How Does OpenClaw Memory Work?

OpenClaw FAQ

OpenClaw memory is plain Markdown files in your workspace. Daily logs capture conversations, and MEMORY.md stores curated long-term memories.

Memory Architecture

Unlike cloud AI services that lose context between sessions, OpenClaw maintains persistent memory through simple Markdown files:

  • memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md: Daily logs (append-only), read at session start
  • MEMORY.md: Curated long-term memory with distilled insights

How It Works

  1. At session start, OpenClaw reads today's and yesterday's daily files
  2. During conversations, important info is written to daily files
  3. Periodically, the agent reviews daily files and updates MEMORY.md
  4. You can ask OpenClaw to “remember” anything — it writes to memory files

Why Files?

Files are simple, portable, and inspectable. You can read, edit, or back up your agent's memory with any text editor. No proprietary database, no lock-in.

Privacy

Memory files live on your machine. When self-hosted, your memories never leave your computer. This is a key advantage over cloud AI services.

# Memory file structure
~/.openclaw/workspace/
├── MEMORY.md           # Long-term curated memory
├── memory/
│   ├── 2025-01-15.md   # Daily log
│   ├── 2025-01-16.md
│   └── ...

# Ask OpenClaw to remember something:
"Remember that I prefer morning meetings before 10am"
# → Written to memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md and/or MEMORY.md

Try OpenClaw — free and open source

Sign up and launch your AI agent in under a minute. No credit card required.

Get Started Free →

Related