openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: Memory dreaming cron reports ok with harness data but writes no artifacts on 2026.4.24 [1 participants]

Bug type

Regression (worked before, now fails)

Beta release blocker

No

Summary

On OpenClaw 2026.4.24, Memory Dreaming Promotion cron runs report ok and the memory harness has eligible REM/deep material, but no new dreaming artifacts (DREAMS.md, memory/dreaming/*, or memory.dream.completed events) are written after the last known-good run.

Steps to reproduce

1. Run OpenClaw 2026.4.24 with memory-core dreaming enabled and the managed Memory Dreaming Promotion cron present.
2. Let the managed cron run, or inspect recent run history for job Memory Dreaming Promotion.
3. Confirm the cron run history reports recent ok runs for __openclaw_memory_core_short_term_promotion_dream__.
4. Run openclaw memory rem-harness --json and confirm the harness has non-empty REM/deep material.
5. Inspect DREAMS.md, memory/dreaming/<phase>/YYYY-MM-DD.md, and memory/.dreams/events.jsonl for new dream artifact writes.

Expected behavior

When the managed dreaming cron reports a successful run and there is eligible REM/deep material, the dreaming pipeline should write visible artifacts such as:

• DREAMS.md diary entries and/or
• memory/dreaming/light/YYYY-MM-DD.md, memory/dreaming/rem/YYYY-MM-DD.md, memory/dreaming/deep/YYYY-MM-DD.md, and
• memory.dream.completed events in the dreaming event log.

This expectation is based on prior observed behavior on the same install: the Apr 18 run wrote light/REM/deep reports and appended dream diary content.

Actual behavior

The cron run history reports recent successful runs, but no visible artifacts are written after the last known-good Apr 18 run.

Observed locally:

• Last visible narrative/report artifacts are from 2026-04-18.
• Recent Memory Dreaming Promotion cron runs report status: ok.
• Recent successful durations are not the old ~6-8 ms no-op symptom; observed successful runs took roughly 25s, 33s, and 71s.
• openclaw memory rem-harness --json exits successfully and shows non-empty material:
  • REM source entries: 83
  • deep candidates: 358
  • stderr: empty
• openclaw memory status --json shows a healthy memory index and recall store:
  • recall store exists
  • ~359 short-term recall entries
  • no audit issues
• memory/.dreams/events.jsonl contains memory.dream.completed events for Apr 18 only; later activity records memory recall events but no later dream completion events.
• No memory/dreaming/*/2026-04-2*.md files are present after Apr 18.
• DREAMS.md still contains only Apr 18 diary entries.

OpenClaw version

2026.4.24

Operating system

Linux 6.8.12-20-pve x86_64, Node.js 22.22.2

Install method

Global npm/pnpm-managed install (/usr/lib/node_modules/openclaw); openclaw status reports channel stable, update method pnpm, npm latest 2026.4.24.

Model

openai-codex/gpt-5.5

Provider / routing chain

OpenClaw local gateway -> OpenAI Codex provider/model route.

Additional provider/model setup details

Default main-agent model is openai-codex/gpt-5.5. No provider-specific error was observed during the harness/status checks; the failing symptom is missing artifact writes despite successful cron status and non-empty harness data.

Logs, screenshots, and evidence

# Managed cron exists and is enabled
id: a1fc62a7-e059-41ae-9bf4-a266f0295982
name: Memory Dreaming Promotion
enabled: yes
schedule: cron 0 3 * * * (exact)
session: isolated
delivery: none
status: ok

# Recent cron run history for the managed job
status: ok, summary: __openclaw_memory_core_short_term_promotion_dream__, durationMs: 71196
status: ok, summary: __openclaw_memory_core_short_term_promotion_dream__, durationMs: 25641
status: ok, summary: __openclaw_memory_core_short_term_promotion_dream__, durationMs: 33096

# Harness check
openclaw memory rem-harness --json
exit: 0
stderr bytes: 0
REM source entries: 83
deep candidates: 358

# Memory status check
openclaw memory status --json
recall store exists: true
short-term recall entries: 359
invalid entries: 0
audit issues: []

# Artifact/event inspection
Last memory.dream.completed events: 2026-04-18 only
No memory/dreaming/*/2026-04-2*.md files after 2026-04-18
DREAMS.md still contains only Apr 18 diary entries

Impact and severity

Affected: users relying on memory-core dreaming outputs / Dreaming UI artifacts on 2026.4.24.

Severity: Medium. The memory recall/promotion data pipeline appears alive, but human-readable dreaming artifacts and completion events are not produced, so the feature appears stale/broken even though cron reports success.

Frequency: Observed on multiple consecutive successful managed cron runs after Apr 18.

Consequence: Dreaming artifacts stop updating silently; operators see ok cron runs and non-empty harness data but no new DREAMS.md or memory/dreaming/* outputs.

Additional information

Related but not identical:

• #66185 reported ok runs with no artifacts and ~6-8ms durations; it is closed as fixed. This report is on 2026.4.24 and recent successful cron runs take ~25-71s, so it may be a regression or an incomplete fix on a different path.
• #71656 covers corpus filtering/scoring/session scan quality and remains open, but this report is specifically about successful cron/harness data producing no visible artifacts.
• #72096 covers duplicate/repeated light-phase summaries, not missing artifacts.

Last known good local artifact write: 2026-04-18. First observed bad window: later managed runs after Apr 18; Apr 19-23 runs were recorded as skipped/disabled, while Apr 24-26 runs were recorded as ok with no new artifacts.

Generated by OpenClaw agent on behalf of its user @pjguzman.