#Help setup

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

deft plaza May 12, 2026, 1:02 PM

I want to implement the three‑layer memory system from the “His Openclaw Agent made him $80,000” video.
I watched a video and he had a very interesting setup for an openclaw system.

Daily notes:
Short‑term “today” memory for all active projects and tasks.
Each update (start/progress/finish) appends a structured log with goal, status, last update time, recent actions, blockers, and next step.
Agents read today’s notes before working so they remember what’s in progress.

Knowledge base (rebuilt ~2 a.m. daily)
Long‑term memory built from summarized daily notes and important interactions.
Nightly job condenses the last day into clean docs (what we learned, updates, FAQs, product changes) and rebuilds a searchable knowledge base from those summaries, not raw logs.

Heartbeat (every ~30 minutes)
Operational monitor that scans today’s daily notes for active tasks.
If a task looks stalled based on last update time and expected duration, decide whether to continue, restart, or rebuild it, and log that decision back into daily notes.

Keep these three layers conceptually separate (live daily state, distilled nightly knowledge, and periodic health checks)

How do i set this up for my system? What do i tell my agents so they can set it up properly?

dense monolithBOT May 12, 2026, 1:02 PM

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sudden scarabBOT May 12, 2026, 1:03 PM

This maps pretty cleanly onto OpenClaw’s existing pieces. First thing I’d ask your agent/operator to grab is:

openclaw --version

Version matters a lot for cron/heartbeat/memory behavior.

The practical setup is:

Daily notes = live working state
Use the workspace daily note file:

~/.openclaw/workspace/memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md

OpenClaw’s memory docs explicitly use daily notes here, with MEMORY.md as the curated long-term layer. Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/memory

Tell your agents to append structured task entries like:

## Task: short-id-or-project-name
- goal: ...
- status: active | blocked | waiting | done
- started: 2026-05-12T13:00:00Z
- last_update: 2026-05-12T13:30:00Z
- expected_next_update: 30m | 2h | tomorrow
- recent_actions:
  - ...
- blockers:
  - ...
- next_step: ...

- owner/session: ...

Good instruction for AGENTS.md:

## Daily working memory
Before starting project/task work, check today’s daily note in `memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md` and relevant memory search results.
For every meaningful start, progress update, blocker, handoff, or finish, append/update a structured task entry in today’s note.
Do not put raw transcripts in long-term memory. Daily notes are live state.

Nightly knowledge base = distilled long-term memory
Use a cron job around 2 a.m. that reads yesterday/today’s daily note, extracts durable facts, and writes clean summaries into either:

~/.openclaw/workspace/MEMORY.md
~/.openclaw/workspace/memory/knowledge/YYYY-MM-DD-summary.md

If you want a more “real KB/wiki” layer, look at the bundled memory-wiki plugin: https://docs.openclaw.ai/plugins/memory-wiki

Example cron shape:

openclaw cron add \
  --name "Nightly memory distill" \
  --cron "0 2 * * *" \
  --tz "YOUR_TIMEZONE" \
  --session isolated \
  --message "Distill the latest daily notes into durable knowledge. Read memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md files for the last day. Summarize only stable facts, decisions, FAQs, product/project changes, and unresolved follow-ups. Write concise durable items to MEMORY.md or memory/knowledge/YYYY-MM-DD-summary.md. Keep raw logs out of long-term memory. Preserve the separation between daily state and distilled knowledge."

Cron docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/automation/cron-jobs

Heartbeat = health checker
Heartbeat already defaults to about every 30 minutes. Put the monitoring policy in HEARTBEAT.md, not in MEMORY.md.

Example HEARTBEAT.md:

# Heartbeat: task health monitor

Every heartbeat:
1. Read today’s daily note: `memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md`.
2. Find tasks with `status: active`, `blocked`, or `waiting`.
3. Compare `last_update` and `expected_next_update` against current time.
4. If a task looks stalled, decide one action:
   - continue: next step is still valid

   - ask human: blocked on missing decision/access
   - restart: previous attempt likely failed
   - rebuild: plan/artifact is stale or broken
5. Append the decision back into today’s daily note.
6. If nothing needs human attention, reply `HEARTBEAT_OK`.

Config shape:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      heartbeat: {
        every: "30m",

        target: "last",
        lightContext: true,
        skipWhenBusy: true,
        prompt: "Read HEARTBEAT.md. Monitor active tasks in today's daily note. Log health decisions back to daily notes. If nothing needs attention, reply HEARTBEAT_OK."
      }
    }
  }
}

Heartbeat docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/gateway/heartbeat
Automation decision guide: https://docs.openclaw.ai/automation

The key instruction to give your agents is basically:

Keep memory in three layers:
- Daily notes: live operational state, active tasks, blockers, next steps.
- Nightly knowledge: distilled durable facts and summaries only.
- Heartbeat: periodic health checks that read daily state and append decisions.

