvault sleep "what I was working on" --next "finish docs" --blocked "waiting for review"

Checkpoint (save state frequently)

clawvault checkpoint --working-on "PR review" --focus "type guards" --blocked "waiting for CI"

Recover (manual check)

clawvault recover --clear
# Shows: death time, last checkpoint, recent handoff

Handoff (manual session end)

clawvault handoff \
  --working-on "ClawVault improvements" \
  --blocked "npm token" \
  --next "publish to npm, create skill" \
  --feeling "productive"

Recap (bootstrap new session)

clawvault recap
# Shows: recent handoffs, active projects, pending commitments, lessons

Auto-linking

Wiki-link entity mentions in markdown files:

# Link all files
clawvault link --all

...