Missing memory and bootstrap

[normal chasm]

Hello @rapid cloak ,

I’m sorry to contact you again but I’ve recently found out that my agent has the files “memory.md” and “bootstrap.md” empty.

I don’t know if this is normal but to me it sounds strange.

Hope you can help me!

[tawny lance]

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[normal chasm]

@rapid cloak

[rapid cloak]

Totally normal.

In OpenClaw those files are just plain Markdown in your agent workspace:

• MEMORY.md (or memory.md) = curated long‑term notes (preferences, important facts, stable instructions)
• memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md = daily scratchpad notes
• BOOTSTRAP.md (or bootstrap.md) = optional “what to load first when a new session starts / after resets”; if it’s empty, nothing breaks

They often stay empty until you explicitly tell the agent to write something like: “please save this to memory”.

If you expected the bot to “remember” things but these stay empty, the usual causes are:

1. you never asked it to write to memory, or
2. the Gateway is starting with a different workspace after restart (common in remote mode; the “real” workspace is on the gateway host).

Docs:

• Memory overview: https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/memory
• FAQ section (“How does memory work” + workspace paths): https://docs.openclaw.ai/help/faq#how-does-memory-work

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