openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: status reports memos-local-openclaw-plugin memory as unavailable while runtime recall works [1 comments, 2 participants]

Bug Summary

openclaw status reports the active MemOS Local memory plugin as unavailable even though the plugin is loaded and working at runtime.

Observed status line:

Memory enabled (plugin memos-local-openclaw-plugin) · unavailable

This appears to be the same class of false-negative status/doctor probe bug previously seen with other non-core memory plugins, but this report covers the current MemOS Local plugin specifically.

Environment

• OpenClaw: 2026.4.24 (cbcfdf6)
• OS: Ubuntu 24.04 / Linux 6.8.0-107-generic
• Node: v24.15.0
• Active memory slot: memos-local-openclaw-plugin
• MemOS Local DB: /root/.openclaw/memos-local/memos.db
• Gateway: systemd service, running normally

Relevant Config Shape

{
  "plugins": {
    "slots": {
      "memory": "memos-local-openclaw-plugin"
    },
    "entries": {
      "memos-local-openclaw-plugin": {
        "enabled": true,
        "hooks": {
          "allowConversationAccess": true
        },
        "config": {
          "embedding": {
            "provider": "openai_compatible",
            "endpoint": "https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1",
            "model": "text-embedding-v4",
            "dimensions": 1536,
            "apiKey": "${DASHSCOPE_API_KEY}"
          },
          "summarizer": {
            "provider": "openai_compatible",
            "endpoint": "https://api.openai.com/v1",
            "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
            "apiKey": "${OPENAI_API_KEY}",
            "temperature": 0
          }
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "memorySearch": {
        "enabled": false
      }
    }
  }
}

Evidence That Runtime Memory Works

Despite the status line, the live MemOS Local runtime is functioning:

• Gateway process has the required API env vars set.
• MemOS Viewer is reachable on http://127.0.0.1:18799/.
• Plugin startup logs show:

memos-local: initialized (db: /root/.openclaw/memos-local/memos.db)
memos-local: allowPromptInjection=true, auto-recall enabled

• Auto-recall is returning context successfully, for example logs like:

auto-recall: local=10, hub-memory=0, hub-remote=0
auto-recall: merged 10 → 3 relevant → 3 after dedup, sufficient=true
auto-recall: returning prependContext (... chars), sufficient=true

• memory_search returns relevant memories successfully.
• SQLite DB contains populated tables, e.g. observed counts:

chunks=65
embeddings=58
tasks=9
skills=2
api_logs=85
tool_calls=75

Expected Behavior

If the active memory slot is a working plugin like memos-local-openclaw-plugin, openclaw status should not display unavailable merely because the built-in/core memory probe path is not active.

Possible better output:

Memory enabled (plugin memos-local-openclaw-plugin) · active

or, if no plugin-specific status hook exists:

Memory enabled (plugin memos-local-openclaw-plugin) · plugin-managed

Actual Behavior

openclaw status reports:

Memory enabled (plugin memos-local-openclaw-plugin) · unavailable

This is misleading because runtime recall and direct memory search are working.

Suspected Cause

The status/doctor memory probe appears to still infer readiness from the built-in memory-core / agents.defaults.memorySearch path instead of the active live memory-slot plugin runtime.

In this setup, agents.defaults.memorySearch.enabled=false is intentional because MemOS Local owns the memory slot and provides its own auto-recall/search path.

Related log line also appears:

[context-engine] Context engine "memory-core" is not registered; falling back to default engine "legacy".

That may be unrelated, but it supports the suspicion that diagnostics are still checking a core-memory path even when a third-party memory slot owns memory.

Related Issues

This looks related to the same broader class of false-negative memory status issues:

• #56968
• #57256
• #60819
• #8921

This report is specifically for memos-local-openclaw-plugin on OpenClaw 2026.4.24.