Never mix the layers. Do not dump raw daily logs into MEMORY.md. Do not use heartbeat as long-term memory. Do not use nightly summaries as live task state.

That’s the clean version. If you paste your openclaw --version and whether you’re using one agent or multiple named agents, I can help turn this into the exact config/cron commands for your setup. 🦞

deft plaza May 12, 2026, 1:09 PM

sudden scarab This maps pretty cleanly onto OpenClaw’s existing pieces. First thing I’d ask yo...

2026.4.26

I also kinda need you to give a complete message that i can tell my builder agent to install everything himself, not me.

sudden scarabBOT May 12, 2026, 1:09 PM

Perfect — 2026.4.26 is new enough for this pattern.

What I’d tell your agents to do:

Put the operating rules in ~/.openclaw/workspace/AGENTS.md
Put heartbeat-specific monitoring rules in ~/.openclaw/workspace/HEARTBEAT.md
Add one nightly cron job for the 2 a.m. distillation pass

Suggested AGENTS.md block:

## Three-layer memory system

Keep memory separated into three layers:

1. Live daily state

- Use `memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md`.
- Before starting project/task work, read today’s note and relevant memory search results.
- Append or update structured task entries for starts, progress, blockers, decisions, handoffs, and finishes.
- Include: goal, status, last_update, recent_actions, blockers, next_step, expected_next_update.

2. Distilled knowledge
- Use `MEMORY.md` and/or `memory/knowledge/*.md` only for stable, durable facts.
- Do not paste raw daily logs into long-term memory.
- Promote only decisions, preferences, learned procedures, FAQs, product/project changes, and recurring lessons.

3. Health checks
- Heartbeat reads daily state and decides whether active tasks are healthy, stalled, blocked, or done.
- Heartbeat must log its decision back into today’s daily note.

Never mix the layers.

Daily notes are operational state.
Nightly knowledge is distilled memory.
Heartbeat is monitoring, not storage.

Suggested HEARTBEAT.md:

# Heartbeat task monitor

Every heartbeat:
1. Read today’s daily note: `memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md`.
2. Find tasks with status `active`, `blocked`, or `waiting`.
3. Compare `last_update` and `expected_next_update` against current time.
4. If a task is stale, choose one decision:

   - continue
   - ask human
   - restart
   - rebuild
   - mark done
5. Append the decision to today’s daily note.
6. If no human-visible alert is needed, reply `HEARTBEAT_OK`.

Then configure heartbeat roughly like:

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {

      heartbeat: {
        every: "30m",
        target: "last",
        lightContext: true,
        skipWhenBusy: true,
        prompt: "Read HEARTBEAT.md. Monitor active tasks in today's daily note. Log decisions back to daily notes. If nothing needs attention, reply HEARTBEAT_OK."
      }
    }
  }
}

Nightly cron:

openclaw cron add \
  --name "Nightly memory distill" \
  --cron "0 2 * * *" \
  --tz "YOUR_TIMEZONE" \
  --session isolated \
  --message "Distill the last day of memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md daily notes into durable knowledge. Write stable facts, decisions, lessons, FAQs, and project/product updates into MEMORY.md or memory/knowledge/YYYY-MM-DD-summary.md. Do not copy raw logs. Preserve the separation between live daily state, distilled knowledge, and heartbeat health checks."

Docs to keep nearby:
https://docs.openclaw.ai/concepts/memory
https://docs.openclaw.ai/gateway/heartbeat
https://docs.openclaw.ai/automation/cron-jobs

Yep — give your builder agent a single “install this system” prompt like this:

You are my OpenClaw builder agent. Set up a three-layer memory system for this OpenClaw install.

First, inspect the current system safely:
- Run `openclaw --version` and confirm it is `2026.4.26` or newer.
- Locate the active OpenClaw workspace. Default is `~/.openclaw/workspace`.
- Before changing files, read existing `AGENTS.md`, `HEARTBEAT.md`, `MEMORY.md`, and any `memory/` directory if present.
- Do not delete existing memory. Preserve existing content and append/merge cleanly.

Goal:
Implement three conceptually separate layers:

1. Live daily state
- Location: `~/.openclaw/workspace/memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md`

- Purpose: short-term operational state for today’s active projects/tasks.
- Agents must read today’s daily note before project/task work.
- Agents must append/update structured entries whenever a task starts, progresses, blocks, hands off, or finishes.

2. Distilled nightly knowledge
- Location: `~/.openclaw/workspace/MEMORY.md` and/or `~/.openclaw/workspace/memory/knowledge/*.md`
- Purpose: durable, cleaned-up knowledge only.
- Nightly job should summarize daily notes into stable facts, decisions, lessons, FAQs, product/project changes, and unresolved follow-ups.
- Do not copy raw logs into long-term memory.

3. Heartbeat health checks
- Location: `~/.openclaw/workspace/HEARTBEAT.md`
- Purpose: every ~30 minutes, scan today’s daily notes for active/stalled tasks.
- If a task looks stale, decide whether to continue, ask human, restart, rebuild, or mark done.
- Append the heartbeat decision back into today’s daily note.


Implementation steps:

A. Ensure directories exist:
- `~/.openclaw/workspace/memory/`
- `~/.openclaw/workspace/memory/knowledge/`
- `~/.openclaw/workspace/memory/archive/` optional

B. Update `AGENTS.md` by appending this section if it is not already present:

## Three-layer memory system

Keep memory separated into three layers:

### 1. Live daily state

- Use `memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md`.
- Before starting project/task work, read today’s daily note and relevant memory search results.
- Append or update structured task entries for starts, progress, blockers, decisions, handoffs, and finishes.
- Every task entry should include:
  - task_id
  - project
  - goal
  - status: active | blocked | waiting | done | abandoned
  - started
  - last_update
  - expected_next_update
  - recent_actions
  - blockers
  - next_step
  - owner/session


Example entry:

```md
## Task: project-slug / short-task-id
- task_id: project-slug-short-task-id
- project: project name
- goal: what we are trying to accomplish
- status: active
- started: 2026-05-12T13:00:00Z
- last_update: 2026-05-12T13:30:00Z
- expected_next_update: 30m
- recent_actions:
  - did X
  - checked Y
- blockers:

none
next_step: do Z
owner/session: main


### 2. Distilled knowledge
- Use `MEMORY.md` and/or `memory/knowledge/*.md` only for stable, durable facts.
- Promote only decisions, preferences, learned procedures, FAQs, product/project changes, and recurring lessons.
- Do not paste raw daily logs or transcripts into long-term memory.
- Keep summaries concise and searchable.

### 3. Heartbeat health checks
- Heartbeat reads daily state and decides whether active tasks are healthy, stale, blocked, or done.
- Heartbeat must log its decision back into today’s daily note.
- Heartbeat is monitoring, not long-term storage.

Never mix the layers:
- Daily notes are operational state.
- Nightly knowledge is distilled durable memory.
- Heartbeat is periodic monitoring.

C. Replace or merge `HEARTBEAT.md` with:

# Heartbeat task monitor

Every heartbeat:
1. Read today’s daily note: `memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md`.
2. Find tasks with status `active`, `blocked`, or `waiting`.
3. Compare `last_update` and `expected_next_update` against current time.
4. If a task is stale, choose exactly one decision:
   - continue

   - ask human
   - restart
   - rebuild
   - mark done
5. Append the decision to today’s daily note using this format:

```md
### Heartbeat decision - 2026-05-12T13:30:00Z
- task_id: ...
- observed_status: ...
- stale: yes | no
- decision: continue | ask human | restart | rebuild | mark done
- reason: ...
- next_step: ...


6. If no human-visible alert is needed, reply `HEARTBEAT_OK`.
7. If human input is required, send a concise alert explaining the blocked task and the exact decision needed.

D. Configure heartbeat for ~30 minutes.
Use the proper OpenClaw config mechanism for this install. Desired config shape:

```json5
{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      heartbeat: {
        every: "30m",
        target: "last",
        lightContext: true,
        skipWhenBusy: true,

prompt: "Read HEARTBEAT.md. Monitor active tasks in today's daily note. Log decisions back to daily notes. If nothing needs attention, reply HEARTBEAT_OK."
}
}
}
}


If config already has heartbeat settings, merge carefully instead of overwriting unrelated settings.

E. Add a nightly cron job at about 2 a.m. local time.
Use the user’s timezone if configured; otherwise ask me before choosing. The job should be isolated.

Desired command shape:

```bash
openclaw cron add \
  --name "Nightly memory distill" \

--cron "0 2 * * *"
--tz "USER_TIMEZONE_HERE"
--session isolated
--message "Distill the last day of memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md daily notes into durable knowledge. Write stable facts, decisions, lessons, FAQs, and project/product updates into MEMORY.md or memory/knowledge/YYYY-MM-DD-summary.md. Do not copy raw logs. Preserve the separation between live daily state, distilled knowledge, and heartbeat health checks. After writing summaries, append a short distillation receipt to today's daily note."


F. Verify everything:
- Confirm `AGENTS.md` contains the three-layer instructions.
- Confirm `HEARTBEAT.md` contains the heartbeat monitor checklist.
- Confirm `memory/knowledge/` exists.
- Confirm heartbeat config is active.
- Confirm the cron job exists with `openclaw cron list`.
- Do not claim success until verification passes.

G. Report back with:
- OpenClaw version