memory-manager

Upgrade your agent's memory from basic notes to a 3-layer production system with nightly consolidation. Based on patterns from running 7 AI bots in production for 30+ days.

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Overview

Every AI agent has the same problem: it wakes up fresh every session with no memory of what happened before. The naive fix is a single MEMORY.md file — but that doesn't scale. After a few weeks, it's either a wall of text the agent ignores, or so curated it's missing operational context.

This skill installs a 3-layer memory architecture that mirrors how humans actually store knowledge:

Layer	File	What goes here
1 — Long-term	INLINECODE1	Curated wisdom, architecture decisions, hard-won lessons
2 — Operational

memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md | What happened today, active project state, raw context |
| 3 — Tacit | USER.md | How your human works, preferences, frustrations, patterns |

Plus a nightly consolidation cron that reviews recent sessions and promotes important context up the layers automatically.

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When to Use This Skill

Activate this skill when the user asks you to:

• - Set up memory for their agent
• Upgrade from a basic MEMORY.md system
• Add nightly consolidation or memory cron
• Improve agent continuity between sessions
• Track active projects across agent restarts
• Set up the memory-manager skill

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Setup Instructions

Step 1: Run the Setup Script

CODEBLOCK0

This creates the memory/ directory, copies templates into place, and prints next steps.

Step 2: Customize the Templates

After setup, edit these files in your agent's workspace:

1. 1. MEMORY.md — Add your agent's existing long-term context
2. USER.md — Fill in who the human is, how they work, what frustrates them
3. AGENTS.md — Review the startup sequence (already wired for 3-layer loading)
4. HEARTBEAT.md — Configure which projects to monitor

Step 3: Configure the Startup Sequence

Your agent's AGENTS.md must include this memory loading sequence at the top of "Every Session":

CODEBLOCK1

Why read yesterday too? Sessions started after midnight won't have today's file yet. Yesterday bridges the gap. This prevented context loss in our production fleet during late-night sessions.

Step 4: Set Up Nightly Consolidation

Add a cron job to consolidate memory each night at 2 AM:

CODEBLOCK2

The consolidation prompt to configure in OpenClaw cron:

CODEBLOCK3

Why 2 AM? Low activity period. The consolidation model has full context of the day's events. Running nightly (not weekly) means no single consolidation is overwhelming.

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Memory Loading Rules

In Main Session (direct human chat)

Load all three layers: CODEBLOCK4

In Group Chats / Shared Channels

Load only layers 2 and 3 (no MEMORY.md): CODEBLOCK5

Why skip MEMORY.md in group chats? Long-term memory often contains personal context — private preferences, health info, financial details — that shouldn't leak into conversations with strangers. Daily operational notes are usually safe.

In Subagent / Worker Sessions

Load only today's notes: CODEBLOCK6

Subagents are ephemeral. Don't load full memory — it wastes tokens and context.

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Daily Notes Format

Each memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md file follows this structure:

CODEBLOCK7

The "Context for Next Session" section is the most important. Agents often end sessions mid-task. Without this section, the next session has to reconstruct state from scratch. Write it as if briefing a colleague who just joined the project.

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Active Project Tracking

Projects move through these states in daily notes:

CODEBLOCK8

The heartbeat integration (see HEARTBEAT.md) checks active projects and surfaces blockers automatically.

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MEMORY.md Curation Rules

Long-term memory should be:

• - Curated, not comprehensive — the distilled essence, not raw logs
• Actionable — things that change future decisions
• Evergreen — not "what I did Tuesday" but "lesson learned from the Tuesday incident"
• Organized by topic — architecture, lessons, human preferences, recurring patterns

Things that belong in MEMORY.md:

• - Architecture decisions and the reasoning behind them
• Lessons learned from failures
• Patterns in how the human works / thinks
• Important context about key projects
• Things you've been told to always/never do

Things that do NOT belong in MEMORY.md:

• - One-off task completions
• Information that will be stale in a week
• Raw conversation transcripts
• Things already captured in USER.md

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Heartbeat Integration

Add to your HEARTBEAT.md to enable project monitoring:

CODEBLOCK9

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File Reference

File	Location	Purpose
SKILL.md	INLINECODE14	This file
setup.sh

scripts/setup.sh | One-command installer |
| templates/MEMORY.md | templates/ | Long-term memory template |
| templates/AGENTS.md | templates/ | Startup sequence template |
| templates/USER.md | templates/ | User profile template |
| templates/HEARTBEAT.md | templates/ | Heartbeat config template |