#No memory.md

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wraith slate
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I uninstalled openclaw using the openclaw uninstall command and then did openclaw onboard. Eveything went smoothly but I figured out In my agent's workspace MEMORY.md is missing

carmine tangleBOT
#

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faint stoneBOT
# wraith slate I uninstalled openclaw using the openclaw uninstall command and then did opencla...

Zeda, first check the version so we know whether this is current behavior or an older bootstrap bug:

openclaw --version

From the current docs/source: MEMORY.md is treated as optional. OpenClaw injects it only when it exists; missing MEMORY.md does not by itself mean onboarding failed. The standard workspace files are seeded under the active workspace, usually ~/.openclaw/workspace, and MEMORY.md is the curated long-term memory file you can create when you want durable facts/preferences.

Quick checks:

openclaw status
ls -la ~/.openclaw/workspace

If everything else is there (AGENTS.md, SOUL.md, TOOLS.md, IDENTITY.md, USER.md, HEARTBEAT.md), you can create ~/.openclaw/workspace/MEMORY.md yourself with a short header and restart/start a new session. Detailed daily notes normally live in memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md.

faint stoneBOT
wraith slate
#

I also encountered a strange error, so the agent tried to read from the .openclaw folder in my home folder skills/summarize/SKILL.md however it doesn't exist, not even the skills folder.

faint stoneBOT
# wraith slate I also encountered a strange error, so the agent tried to read from the .opencl...

That path being absent is not automatically a problem. ~/.openclaw/skills is only one optional skill root; it may not exist until you install managed/local skills. OpenClaw also loads skills from workspace skills/, .agents/skills, ~/.agents/skills, bundled skills, and configured skills.load.extraDirs.

What’s strange is specifically the agent trying to read ~/.openclaw/skills/summarize/SKILL.md if that skill wasn’t actually installed/listed. I’d check these:

openclaw --version
openclaw skills list
openclaw skills check
openclaw config get skills
openclaw config get agents.defaults.skills

If summarize appears in agents.defaults.skills, agents.list[].skills, or skills.entries, but it is not installed, remove that reference or install the intended skill. If it doesn’t appear anywhere, it may be stale session context or a model-side mistaken skill lookup; start a fresh session after restarting the gateway and see if it repeats.

If it still repeats, please paste the exact error plus the output of openclaw --version and openclaw skills check. Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai/tools/skills and https://docs.openclaw.ai/tools/skills-config

wraith slate
faint stoneBOT
# wraith slate Where is skill.md usually

SKILL.md is inside each individual skill folder, not usually directly at ~/.openclaw/skills/SKILL.md.

Common locations, in priority order:

~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md
~/.openclaw/workspace/.agents/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md
~/.agents/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md
~/.openclaw/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

Bundled skills are inside the installed OpenClaw package, and extra skills can also come from skills.load.extraDirs in config.

So for a skill named summarize, the path would normally be something like:

faint stoneBOT
# wraith slate Where is skill.md usually 
~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/summarize/SKILL.md

or, if installed as a managed/shared skill:

~/.openclaw/skills/summarize/SKILL.md

You can see what OpenClaw actually sees with:

openclaw skills list
openclaw skills info summarize
wraith slate
#

howerver in the openclaw home folder there is no skills folder

faint stoneBOT
# wraith slate howerver in the openclaw home folder there is no skills folder

That’s normal. ~/.openclaw/skills is optional and often won’t exist on a fresh/onboarded install. It gets created when you install a managed/local skill there, but OpenClaw can run fine without it.

For user-installed skills, the more common active location is the workspace:

~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

If that folder also doesn’t exist, it just means you haven’t installed workspace skills yet.

The useful question is whether OpenClaw thinks summarize exists. Run:

openclaw skills list
openclaw skills check
openclaw skills info summarize
faint stoneBOT
wraith slate
#

It's a open claw bundled skill

faint stoneBOT
# wraith slate It's a open claw bundled skill

Ah, yes. For a bundled OpenClaw skill, it should not be in ~/.openclaw/skills.

Bundled skills live inside the OpenClaw install package, for example with a global npm install:

~/.npm-global/lib/node_modules/openclaw/skills/summarize/SKILL.md

or, depending on how Node/npm is set up:

$(npm root -g)/openclaw/skills/summarize/SKILL.md

So if the agent is trying to read:

faint stoneBOT
# wraith slate It's a open claw bundled skill 
~/.openclaw/skills/summarize/SKILL.md

that’s the managed/local-skill location, not the bundled-skill location. ~/.openclaw/skills missing is still normal.

Two useful checks:

npm root -g
ls "$(npm root -g)/openclaw/skills/summarize/SKILL.md"
openclaw skills list | grep summarize

If openclaw skills list shows summarize but the agent still tries ~/.openclaw/skills/..., that sounds like a skill path resolution bug or stale skill snapshot. Restart the gateway after checking. If it persists, this is worth filing with the exact error and openclaw --version: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/issues

#

That’s useful: openclaw skills list says summarize is ready and source is openclaw-bundled, so the skill is registered correctly.

The failed ls mostly means npm root -g is not the real OpenClaw package root on your machine. Since you’re using Linuxbrew, the openclaw executable may be coming from a brew-linked path rather than that exact npm global folder.

Try these to locate the actual CLI/package path:

openclaw --version
command -v openclaw
readlink -f "$(command -v openclaw)"
find /home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew -path '*/skills/summarize/SKILL.md' -print 2>/dev/null | head

But important part: don’t create ~/.openclaw/skills/summarize manually just because that folder is missing. For a bundled skill, OpenClaw should use the bundled path internally.

If the agent error literally says it tried to read ~/.openclaw/skills/summarize/SKILL.md while openclaw skills list reports summarize as openclaw-bundled, that’s likely a stale skill snapshot or path-resolution bug. Restart the gateway and start a fresh session; if it repeats, file it with the exact error + openclaw --version: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/issues

wraith slate
#

Openclaw agent doesn't knoow how to call the skill so it looks for SKILLS.md

faint stoneBOT
# wraith slate Openclaw agent doesn't knoow how to call the skill so it looks for SKILLS.md

Right, that sounds like the model is making the wrong file lookup.

For OpenClaw skills the file is always singular:

SKILL.md

not:

SKILLS.md

And the bundled summarize skill is mainly instructions for using the summarize CLI binary. It doesn’t create a special OpenClaw tool called summarize; the agent should read the skill instructions, then run commands like:

faint stoneBOT
# wraith slate Openclaw agent doesn't knoow how to call the skill so it looks for SKILLS.md 
summarize "https://example.com"

Since openclaw skills list says summarize is ready, OpenClaw already knows about the skill. If the agent is searching for SKILLS.md, that’s likely model confusion/stale session context, not a missing folder you need to create.

Try a fresh session after gateway restart, and phrase it explicitly once:

Use the bundled summarize skill. Read its SKILL.md and run the summarize CLI for this URL: ...

If it still looks for SKILLS.md, file it as a bug with the exact transcript/tool error and openclaw --version: https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/issues

wraith slate
faint stoneBOT
# wraith slate however the skill.md doesnt exist

On Linux the filename is case-sensitive: it’s SKILL.md uppercase, not skill.md.

Also, since openclaw skills list shows:

summarize ... openclaw-bundled

then OpenClaw is finding the bundled skill somewhere. The path just isn’t the npm root -g path we guessed.

Try locating it directly:

find /home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew -name SKILL.md -path '*/summarize/SKILL.md' -print 2>/dev/null
find ~/.openclaw ~/.agents -name SKILL.md -path '*/summarize/SKILL.md' -print 2>/dev/null
command -v openclaw
faint stoneBOT
# wraith slate however the skill.md doesnt exist 
readlink -f "$(command -v openclaw)"

If the find commands still return nothing but openclaw skills list says summarize is ready, then the skills registry is reporting bundled metadata but the readable skill file is missing from the installed package. In that case I’d reinstall/update OpenClaw, then restart the gateway:

npm install -g openclaw@latest
openclaw gateway restart

If you installed through a different package manager, use that same installer instead of npm. After reinstall, rerun:

openclaw skills list | grep summarize
find /home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew -name SKILL.md -path '*/summarize/SKILL.md' -print 2>/dev/null
wraith slate
#

/home/zeda/.nvm/versions/node/v22.18.0/lib/node_modules/openclaw/openclaw.mjs

faint stoneBOT
# wraith slate /home/zeda/.nvm/versions/node/v22.18.0/lib/node_modules/openclaw/openclaw.mjs

Good, that means your active CLI is the nvm install, not the Linuxbrew global npm root.

Check the bundled skill at this path instead:

ls /home/zeda/.nvm/versions/node/v22.18.0/lib/node_modules/openclaw/skills/summarize/SKILL.md
sed -n '1,80p' /home/zeda/.nvm/versions/node/v22.18.0/lib/node_modules/openclaw/skills/summarize/SKILL.md

If that exists, the bundled skill file is fine. Then the original ~/.openclaw/skills/... lookup is probably stale session/path confusion. Restart the gateway from the same Node version you actually use:

nvm use 22.18.0
openclaw gateway restart

If the file does not exist there, your active nvm install is missing packaged skill files; reinstall OpenClaw under that same Node: